Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!know!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Airborne Operations Keywords: Gigant Message-ID: <1990Jul16.030914.5529@cbnews.att.com> Date: 16 Jul 90 03:09:14 GMT References: <1990Jul5.020552.14422@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jul10.024921.10341@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 63 Approved: military@att.att.com From: fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) In article <1990Jul10.024921.10341@cbnews.att.com>, munnari!softway.sw.oz.au!thos@uunet.UU.NET (Thomas Cohen) writes: > > >In article <1990Jul5.020552.14422@cbnews.att.com> Scott.Johnson@p0.f7.n391.z8.fidonet.org (Scott Johnson) writes: > > > >-> The largest a glider ever got was a Messcherschmidt (sp?) > >->type. It was larger than a C-47, and required either two Me-110's or > >->its own special-designed towinng aircraft. > >-> > >->[mod.note: That's "Messerschmitt", and the gliders was the Me 321 > >->"Gigant." - Bill ] The Messerschmitt Gigant was the largest to see service, Junkers' "Mammut" was about the same size but didn't make it into service. I could carry a tank, though. Spent 45 million Reichsmarks making sure it wouldn't work. (Well, Junkers had no wood-working experience, among other things. They tried, though.) > It was a lot larger than a C-47 and it required _3_ Me 110s to drag it > off the ground (and they were at full power). The "troika-schlepp". Couldn't have been fun to fly. Fortunately, it was only a stopgap measure until the real tug was ready: > The He 111 based 'Zwilling' was two He 111 fuselages with a centre wing > section with either one or two (probably two) engines on it (like an F82 > twin Mustang). The pictue I've got (in Gilbert's "World's Worst Aircraft") shows five engines. All on the Zwilling. > As a bit of trivia, the worst aircraft accident for many years was a fully > loaded test flight of the Gigant, where one of the three Me 110 tow aircraft > lost an engine and slewed sideways into the cables, dragging the second > 110 down. The third 110 went down when the Gigant dragged it down on its > way to crashing into the ground, killing all aboard all 4 Messerschmitts. > > The toll from this was well in excess of 100 men (I could find out if needed). 120 troops, six Gigant crew, three Me-110 crew. > >They eventually put motors on the Gigant and, I think, used JATOs to get > >them in the air. I've seen some WWII footage of Allied fighters splashing > >them in the Med. The German pilots must have felt hopeless in the extreme > >when they were spotted - like flying an underpowered barn. They were trying > >to fly supplies to Africa. Sixteen Me-323's (the powered version) of Luftwaffe #5 Transport Squadron left Trapani in Sicily for Tunis, carrying fuel for the Afrika Corps. Lost 14 to British Spitfires and Marauders. 121 of 140 total crewmen lost. One Me-323 lost on the ground two days later. The last one returned to Sicily with wounded from Rommel's troops. Remaining Gigants flew to the end of the war...but mostly in areas without many enemy fighters about. ------------ The only drawback with morning is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day. ------------