Messerschmitt Me 323
Encyclopedia
The Messerschmitt
Me 323 Gigant ("Giant") was a German
military transport aircraft
of World War II
. It was a powered variant of the Me 321
military glider
and was the largest land-based transport aircraft of the war. A total of 213 are recorded as having been made, a few being converted from the Me 321.
. The DFS 230
light glider had already proven its worth in the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael
in Belgium (the first ever assault by gliderborne troops), and would later be used successfully in the invasion of Crete
in 1941.
However, in order to mount an invasion across the English Channel
, the Germans would need to be able to airlift vehicles and other heavy equipment as part of an initial assault wave. Although Operation Sea Lion was cancelled, the requirement for a heavy air transport capability still existed, with the focus now on the forthcoming Operation Barbarossa
, the invasion of the Soviet Union
.
On 18 October 1940, Junkers
and Messerschmitt
were given just 14 days to submit a proposal for a large transport glider. The emphasis was still very much on the assault role: the ambitious requirement was to be able to carry either an 88 mm gun and its half-track tractor, or a Panzer IV
medium tank
. The Junkers Ju 322
Mammut reached prototype
form but was eventually scrapped due to difficulties in procuring the necessary high-grade timber for its all-wood construction and, as was discovered during the Mammuts only test flight, an unacceptably high degree of instability inherent in the design. The proposed Messerschmitt aircraft was originally designated Me 261w, then changed to Me 263 and eventually became the Me 321. Although the Me 321 saw considerable service in Russia as a transport, it was never used for its intended role as an assault glider.
GR14N radial engine
s rated at 738 kW as used in the Bloch MB.175
aircraft; using French engines was thought to place no burden on Germany's overstrained industry.
Initial tests were conducted using four Gnome engines attached to a strengthened Me 321 wing, which gave a modest speed of 210 km/h (130.5 mph) - 80 km/h (49.7 mph) slower than the Ju 52
transport aircraft. A fixed undercarriage
was fitted, which comprised four small wheels in a bogie
at the front of the aircraft with six larger wheels in two lines of three at each side of the fuselage
, partly covered by an aerodynamic fairing. The rear wheels were fitted with pneumatic brakes, and could stop the aircraft within 200 m (656.2 ft).
The four-engined Me 323C was considered merely a stepping stone to the six-engined D series; it still required the five-engined Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling or the highly dangerous Troikaschlepp formation of three Messerschmitt Bf 110
heavy fighter
s and rocket assisted takeoff
to get airborne when fully loaded, but it could return to base under its own power when empty. This was clearly not much better than the Me 321, so the V2 prototype became the first to have six engines and flew for the first time in early 1942, becoming the prototype for the D series aircraft.
The selection of the six engines, and their specific placement on the wing's leading edge, were fitted to reduce torque - a trio of clockwise rotation engines mounted on the port wing, and a trio of counterclockwise rotation engines on the starboard wing, resulting in the props rotating "away" from each other at the tops of their arcs, like the counter-rotating twin propellers on the Heinkel He 177
also did.
As per the Me 321, the Me 323 had massive, semi-cantilever, high-mounted wings which were braced from the fuselage out to the middle of the wing. To reduce weight and to save on aluminum, much of the wing was made of plywood
and fabric, while the fuselage was of metal tube construction with wooden spar
s and covered with doped
fabric, with heavy bracing in the floor to support the payload.
The "D" series had a crew of five: two pilots, two flight engineer
s and a radio
operator. Two gunners could also be carried. The flight engineers occupied two small cabin
s, one in each wing between the inboard and center engines. The engineers were intended to monitor engine synchronisation and allow the pilot to fly without worrying about engine status, although the pilot could override the engineers' decisions on engine and propeller control.
Maximum payload was around 20 tons, although at that weight the Hellmuth Walter Werke-designed, liquid-fueled RATO (rocket assisted takeoff) units used on the Me 321 were required for take off. The RATO's were mounted beneath the wings outboard of the engines, with the wings having underside fittings to take up to a total of four RATO units. The cargo hold was 11 m (36.1 ft) long, 3 m (9.8 ft) wide and 3.4 m (11.2 ft) high. The typical loads it carried were: One 15 cm FH18 field artillery piece (5.5 ton) accompanied by its Sd.Kfz.7 halftrack transport vehicle (11 ton), two 3.6 tonne (4 ton) trucks, 8,700 loaves of bread, an 88 mm Flak gun and accessories, 52 drums of fuel (252 L/45 US gal), 130 men, or 60 stretchers.
