One of the puzzles of aviation history is why Messerschmitt's Gigant (giant) family set such new standards in air transport capability. These machines were physically vast, but in terms of weight (under 99,208 lb and power 6,600 hp they were not particularly impressive. Moreover, they had an old-fashioned fabric-skinned structure, low flight performance and big doors only at the front. The real breakthrough came after World War II with the Lockheed C-130, which had far better payload provisions, a rear door which could be opened in flight, and high performance. It all makes one wonder why nobody built a stressed-skin airlifter of Gigant proportions, powered by four R-2800 Double Wasps.

Instead, the standard transports of World War II were the Junkers Ju 52 on the one hand and the Douglas DC-3 family on the other. Both had narrow, cramped fuselages which sloped steeply on the ground, with a side door. Troops, infantry weapons, spare parts, ammunition and, with difficulty, 55-Imp gal fuel drums or a motorcycle were possible loads. Anything really heavy or bulky had to go by surface means. The Soviets had airlifted trucks and even light tanks, although only by hanging them out in the slipstream underneath heavy bombers.

This dismal state of affairs probably reflected an almost total disinterest on the part of the customers. Except on rare occasions, such as the hurried evacuation of Kabul in Afghanistan during the winter of 1928-29, there was little demand for air transport, and it was meekly accepted that transports, or 'bomber transports', were unable to carry anything heavy or bulky. Even Hitler's Luftwaffe failed to order any really capable transport, but nonetheless achieved fantastic success on 10 May 1940 in the invasion of Western Europe using Ju 52/3ms and even smaller gliders. When it came to the planned invasion of the UK, such airlift forces appeared inadequate. The initial plan for Operation Sealion envisaged that, with the RAF defeated, paratroops and gliderborne infantry could hold bridgeheads, while Ju-87 Stukas would demolish any opposing strongpoints. This plan was disrupted by the Luftwaffe's failure to eliminate the RAF. Hitler postponed Sealion, and planned the assault on the Soviet Union instead, which was expected to be over by the autumn of 1941. With a 'final solution' achieved in the East, Hitler then planned to occupy the UK.

More careful planning showed that it would be prudent to be able to bring in heavy armour, flak and other massive items with the very first airborne assault. With extraordinary suddenness, it was realized that there was an urgent need for transport aircraft with capability far greater than anything previously envisaged. Should they be powered machines or gliders? The instant choice fell upon gliders., even though these would be unlikely to make more than one mission each. The need was for large numbers of heavy assault gliders; a single one-way flight by the whole fleet ought to be enough.

The Me 323 gave the Luftwaffe a tremendous airlift capability possessed by no other air force. Contrary to the insistent Afrika Korps rumor, the 'Elastoplast bomber' was neither fragile nor highly inflammable, but a tough giant capable of absorbing tremendous punishment. There are several RAF squadron combat reports which tell of a Gigant lumbering on its way after the British aircraft had expended all its ammunition.

Heavy losses:
There were occasions, however, when Me 323Ds of various varieties were shot down in droves. The worst time was April 1943 when it lost 43 aircraft, a single example surviving the final defeat in Tunisia in mid-May. Of these losses, at least 29 were shot down, the remainder being shot up on airfields. This drastically reduced the total number of Me 323s available, despite the fact that output at this time reached almost one per day, a level never again even approached. (see top of this page)

Operational experience led to numerous internal improvements, more secure payload positioning which facilitated attainment of the correct center of gravity position, and the addition of a retractable rear-fuselage support leg and a massive spade anchor under the tail to dig in after landing and shorten the run.

Electric servo-motors were added to help operate the flaps, and later provision was made for up to eight auxiliary take-off rockets and a 66-ft braking parachute for landing. Take-offs remained a problem. There was no aircraft of sufficient power available in numbers, and following rather discouraging model tests the triple tow was devised with three Messerschmitt Bf -100s all pulling one Me 321, the center tug having a towline 66 ft longer than those of the others. The rest of 1941 was punctuated by fantastic accidents, near-accidents and amazing escapes, on one occasion with the glider doing a tight turn away from the snapped-cable tugs, with rockets firing and one wingtip almost touching the ground. Another scheme was to fix the three twin-engined fighters to the glider itself, one above the fuselage and the others under the wings, disconnecting only near the destination.

In the event, Heinkel produced the five-engined He 111Z twin-fuselage tug, and Messerschmitt's Leipheim and Obertraubhng factories delivered 50 Me 321As and 100 dual Me 321Bs. These saw much action (but never invaded Malta or many other planned targets, and were also too late to help at Stalingrad).

