Strange and Unusual Aircraft - 41
Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant ("Giant")
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 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
Britain. 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.
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