The early development of the Bf 109 and the history of its parent company, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW), did not initially hint at the greatness to come. BFW went through several manifestations before joining forces in August, 1926 with a small manufacturing firm led by Willy Messerschmitt. The newly reconstituted BFW utilized the tooling and machinery of the former Udet Flugzeugbau, a firm launched in 1921 by William Pohl. Pohl, an American from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, recruited the well-respected Great War ace Ernst Udet to act as the company s 'front man', and this he did with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, too much money was spent on development of too many different have Messerschmitt design a small airliner for inter-city use. This aircraft, the M 20, held great promise for both BFW and Lufthansa, but the first prototype crashed on its first flight in February 1928, killing the pilot Hans Hackmack. Two years later, another M 20 crashed in Dresden on 6 October 1930, killing the two crew and six passengers, and this was followed six months later in April, 1931 by yet another fatal M 20 crash, again killing both crew members. The passengers in this last flight survived with only minor injuries, but the director of Lufthansa, Erhard Milch, had had enough and refused the delivery of any further M 20s.
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