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 Rhône GR14N radial engines rated at 738 kW (990 hp); using French engines would place no burden on Germany's already strained 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 mph) - 80 km/h (50 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 (660 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 fighters 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. 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. In mid April 1943, in preparation for another attack against the 8th Army, Rommel put in an urgent request for fuel for his tanks. His request and the subsequent reply were picked up by the code-breakers at Bletchley Park and this information was passed on to the RAF Desert Airforce……. On 22 April 1943, 27 Me 323s were each crammed with 52 x 45 gallon drums of gasoline. They set off from Italy and were being escorted across the Sicilian Straits by Bf 109s of JG 27. High above, seven squadrons of Spitfires and P-40s waited, as the formation neared the African coast, they pounced. In terms of aircraft design, the Me 323 was very resilient, and could absorb a huge amount of enemy fire, however loaded with so much fuel, the results were horrifically predictable and spectacular. Twenty one of the Me 323s were lost while three of the P-40s were shot down by the escorts. Though a few Me 321 gliders were retro-fitted with engines, most Me 323’s were factory built. In all 200 Me 321s and 213 Me 323s were delivered, by the end of 1944 there were 0, possibly the only aircraft to be hunted to extinction during WWII. Bmac62 mentioned the thickness of the wingroots yesterday.The Me323 had two flight engineers stations inside the wings between the inboard and middle engines.For 3 engines that's a lot of kit and they were not cramped quarters. Thanks as always for looking and comments, hope you've enjoyed this little tale of big 'birds', just remember...tomorrow is NOT April 1st.....