Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun

Updated: October 2026 – A large glazed cabin, a pointed nose and the lines of a Bf 109, only for four people: the Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun is one of the most elegant touring aircraft of the 1930s. It was built for a European air tour, made famous by the pilot Elly Beinhorn, and after the war lived on in France as the Nord 1002 Pingouin. Today every flying Taifun is a small sensation at an airfield. Here you learn how the type came about, which versions exist, how to tell a Bf 108 from a Pingouin and where you can still catch flying examples.

What is the Bf 108 Taifun?

The Bf 108 is a single-engine, four-seat touring and sport low-wing aircraft of all-metal construction. It was developed from 1933 at the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) in Augsburg under chief designer Willy Messerschmitt, initially under the factory designation M 37. The order came from the Reich Air Ministry: Germany wanted to enter a modern design in the 1934 Challenge International de Tourisme, the big European air tour for touring aircraft.

According to the Flugmuseum Messerschmitt and standard reference works, the first flight took place on June 13, 1934 in Augsburg. What made the aircraft special was the sum of modern details in a small package: a cantilever wing without struts, a light-alloy skin, a retractable main landing gear, flaps and automatic slats. For a touring aircraft of its size, this combination was unusual at the time. Many of these ideas appeared shortly afterward in the fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109 – if you see both side by side, you recognize the relationship immediately.

The abbreviation “Bf” stands, as with the 109, for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke. Only types after the renaming to Messerschmitt AG in 1938 got the abbreviation “Me”, such as the Messerschmitt Me 262. “Me 108” is still widely used anyway.

From racer to touring aircraft

In the 1934 European air tour, the Bf 108 entered in its first version, the Bf 108 A, powered by a Hirth HM 8 U V8 engine. According to German-language specialist literature, the Bf 108s took the first three places in the speed classification. They missed the overall victory because the competition also judged other criteria. The Flugmuseum Messerschmitt points out that the Bf 108 was the fastest aircraft in the field and did very well in the technical inspections.

The A version was still conceived as a fast sport aircraft with little room for passengers. BFW developed from it the Bf 108 B, built from late 1935. It got the more economical Argus As 10 C, an inverted air-cooled V8 with around 240 hp, and offered room for three passengers besides the pilot. The B version is the Taifun you have in mind today: comfortable, fast and with long range for its class.

Version	Engine	Notable feature
BFW M 37 / Bf 108 A	Hirth HM 8 U	Competition version for the 1934 European air tour
Bf 108 B	Argus As 10 C or E	Production version from late 1935, four seats
Bf 108 C	varies by source	Experimental or project version, not built in series
Bf 108 D	Argus As 10	Simplified version for the Luftwaffe from 1941
Me 208	–	Derivative with nosewheel gear, only two prototypes by the end of the war
Nord 1000	Argus As 10	French continued production from existing parts
Nord 1001 Pingouin I	Renault 6Q-11	Postwar version with a French engine
Nord 1002 Pingouin II	Renault 6Q-10	Postwar version, engine with reversed direction of rotation

Production moved from Augsburg to Regensburg in 1938. From 1942 the Bf 108 was also built by the French SNCAN in Les Mureaux, which continued after the war.

Elly Beinhorn and the name “Taifun”

The Bf 108 owes its nickname to the aviator Elly Beinhorn. She christened her own aircraft “Taifun”, and the name stuck to the whole type. In her Bf 108 she flew in August 1935 in a single day from Gleiwitz via Istanbul back to Berlin, according to German-language specialist literature around 3,470 kilometers in just under 13.5 hours. A year later came a flight over three continents in one day, from Damascus via Cairo and Athens to Berlin.

Flights like these made the Taifun known as a fast touring aircraft. Good slow-flight characteristics, low fuel consumption and long range meant it often placed near the top in competitions and record attempts of the late 1930s. In July 1939, a Bf 108 set a class altitude record of over 9,000 meters, according to English-language reference works.

In service: Luftwaffe, abroad and courier duty

Although intended as a civil aircraft, a large part of production ended up with the Luftwaffe. There the Taifun served as a liaison, courier and training aircraft, in other words wherever a few people or documents had to get from A to B quickly. From 1941 there was the Bf 108 D, a simplified version of its own for military needs.

The type was also in demand abroad. Depending on the source, more than 50 to over 100 Bf 108s went to export, among others to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Japan, the Soviet Union and Switzerland. The Swiss air force ordered Bf 108s from 1938, which besides training also carried commanders and later guests. This line leads to today’s Lufttransportdienst des Bundes (Swiss federal air transport service). The US Army bought one aircraft in 1939 as the XC-44 for its air attaché in Berlin, and in Britain at the outbreak of war some private Taifuns were impressed as “Aldon”.