Some Me 321s were converted to Me 323s, but the majority were built as six-engine aircraft from the beginning; early models were fitted with wooden two-blade propeller
s, which were later replaced by metal, three-blade variable-pitch versions.
The Me 323's powerplants were of differing models of the Gnome-Rhone radials, depending on which wing panel they were mounted on-the starboard wing used a trio of engines and propellers that rotated counterclockwise (as seen from "nose-on") and the port wing's trio used clockwise rotation engine/prop setups.
The Me 323 had a maximum speed of only 219 km/h (136.1 mph) at sea level and speed dropped with altitude. For defensive armament, it was armed with five 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine gun
s firing from a dorsal position behind the wings and from the fuselage. They were manned by the extra gunners, radio operator and engineers.
By September 1942, Me 323s were being delivered for use in the Tunisian campaign, and entered service in the Mediterranean theater in November 1942. The high rate of loss among Axis
shipping had made necessary a huge airlift of equipment across the Mediterranean to keep Rommel
's Afrika Korps
supplied.
On 22 April 1943, a formation of 27 fully laden Me 323s was being escorted across the Sicilian Straits by Bf 109
s of JG 27
when it was intercepted by seven squadrons of Spitfire
s and P-40
s. Twenty one of the Me 323s were lost while three of the P-40s were shot down by the escorts.
In terms of aircraft design, the Me 323 was very resilient, and could absorb a huge amount of enemy fire, unless loaded with barrels of fuel – the Afrika Korps nicknames of Leukoplastbomber ("Elastoplast bomber") or even more derisively as the "adhesive tape bomber", were somewhat unfair. The Me 323 was something of a "sitting duck", being so slow and large an aircraft. However, no transport aircraft can ever be expected to survive without something close to air superiority, and it is believed that no Me 323s survived in service beyond summer 1944.
A total of 198 or 213 Me 323s were built before production ceased in April 1944. There were several production versions, beginning with the D-1. Later D- and E- versions differed in the choice of power plant and in defensive armament, with improvements in structural strength, total cargo load and fuel capacity also being implemented. Nonetheless, the Me 323 remained significantly underpowered. There was a proposal to install six BMW 801 radials, but this never came to pass. The Me 323 was also a short-range aircraft, with a typical range (loaded) of 1,000-1,200 km (620-750 mi). Despite this, the limited numbers of Me 323s in service were an invaluable asset to the Germans, and saw intensive use.
Me 323V1
Me 323V2
Me 323D-1
Me 323V13
Me 323V14
Me 323E-1
Me 323E-2
Me 323E-2WT "Rhino"
Me 323V16
Me 323V17
Me 323Z (Zwilling)
at Berlin-Gatow
has a Me 323 main wing spar in its collection.
Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt AG was a famous German aircraft manufacturing corporation named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262...
Me 323 Gigant ("Giant") was a German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
military transport aircraft
Military transport aircraft
Military transport aircraft are typically fixed and rotary wing cargo aircraft which are used to deliver troops, weapons and other military equipment by a variety of methods to any area of military operations around the surface of the planet, usually outside of the commercial flight routes in...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It was a powered variant of the Me 321
Messerschmitt Me 321
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Dabrowski, Hans-Peter. Messerschmitt Me 321/323: The Luftwaffe's "Giants" in World War II. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001. ISBN 0-7643-1442-4....
military glider
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
and was the largest land-based transport aircraft of the war. A total of 213 are recorded as having been made, a few being converted from the Me 321.
Development
The Me 323 was the result of a 1940 German requirement for a large assault glider in preparation for Operation Sea Lion, the projected invasion of Great BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The DFS 230
DFS 230
|-See also:-External links:* http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/dfs230.html* http://www.luftarchiv.de/flugzeuge/dfs/dfs230.htm...
light glider had already proven its worth in the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael
Battle of Fort Eben-Emael
The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces that took place between 10 May and 11 May 1940, and was part of the Battle of the Netherlands, Battle of Belgium and Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France...
in Belgium (the first ever assault by gliderborne troops), and would later be used successfully in the invasion of Crete
Battle of Crete
The Battle of Crete was a battle during World War II on the Greek island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, when Nazi Germany launched an airborne invasion of Crete under the code-name Unternehmen Merkur...
in 1941.
