DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
No the actuall date has nothing to do with it. It could have happened in 1944 for all I care, the date has nothing to do with it.
Now you just argue that it has nothing to do with the date. Or it has nothing to do with the fact that the factory changed it's name. On what grounds?
The RLM did not go: "Okay its 1938, lets change the system!"
Hmm, where it was said that it was RLM that changed the system?
The naming system in germany was standardized all along and called for two letters that designated the manufacturer. Though RLM used only number to denote aircraft, as we agreed previously. If the name of the manufacturer was changed, this obviously affected the designation.
I still argue that after Willy Messerschmitt acquired Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (designated Bf then) in summer 1938, and changed the factory name to Messerschmitt A.G, the designation was changed to Me. And all the prototypes completed after the name change, received Me designation.
As for the different manufacturer of the 162.
I never said that 162 had different manufacturer, I said that 162 had different manufacturer DESIGNATION. Of course, I meant Bf 162 all the time, when I was talking about 162 and 163.
The Bf-162 program was actually designed in response to a 1935 program for a Schnellbomber. Messerschmitt took a Bf-110 and put a glazed nose on it for a bombadier and the prototype flew in 1937.
There you go...Bf 162 was designed before Willy Messerschmitt acquired the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, hence the designation Bf 162. After the cancellation of Bf 162, the number 162 was assigned for security purposes to Heinkel project and it became the well-known He 162 Volksjäger (I remember reading from somewhere that this aircraft was originally supposed to be He 500, before it was assigned the number 162). Anyway, in my understanding, this Bf 162 project was the last one completed in Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, before the name of the factory was changed.
Once more, take for example the Me 163 Komet, that I used as an example previously...the initial prototype was completed early 1939 and got the designation Me, not Bf. The previous project was Bf 162, that was completed (as you stated) in 1937 and got the designation Bf.
In my opinion, this is quite simple: after changing name from Bayerische Flugzeugwerke to Messerschmitt A.G, the manufacturer designation was changed from Bf to Me. And this happened in the summer of 1938, because Willy Messerschmitt took over the factory and as the top boss, wanted to change the name.
-JJ-