Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
type of German warplane, 1940, from name of Willy Messerschmitt (1898-1978), German aircraft designer. The surname is literally "cutler, knife-maker."
Wikipedia
Messerschmitt AG was a German aircraft manufacturing corporation ( AG) named after its chief designer Willy Messerschmitt and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, in particular the Bf 109 and Me 262. The company survived in the post-war era, undergoing a number of mergers and changing its name from Messerschmitt to Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm before being bought by Deutsche Aerospace (DASA, now part of Airbus Group) in 1989.
Usage examples of "messerschmitt".
Not only in combat, but in those shitty Russian Poliakarpov biplanes that were turned into mincemeat by Messerschmitt 109s.
He took off from Germany late on Saturday in a Messerschmitt and baled out over Scotland around midnight.
I detected in the living room, where I found the missing wheel from my Airfix Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 model under the sofa.
The Emirates fighters would have been sitting ducks for a Messerschmitt or Spitfire, but they were like sharks against a fat ocean sunfish compared to the slow, lumbering transport the Tawantiinsuujan was flying.
The Emirate's fighters would have been sitting ducks for a Messerschmitt or Spitfire, but they were like sharks against a fat ocean sunfish compared to the slow, lumbering transport the Tawantiinsuujan was flying.
Other artifacts include a Ford Trimotor Tin Goose airplane, a Messerschmitt 262 Swallow, a Pullman Railroad car The Manhattan Limited, an old cast-iron bathtub with an outboard motor attached and a weird-looking inflatable raft with sails and a carved Haida Indian totem pole.
Not a Messerschmitt or the twin-engined P38s, or the Junkers they saw and heard from time to time.
He stopped and circled one of the Messerschmitt 262s, admiring the slim cigar shape of the fuselage, the triangular vertical stabilizer, and the ungainly jet pods that hung from the razor knifelike wings.