Improbable, Implausible, Imposs......No! by neiwil
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Description
With the Normandy beach head secure and the allies pushing inland, a number of airfields became available to the allies in France. These were put to use flying ground support for advancing troops as well as seek and destroy missions. Towards the end of July 1944 a lone P-47 crossed into Germany looking for something to kill. Nearing an airfield the pilot saw what appeared to be a pair of Me 323 transports preparing to take off. Dropping down to treetop level, the pilot strafed the aircraft and anything else in his sights, anti aircraft guns were quick to respond and after one pass the pilot continued on his way looking for something else. Ground crew rushed to put out fires and assess damage. What the American pilot had stumbled on was the only Me 323 Z “Zwilling” or twin, the aircraft was quickly patched up and within a few hours the nine BMW 801 engines roared into life. Almost as if in slow motion the great beast rolled across the airfield and lifted into the air, it flew out over the North coast of Germany and began it’s BOMBING run. As the bomb fell away the Me323 Z was catapulted 100’s of feet vertically straight up, the tremendous force exerted on the repaired airframe was too much and the aircraft disintegrated, scattering debris over a wide area. Blame for the loss of the aircraft was placed firmly on poor and hasty repairs, though it is unlikely ( in my opinion ) that even undamaged the aircraft would have survived. The aircraft is a revelation, what it dropped is even more so, the Me 323 Z dropped a 17.7 ton dummy bomb, designed at the Weapons Research Station at Karlshagen, specifically for this aircraft, as no other aircraft, allied or axis, could have lifted it. It is worth noting that this was eight months before 617 ‘Dambuster’ Squadron dropped the first 10 ton ‘earthquake’ bomb. With the loss of the prototype the project was cancelled as with each passing day it’s primary roll was diminished. Had the Me 323 Z gone into serial production it’s roll as a super-heavy bomber would have been secondary, it’s primary role was as Hitler’s long sort after ‘Americabomber’. The plan was to mount 2 or 4 V1 ‘Doodlebug’ rockets externally, the 2 fuselages would be converted to nothing more than flying fuel tanks and the aircraft would then have trans-atlantic range. Now, with the Allies marching towards Berlin, this was no longer a priority. In theory this could have worked, though the problems and pitfalls, such as recounted in Rommels ‘fuel run’, would have been huge. I doubt anyone would want to go within a country mile of this thing, let alone fly it. So, what started life as a glider evolved into something, many may see as laughable but again we’re left with ‘what if ‘…….
One other interesting Me 323 development was the Me 323E-2WT "Rhino"
Classified as a Waffentrager (weapons carrier) by the RLM. It’s primary mission was to provide normal 323 cargo formations with heavy defensive protection. With no cargo carrying ability, it would have a 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. It had a crew of twenty-one, the extra crew-members operating the plane's guns. Two prototypes were built and tested, but the 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 200 for operational evaluation, where it flew armed escort for the small squadron of captured B-17 Flying Fortresses operated by the geschwader......Hmmmm! KG200, now there's an interesting story....
Comments (25)
preeder
Mate this is just outstanding once again. My thanks for your support on the pensions issue. I wonder when and on how much Cameron and Clegg and all the other MP fat-cats will get when they retire at 65 which becomes 67. There is no way they will still be working then.
Mad-Mike
Very good read here! :-)) and this artwork is realistically created! Super Job!!
flavia49
splendid work
steelrazer
Amazing, simply amazing. Given enough time they probably would have put wings and engines on a refurbished Reichstad building so they could have a mobile quick response governmental agency. It's almost laughable that they didn't consider the results of instantly lightening the load by 17+ tons. I'll bet the crew lost it during those brief seconds. Talk about negative G's! German engineering at it's most absent-minded I think. Not like them at all! The second, gunship solution, sounds more than a bit like the original "Spooky", AC 130. With a "crew " of 21, when they ran out of ammo, they could just become an instant troop transport. If we were only half this ingenious about peace... Amazing story, Neil. Great work digging this one up...it clearly ranks in the Howard Hughes "Flying Goose" category for awards. Great modeling on the colossus as well...(you say you are finding these in a corner of your workshop??!!?? Just how big is that place?
fly028
Another great work my friend!!Did not knew this part of history. Great documentation. Exceptional work!!!
peedy
What a fantastic machine! Great info, again. Thanks. :-) Corrie
Maxidyne
I would not have believed this if it were told by anyone else mate. So this is where all the Luftwaffe's fuel went. Just looking at the model it doesn't look very stable so it's no wonder it disintegrated, again rushed development prehaps. Great story and model neil. Thanks :)
Penters
This is a new one on me, and I know quite a few Z config prototypes and projects. It's quite a monster is'nt it. Thanks for the pic and info, really great!
Osper
The old/new "Daisy Cutter" just proves the proverb "What's old is new and what's new is old". Obviously someone forgot the laws of Physics. OOPS!
android65mar
It reminds me of two dragonflies compulating. What a wacky plane!
T.Rex
What the....?? Are you serious? Well, knowing you, it MUST be true. They were very ahead, but that also gave a few people some strange ideas they wanted to try out. This was just too big and unfeasable, but, still, you have to hand it to them, they dared try and found it failed. Fortunately. I've never heard of this fantastic creation. Thanks for digging it up. Soon there won't be a single secret weapon in the German arsenal that you haven't dug up and given us a thorough education on. Fantastic work, Neil. And, as always, excellent work on the image. It really gives us an idea how huge this was. Which was why it failed - too weak materials. Keep up the good work. I'm amazed! :-) (Rating: 10!)
Froggy
We certainly learn alot with your posts mate, another buried treasure, revealed to your avid readership! Keep em coming ... pleeeese! ;)
AliceFromLake
Very nice story, but such an aircraft never existed. The Zeppelin factory in Friedrichshafen at Lake Constance made a proposal in may 1944 but it never came into reality. The Me-323Z is a myth. ;-) But well done, neiwil.
UVDan
@ steelrazer: The problem with waging peace instead of war is that the fat cat arms makers have not figured out how to make huge amounts of taxpayer funded profits on peace yet. I do not think they are trying very hard to figure it out either. @ Neil: Another great read and render and model.
bmac62
Fascinating story and render of this one-of-a-kind machine. Don't know what to make of AliceFromLake's comment...I have no idea of the source he/she used to label this a myth. One way or the other, you held me on the edge of my seat throughout the read... Way to go!
fallen21
Excellent work!
debbielove
I am literally gob smacked.. Never ever heard of this before!! Ever.. And I even had (though obviously never read cover to cover!) William Greens classic, Warplanes Of the Third Reich!! Blinding Neil.. Well done.. Rob
shamstar
Must have been a scary beast to try to fly. This is a really great series. Nice work.
lior
Incredible!
Tholian
While the inflicted and poorly repaired damage likely helped it's unlikely that it would have survived the accelerations and wind shears resulting from the release of that hefty bomb. Great series and fantastic imagery to go with it.
jac204
This has been a very informative series. Looking forward to perhaps hearing about KG200.
1358
all things cnsidered... highly probably... although I know for certain, I wouldn't want to be the one pilotting this abomination.... still a very cool pic!
Briney
They probably had a tennis court inside the wing of this thing!!! Or bicycles for the engineers to race each other from wing tip to wing tip. This is all getting out of hand, the end of the war must have been a relief!
kjer_99
Well, as they say, there were giants in those days..... Hmmmm? A lot more than I thought!
knupps
Wow.... I love this one. Nothing wrong with your imagination. A twin Me323 Z, fantastic, great work.