However, in order to mount an invasion across the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, the Germans would need to be able to airlift vehicles and other heavy equipment as part of an initial assault wave. Although Operation Sea Lion was cancelled, the requirement for a heavy air transport capability still existed, with the focus now on the forthcoming Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, the invasion of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
On 18 October 1940, Junkers
Junkers
Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG , more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers,...
and Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt AG was a famous German aircraft manufacturing corporation named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262...
were given just 14 days to submit a proposal for a large transport glider. The emphasis was still very much on the assault role: the ambitious requirement was to be able to carry either an 88 mm gun and its half-track tractor, or a Panzer IV
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
medium tank
Medium tank
Medium tank was a classification of tanks; the medium being intermediate in size and weight and armament between heavy tanks and light tanks.The medium tank concept has been eclipsed by the main battle tank.-History:...
. The Junkers Ju 322
Junkers Ju 322
-See also:-Bibliography:* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Ltd., 1970 . ISBN 0-356-02382-6....
Mammut reached prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
form but was eventually scrapped due to difficulties in procuring the necessary high-grade timber for its all-wood construction and, as was discovered during the Mammuts only test flight, an unacceptably high degree of instability inherent in the design. The proposed Messerschmitt aircraft was originally designated Me 261w, then changed to Me 263 and eventually became the Me 321. Although the Me 321 saw considerable service in Russia as a transport, it was never used for its intended role as an assault glider.
Me 323
Early in 1941, as a result of feedback from Transport Command pilots in Russia, the decision was taken to produce a motorized variant of the Me 321, to be designated Me 323. It was decided to use French Gnome et RhôneGnome et Rhône
Gnome et Rhône was a major French aircraft engine manufacturer. Between 1914 and 1918 they produced 25,000 of their 9-cylinder Delta and Le Rhône 110 hp rotary designs, while another 75,000 were produced by various licensees, powering the majority of aircraft in the first half of the war on...
GR14N radial engine
Radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central crankshaft like the spokes on a wheel...
s rated at 738 kW as used in the Bloch MB.175
Bloch MB.170
|-See also:-References:*...
aircraft; using French engines was thought to place no burden on Germany's overstrained industry.
Initial tests were conducted using four Gnome engines attached to a strengthened Me 321 wing, which gave a modest speed of 210 km/h (130.5 mph) - 80 km/h (49.7 mph) slower than the Ju 52
Junkers Ju 52
The Junkers Ju 52 was a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Deutsche Luft Hansa as an airliner and freight hauler...
transport aircraft. A fixed undercarriage
Undercarriage
The undercarriage or landing gear in aviation, is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi, takeoff and land...
was fitted, which comprised four small wheels in a bogie
Bogie
A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...
at the front of the aircraft with six larger wheels in two lines of three at each side of the fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
, partly covered by an aerodynamic fairing. The rear wheels were fitted with pneumatic brakes, and could stop the aircraft within 200 m (656.2 ft).
The four-engined Me 323C was considered merely a stepping stone to the six-engined D series; it still required the five-engined Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling or the highly dangerous Troikaschlepp formation of three Messerschmitt Bf 110
Messerschmitt Bf 110
The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often called Me 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, and nicknamed it his Eisenseiten...
heavy fighter
Heavy fighter
A heavy fighter is a fighter aircraft designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges. To achieve acceptable performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engined, and many had multi-place crews....
s and rocket assisted takeoff
JATO
JATO is an acronym for jet-fuel assisted take off. It is a system for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets....
to get airborne when fully loaded, but it could return to base under its own power when empty. This was clearly not much better than the Me 321, so the V2 prototype became the first to have six engines and flew for the first time in early 1942, becoming the prototype for the D series aircraft.
The selection of the six engines, and their specific placement on the wing's leading edge, were fitted to reduce torque - a trio of clockwise rotation engines mounted on the port wing, and a trio of counterclockwise rotation engines on the starboard wing, resulting in the props rotating "away" from each other at the tops of their arcs, like the counter-rotating twin propellers on the Heinkel He 177
Heinkel He 177
The Heinkel He 177 Greif was the only operational long-range bomber to be operated by the Luftwaffe. Starting its existence as Germany's first purpose-built heavy bomber just before the war, and built in large numbers during World War II, it was also mistakenly tasked, right from its beginnings,...
also did.
Design
Plywood
Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...
and fabric, while the fuselage was of metal tube construction with wooden spar
Spar (aviation)
In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running spanwise at right angles to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings whilst on the ground...
s and covered with doped
Aircraft dope
thumb|right|[[United Kingdom military aircraft serials|2699]] a [[World War I]] [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2]] finished in a clear dopeAircraft dope is a plasticised lacquer that is applied to fabric-covered aircraft...
fabric, with heavy bracing in the floor to support the payload.
