 When pitted against the Hurricane and Spitfire the Bf 110s began to experience heavy losses through being only slightly more manoeuvrable than the bombers they were meant to escort and suffering from poor acceleration.A variant of the 110 was the Bf 110D-1, nicknamed "Dachshund-belly" ("Dackelbauch") because of the fixed, wooden, 1,050 litre (277 U.S. gal) fuel tank fitted under the fuselage.I./ZG 76, based in Norway, was equipped with this version in order to provide air cover for convoys sailing along the Norwegian coast.