The decision had been taken years earlier, in March 1941, to build a Gigant with engines. Inevitably this would carry much less, because its empty weight would be some 2.5 times greater. In many ways the glider was superior, but while it would have been ideal (with adequate tugs) for a one-time assault on the UK, it was less than satisfactory for the ongoing war in which it found itself, where trucking had to be done on a sustained basis from Marseilles to the Volga. There was no way an Me 321 could 'go round again' when approaching an overcrowded airfield, once at rest it was almost impossible to move, and staging points had to have special crews with masses of concentrated hydrogen peroxide for the rockets, drag chutes, tow cables and many other special items.

Settling on the 14-cylinder Le Rhone 14N 48/49 engine with a takeoff rating of 1,140 hp, Messerschmitt had built 198 examples of the Me-323, as the powered version was known, by April 1944. The powered Gigant performed its transport function fairly well, but in spite of defensive weaponry as powerful as two 20mm MG151 cannons in wing turrets and eight 13mm MG151 machine guns on the Me-323E-2, the floundering behemoth proved to be highly vulnerable to attack by Allied fighters-and on some occasions, even twin-engine bombers.

The powered Me 323 was studied with many types of engine, and the choice fell on the least powerful, the French Gnome-Rhone 14N. This was because the engine installation and propeller of the Bloch 175 bomber was readily available and in production already, and could just be bolted to a strengthened Gigant wing. Six engines were needed, the left trio being GR14N 48s and the right trio GRI4N 49s rotating in the opposite direction. A flight engineer cabin was added An Me 321A-1 glider is towed into the air at Leipheim by a Troikaschlepp of Bf 11CC tugs. The Gigant's landing gear, jettisoned after take-off, and the booster rockets underwing in each leading edge between the inner and middle engines, and a completely new multi-wheel permanent landing gear was added. This, like the aircraft itself, showed the way to the 'high flotation' gears of today.

The tailskid was then off the ground, and with correct center of gravity position a man could reach up and pull the tailskid down to the ground. Pictures show that often the center of gravity was too far aft, the skid then being firmly on the ground. This excellent gear rode over atrocious front-line 'airfields', and pneumatic brakes could pull up a full-load landing in under 656 ft.

The Me 323 first prototype had only four engines, and was the prototype of a proposed Me 323C which needed the Troikasclilepp at take-off with full load, but which could then fly back empty unaided. This remained a one-off, and the Me 323 V2 with six engines proved the prototype of the Me 323D production version. Although the Me 323D was not easy to fly, its production was not delayed, and both Leipheim and Obertraubling were delivering by September 1942, just in time for the Tunisian campaign. Two Jo 52 Gruppen were converted into KGzbV 323, which at first led a charmed life despite having to shuttle between Sicily and North Africa in daylight. The only defensive armament in the Me 323D comprised two 7.92-mm MG 15 machine-guns in cockpits on each side behind the wing, although troops could fire six MG 34 or MG 42 army weapons from the side windows. Once the aircraft reached the Mediterranean a lot more firepower was needed. The nose-door guns were changed for 13-mm MG 131s and a second pair was added lower down in each door, and new aircraft received a forward dorsal cockpit with machine guns firing to front and rear.

The planned Me 323G, with six 1.320-hp GR14R engines, was halted when the Me 323 V17 prototype was incomplete.
There were many planned developments, including an extraordinary proposal for a twinned Me 323 joined by a new center section and with nine BMW 801 engines. Unconnected with development of the aircraft itself was the brief project at Karlshagen armament establishment, which had a bomb weighing 39,022 lb. The Me 323 appeared to be the only aircraft able to carry it, and a single test flight was made in July 1944. How the bomb was carried is not recorded, but the Gigant (which is thought to have been damaged in a strafing attack beforehand) broke up in the air.

Use these views if you're planning on bashing your Fiddlers Green Me-323. You can see a few thousand German engineers were kept busy trying to perfect the Me-323

This is a great view of the Gigant main landing gear, cover and the wing strut. Along each side were a tandem-wheel front truck and a main gear with three larger wheels. All wheels were sprung by massive levers and coil springs to hold the Me 323 level no matter what the load was on board. When empty, however, that oil drum (shown above and included with model) was needed to support the tail

Flying slow and low, the Me-323 was quite impressive. The ultimate goal of the Gigant was to invade England, and then later, possibly the US. Although an intercontential rocket (A-9) was on the drawing board. Click image for larger size..

Haul a Panzer? No problem for the Me-323. Look at the expression in its' 'eyes' (canopy)