The "D" series had a crew of five: two pilots, two flight engineer
Flight engineer
Flight engineers work in three types of aircraft: fixed-wing , rotary wing , and space flight .As airplanes became even larger requiring more engines and complex systems to operate, the workload on the two pilots became excessive during certain critical parts of the flight regime, notably takeoffs...
s and a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
operator. Two gunners could also be carried. The flight engineers occupied two small cabin
Aircraft cabin
An aircraft cabin is the section of an aircraft in which passengers travel. At cruising altitudes of modern commercial aircraft the surrounding atmosphere is too thin to breathe without an oxygen mask, so cabins are pressurized at a higher pressure than ambient pressure at altitude.In commercial...
s, one in each wing between the inboard and center engines. The engineers were intended to monitor engine synchronisation and allow the pilot to fly without worrying about engine status, although the pilot could override the engineers' decisions on engine and propeller control.
Maximum payload was around 20 tons, although at that weight the Hellmuth Walter Werke-designed, liquid-fueled RATO (rocket assisted takeoff) units used on the Me 321 were required for take off. The RATO's were mounted beneath the wings outboard of the engines, with the wings having underside fittings to take up to a total of four RATO units. The cargo hold was 11 m (36.1 ft) long, 3 m (9.8 ft) wide and 3.4 m (11.2 ft) high. The typical loads it carried were: One 15 cm FH18 field artillery piece (5.5 ton) accompanied by its Sd.Kfz.7 halftrack transport vehicle (11 ton), two 3.6 tonne (4 ton) trucks, 8,700 loaves of bread, an 88 mm Flak gun and accessories, 52 drums of fuel (252 L/45 US gal), 130 men, or 60 stretchers.
Some Me 321s were converted to Me 323s, but the majority were built as six-engine aircraft from the beginning; early models were fitted with wooden two-blade propeller
Propeller (aircraft)
Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...
s, which were later replaced by metal, three-blade variable-pitch versions.
The Me 323's powerplants were of differing models of the Gnome-Rhone radials, depending on which wing panel they were mounted on-the starboard wing used a trio of engines and propellers that rotated counterclockwise (as seen from "nose-on") and the port wing's trio used clockwise rotation engine/prop setups.
The Me 323 had a maximum speed of only 219 km/h (136.1 mph) at sea level and speed dropped with altitude. For defensive armament, it was armed with five 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine gun
MG 131 machine gun
The MG 131 was a German 13 mm caliber machine gun developed in 1938 by Rheinmetall-Borsig and produced from 1940 to 1945...
s firing from a dorsal position behind the wings and from the fuselage. They were manned by the extra gunners, radio operator and engineers.
Operational history
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
shipping had made necessary a huge airlift of equipment across the Mediterranean to keep Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
's Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
supplied.
On 22 April 1943, a formation of 27 fully laden Me 323s was being escorted across the Sicilian Straits by Bf 109
Messerschmitt Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
s of JG 27
Jagdgeschwader 27
Jagdgeschwader 27 Afrika was a World War II Luftwaffe Geschwader. It was most famous for service in the North African Campaign, supporting the Deutsches Afrikakorps.- Formation:...
when it was intercepted by seven squadrons of Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
s and P-40
Curtiss P-40
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational...
s. Twenty one of the Me 323s were lost while three of the P-40s were shot down by the escorts.
In terms of aircraft design, the Me 323 was very resilient, and could absorb a huge amount of enemy fire, unless loaded with barrels of fuel – the Afrika Korps nicknames of Leukoplastbomber ("Elastoplast bomber") or even more derisively as the "adhesive tape bomber", were somewhat unfair. The Me 323 was something of a "sitting duck", being so slow and large an aircraft. However, no transport aircraft can ever be expected to survive without something close to air superiority, and it is believed that no Me 323s survived in service beyond summer 1944.
A total of 198 or 213 Me 323s were built before production ceased in April 1944. There were several production versions, beginning with the D-1. Later D- and E- versions differed in the choice of power plant and in defensive armament, with improvements in structural strength, total cargo load and fuel capacity also being implemented. Nonetheless, the Me 323 remained significantly underpowered. There was a proposal to install six BMW 801 radials, but this never came to pass. The Me 323 was also a short-range aircraft, with a typical range (loaded) of 1,000-1,200 km (620-750 mi). Despite this, the limited numbers of Me 323s in service were an invaluable asset to the Germans, and saw intensive use.