After 1945: Nord 1000, 1001 and 1002 Pingouin

The Taifun’s story did not end with the war. SNCAN in Les Mureaux, which had already built Bf 108s under German occupation, continued production after liberation. First came the Nord 1000, built from existing parts and the remaining Argus engines. When the German engines ran out, the company switched to French Renault 6Q inline six-cylinder engines: these became the Nord 1001 Pingouin I and the Nord 1002 Pingouin II. The two versions differ mainly in the direction of rotation of their engine.

The Pingouins flew mainly with the French armed forces as liaison aircraft. In total, according to English-language reference works, just under 290 Nord Pingouins were built, 285 or 286 depending on the source. With the nosewheel derivative Me 208, whose prototype became the Nord 1100 in France, and the production version Nord 1101 “Noralpha” (called “Ramier” in the French armed forces), the family went one step further – you recognize these aircraft immediately by the nosewheel instead of a tailwheel.

For spotters the Nord 1002 is especially important, because many “Taifuns” flying today are in fact Pingouins. Some were painted in Bf 108 colors, and a few even wear a camouflage scheme in the style of the Bf 109. In war films such as “The Longest Day” and “Colonel von Ryan’s Express”, visually modified Nord 1002s played Bf 109 fighters, according to reference works.

How to recognize the Bf 108 on the apron

As always, the registration provides final certainty. In Germany the Taifuns fly in the class of single-engine aircraft up to 2 tonnes, so with D-E… – D-ESBH and D-EBFW are good examples. What the letters tell you is explained in German aircraft registrations. In Switzerland historic aircraft carry an HB registration, more on that in Swiss HB registrations.

Bf 108, Bf 109, Bonanza or Pingouin?

At vintage fly-ins, similar silhouettes often stand close together. The finder helps narrow it down.

The Beechcraft Bonanza and the Mooney M20 follow a similar idea – fast four-seater with retractable gear – but have a nosewheel and more modern lines. The North American T-6 Texan gives itself away with its radial engine. For more practice with old types, see Recognizing vintage aircraft in the sky, and for telling modern light aircraft apart, Recognizing light aircraft helps.

Airworthy Bf 108s today

There is no authoritative, current list of airworthy Taifuns. Aircraft change owners, go into restoration or sit on the ground for a long time after damage. The following focal points are as of October 2026.

Germany: Manching. The best-known home of airworthy Messerschmitts is the Flugmuseum Messerschmitt on the Airbus site in Manching near Ingolstadt, run by the Messerschmitt Foundation and Airbus. According to the museum, the collection includes two Bf 108s: D-ESBH and D-EBFW. D-ESBH (serial number 3701-14) was built in 1937/38. According to the museum, its early history is unclear; what is documented is that it went from Britain to Switzerland in 1951, was registered there as HB-ESM from 1962 and came to Manching for restoration in 1991. It flew there again for the first time at the end of 1993, and in 1995 the Messerschmitt Foundation took over the aircraft. D-EBFW is considered, according to reference works, an example built in 1937 and one of the oldest Bf 108s still flying.

Important for your planning: public access to the museum is restricted, so find out about visiting options beforehand. There are no passenger flights, and flying hours and event appearances of the aircraft are deliberately limited to preserve them. You are most likely to experience the Manching Taifuns flying at selected events, such as the Hahnweide vintage aircraft fly-in or at airfield festivals in Germany.

Other examples. Besides these, further Bf 108s are registered in Germany in private or foundation-related hands, according to reference works. In Switzerland the Bf 108 HB-HEB was restored and flew again for the first time in May 2011. There are also individual Pingouins in France and other countries as well as restoration projects, among them one with apprentices in Augsburg. How often the individual aircraft actually fly varies greatly.

How rare a Taifun sighting really is, you can gauge with Estimating the rarity of a sighting. If you want to help out with the care of old aircraft, you will find ideas for getting started in Volunteering at aviation museums. And because the Taifun belongs technically to general aviation, it is also worth a look at Spotting general aviation – many vintage aircraft take off from small airfields, not from big airports.

Photo tips specifically for the Bf 108

The Taifun is not a loud aerobatic warbird but an elegant touring aircraft. It shows its strengths in calm flybys, while taxiing and on the ground.

General tips for air shows are collected in Photographing air shows. And if you want to tell an Argus V8 and a Renault inline engine apart by sound, you will find suggestions in Recognizing aircraft types by sound.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

The Dornier Do 27 is a German postwar four-seater but easy to rule out as a high-wing aircraft. At vintage fly-ins you often meet the Taifun next to the Junkers Ju 52, the Piper J-3 Cub or the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth. If you want to trace the development of German all-metal aircraft further back, you end up at the Junkers F 13.

Conclusion

The Bf 108 Taifun is a key type of German aviation history: born as a competition aircraft, made famous by Elly Beinhorn and technically a pathfinder for the Bf 109. Through the French Pingouins the design stayed in service well into the postwar era. Today it is a rare, elegant vintage aircraft that you are most likely to catch at selected air shows.