Messerschmitt Me 321

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Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant
Me 321 giant
Type: Glider
Design country:

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire

Manufacturer:

Messerschmitt AG

First flight:

February 25, 1941

Commissioning:

1941

Production time:

June 1941 to April 1942

Number of pieces:

200

The Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant was a cargo glider for the German Air Force during World War II . With a wingspan of 55 meters and a take-off weight of more than 34 tons, it is the largest glider ever built .

It was commissioned in 1940 to transport troops and war material to England as part of the “Sea Lion” company . Over 20 tons of payload equivalent to 200 armed soldiers or one Panzerkampfwagen IV should be able to be transported.

development

Headed by Josef Fröhlich , the aircraft was designed under extreme time pressure within three months. The Me 321 completed its maiden flight on February 25, 1941. In the absence of powerful aircraft, she had to be towed by three Bf 110s (so-called troika tow). Later a Ju 90 was used, which was able to tow fully loaded Me 321s. The "numerous serious accidents with the Troika tow" listed in the literature are described in detail for the Obertraubling Air Base.

The motorized version of the cargo glider was launched with four engines for the first time in April 1942. It turned out that this model was too weakly motorized, so the further development Me 323  V2 was equipped with six motors.

commitment

In mid-1941, tall ship squadrons were set up for the imminent attack on the Soviet Union and used as towing aircraft Bf 110. In 1942, the He 111  Z was developed as a tow plane for this task, consisting of two He 111 H6s, with two hulls and five engines with 1340 hp each. To facilitate the launch, launchers were attached to the Me 321. In addition, the 1.7-ton landing gear could be thrown off when it took off.

production

The first four aircraft were taken over by the Luftwaffe in May 1941. By September 30, 1941, 49 out of 100 aircraft ordered had been delivered by the Messerschmitt works in Leipheim and 64 out of 100 ordered aircraft from Obertraubling . The last two aircraft were taken over in April 1942, so that a total of 200 series aircraft were built. However, it is unclear whether the prototypes were part of the series aircraft or whether these were built in addition to the 200 aircraft.

Incidents during testing and training

The following serious incidents occurred during testing and training with the Me 321:

  • March 14, 1941: The Me 321 V1, holder BFW, crashed in Leipheim and was destroyed. No personal injury.
  • May 19, 1941: Two Bf 110 E2 (W.-Nr. 3933, 3974) of the Merseburg Sonderkommando crash while towing a Ju 52 / 3m in Merseburg . Both crews (four Luftwaffe soldiers) were killed. The Ju 52 / 3m suffered no damage. This is the only accident that has "towing" as the cause of the accident.
  • May 28, 1941: The Me 321 (W.-Nr. 452), owner BFW, had an accident near Regensburg due to a broken tail unit. The five-man crew perished (three from the Luftwaffe, one from Messerschmitt, one from the Rechlin test center).
  • June 28, 1941: The Me 321 (W.-Nr. 466) of the GS 22 was destroyed in a starting accident in Leipheim. No personal injury.
  • July 25, 1941: The Bf 110 E (W.-Nr. 3924) of the flying school Schlepp Obertraubling had a starting accident in Obertraubling in which the two-man crew was injured.
  • August 4, 1941: The Bf 110 C4 (W.-No. 3634) of the Schlepp Regensburg flying school was lost for unknown reasons. The two-man crew was killed.
  • August 6, 1941: The Bf 110 E2 / U1 (W.-Nr. 3729) of the Sonderkommando Merseburg was destroyed in Zerbst due to an engine failure . The two-man crew was injured.
  • August 13, 1941: The He 111 H5 (W. No. 3933) of the GS 4 crashed in Augsburg . The crew recorded two deaths and two injured.
  • October 3, 1941: The Bf 110 E1 (W.-No. 4029) of the flying school Schlepp Obertraubling broke completely. One crew member was injured.
  • November 8, 1941: The Bf 110 B (W.-No. 968) of the GS 2 suffered a starting accident in Obertraubling. The two-man crew was injured.
  • November 15, 1941: The Bf 110 E1 (W.-Nr. 3947) of the flying school Schlepp Obertraubling crashed in Kassel due to technical defects. The two-man crew was injured.
  • December 10, 1941: The Me 321 (W.-Nr. 577) of the Obertraubling experimental unit crashed near Kelheim, killing the three-man crew.
  • January 8, 1942: The Bf 110 E1 (W.-No. 4025) of the flying school Schlepp Obertraubling was lost in Echterdingen for unknown reasons. No personal injury.

Another eight minor accidents were recorded during training and testing in 1941.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
length 28.15 m
span 55 m
height 10 m
Wing area 300 m²
Glide ratio 8th
Hold 100 m³
Empty mass 11,300 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 34,400 kg
Towing speed 220 km / h

See also

literature

  • Ernst Peter: "... towed and flew giants" - the story of the largest cargo glider in the world (Me 321) and the largest transport aircraft (Me 323) of the Second World War. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-87943-426-3 .
  • Hans-Peter Dabrowski: Giants of the Air. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, Friedberg 1993, ISBN 3-7909-0482-1 .
  • Herbert Ringlstetter: Messerschmitt Me 321 large-capacity cargo glider . In: Flugzeug Classic . No. 7 , 2008, ISSN  1617-0725 , p. 38-43 .
  • Peter Schmoll : Messerschmitt giants and the Regensburg-Obertraubling air base. MZ-Buchverlag, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-934863-09-4 .

Web links

Commons : Messerschmitt Me 321  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ernst Peter: The aircraft tow from the beginning until today. Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 1981.
  2. ^ Karl Kössler , Günther Ott: The great Dessauer. Aviatic-Verlag, 1993.
  3. ^ Peter Schmoll: Messerschmitt giants and the Regensburg-Obertraubling air base. Regensburg 2002, p. 36. In the loss lists of the Luftwaffe Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv Freiburg: loss lists associations and schools and other associations, inventory RL 2III, they cannot be proven.
  4. ^ Federal Archives-Military Archives Freiburg: Production programs. Holdings RL 3. See Peter Schmoll, 2002, p. 58, who speaks of 175 pieces.
  5. ^ BA / MA Freiburg, inventory RL2 / III 770-772, loss lists schools and other associations