Variants
- Prototype, powered by four Gnome-Rhône 14N-48 / Gnome-Rhône 14N-49 engines
Me 323V2
- Prototype, powered by six Gnome-Rhône 14NGnome-Rhône 14N|-See also:* Pratt & Whitney R-1830 a comparable engine sometimes fitted as an alternative to the 14N on French designs* BMW 801* Bristol Hercules* Wright R-2600* Fiat A.74* Mitsubishi Kinsei* Nakajima Sakae* Shvetsov ASh-82-References:...
engines, became the standard for D production series
Me 323D-1
- First production series, powered by six Gnome-Rhône 14NGnome-Rhône 14N|-See also:* Pratt & Whitney R-1830 a comparable engine sometimes fitted as an alternative to the 14N on French designs* BMW 801* Bristol Hercules* Wright R-2600* Fiat A.74* Mitsubishi Kinsei* Nakajima Sakae* Shvetsov ASh-82-References:...
engines, two 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine guns in cockpit fittings provided, field modifications increased defensive armament
Me 323V13
- Prototype, powered by six Gnome-Rhône 14N-48 / Gnome-Rhône 14N-49 engines, served as a master for the Me 323E production series
Me 323V14
- Prototype, powered by six 1,350 hp Junkers Jumo 211F engines, not proceeded with
Me 323E-1
- Second production series, turrets incorporated in the wings
Me 323E-2
- Third production series
Me 323E-2WT "Rhino"
- Proposed subsidiary type of third production series derived from the E-2, 'escort' gunshipGunshipThe term "gunship" is used in several contexts, all sharing the general idea of a light craft armed with heavy guns.-In Navy:In the Navy, the term originally appeared in the mid-19th century as a less-common synonym for gunboat.-In military aviation:...
version. Classified as a Waffentrager (weapons carrier) by the RLM, which the WT suffix denoted. Primary mission was to provide normal 323 cargo formations with heavy defensive protection. No cargo carrying ability. "Solid" nose with 20mm cannon turret, two additional wing turrets plus up to ten other machine guns/cannon of varying calibres firing from standard and new beam positions. 1.3 tonnes of armour plating was added across the entire airframe. Crew increased to twenty-one, the extra crew-members operating the plane's guns. Two prototypes built and tested, but series was cancelled after it was judged that normal single-engined fighters were more effective in the transport escort role. One of the prototypes was briefly assigned to KG 200KG 200Kampfgeschwader 200 was a Luftwaffe unit during World War II. The unit was the Luftwaffe's special operations wing that carried out long-distance reconnaissance flights, tested new aircraft designs, and operated captured aircraft....
for operational evaluation, where it flew armed escort for the small number of captured B-17 Flying Fortresses operated by the geschwader.
Me 323V16
- Prototype, powered by six 1,480 hp Junkers Jumo 211R engines, intended to serve as a master for the Me 323F production series
Me 323V17
- Prototype (unfinished), powered by six 984 kW Gnome-Rhône 14R engines, intended to serve as a master for the Me 323G
Me 323Z (Zwilling)
- The Zwilling (German "twin") was a single prototype, similar in basic layout to the Heinkel He 111Z, consisting of two 323E fuselages connected by a new constant-chord middle wing section. Powered by nine BMW 801BMW 801The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German military aircraft of World War II. The engine's cylinders were in two rows of seven cylinders each, the bore and stroke were both 156 mm , giving a total capacity of 41.8 litres...
engines, the sole Me 323Z was lost in July 1944 in an inflight breakup during its first and only test flight. The catastrophic structural failure was due to the inept repair of damage from strafing sustained in an Allied air attack a few hours before. The breakup occurred just after the aircraft had released a gigantic 17.7 tonne dummy bomb. The bomb, designed by armaments engineers at the Weapons Research Station at KarlshagenKarlshagenKarlshagen is a Baltic Sea resort in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the north of the island Usedom. Karlshagen has 3400 inhabitants and lies between Zinnowitz and Peenemuende....
, was intended specifically for the 323Z; no other aircraft in the world at that time, Axis or Allied, could possibly have carried it. Had series production been authorised, the Z was intended to be an ultra-long-range transport and launch platform for the V-1 cruise missileCruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
, as well as a conventional heavy bomberHeavy bomberA heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size and load carrying capacity, and usually the longest range.In New START, the term "heavy bomber" is used for two types of bombers:*one with a range greater than 8,000 kilometers...
.
Survivors
No complete aircraft survives, but the Luftwaffenmuseum der BundeswehrLuftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr
The Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr , together with the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, is one of the major military history museums in Germany. The museum acts as an independent military department...
at Berlin-Gatow
Gatow
Gatow, a district of south-western Berlin is located west of the Havelsee lake and has forested areas within its boundaries. It is within the borough of Spandau. On 31 December 2002, it had 5,532 inhabitants.-History:...
has a Me 323 main wing spar in its collection.