As originally built, it has a relatively compact airframe, incorporated a steam cooling system, a unique cross-shaped tail section, and lacked any armaments.

Messerschmitt undertook some work to adapt the Me 209 into a combat-capable fighter, but it proved to be inferior to the existing Bf 109 in this role, and this was never produced in quantity.

[1][2] Throughout much of the 1930s, various high-ranking officials within Germany advocated for the demonstration of supposed German superiority, particularly in the aviation sector, which benefitted greatly from state backing in the form of numerous development and production contracts.

[6] Early observations included the flight controls being heavy and unwieldy, the aircraft's general instability, and an undesirable tendency for it to nose down without warning or provocation.

[6] The Me 209 achieved its primary purpose when, on 26 April 1939, a new world speed record of almost 756 km/h (469 mph) was set by the first aircraft, bearing the German civil registration D-INJR and flown by test pilot Fritz Wendel.

[8][9] This record was not officially broken by another piston-engined aircraft until 16 August 1969 by Darryl Greenamyer's highly modified Conquest I F8F Bearcat,[10][11] The absolute speed record set by the Me 209 V1 stood until October 1941, at which point it was broken by another Messerschmitt aircraft, the Me 163A V4 rocket fighter prototype, flown by Heini Dittmar, which attained a speed of 1,004 km/h (624 mph).

[13] Largely due to the upcoming outbreak of the Second World War, any thought of international speed records had been set aside in favour of their use as experimental aircraft.

Nevertheless, Messerschmitt's design team made several attempts to improve the aircraft's performance, such as through the adoption of longer wings, a taller vertical stabilizer, and installing a pair of synchronized 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17 machine guns in the engine cowling.

Although the aircraft was a "single purpose" high-speed experimental prototype, it was hoped that its designation would associate it and its world-beating performance with the Bf 109 already in combat service.

[7] During 1939, the speed record achievement of the Me 209 was used for a propaganda disinformation campaign, wherein the aircraft (possibly from its post-July 1938 first flight date) was given the designation Me 109R, with the later prefix, never used for wartime Bf 109 fighters.

[citation needed] The fuselage of the Me 209 V1 is currently on display, at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków, Poland and was once a part of Hermann Göring's personal collection.