Me-321 - Gigant

[Kunal Biswas]

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.

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.

On 22 April 1943, a formation of 27 fully loaded Me 323s was being escorted across the Sicilian Straits by Bf 109s of JG 27 when it was intercepted by seven squadrons of Spitfires and P-40s. Twenty one of the Me 323s were lost while [4] three of the P-40s were shot down by the escorts.[5]

In terms of aircraft design, the Me 323 was very resilient, and could absorb a huge amount of enemy fire, unless loaded with barrels of fuel – the Afrika Korps' nicknames of Leukoplastbomber ("Elastoplast bomber") or even more derisively as the "adhesive tape bomber", were somewhat unfair.[citation needed] The Me 323 was something of a "sitting duck", being so slow and large an aircraft. However, no transport aircraft can ever be expected to survive without something close to air superiority, and it is believed that no Me 323s survived in service beyond summer 1944.

A total of 198[6][7] or 213 Me 323s were built before production ceased in April 1944. There were several production versions, beginning with the D-1. Later D- and E- versions differed in the choice of power plant and in defensive armament, with improvements in structural strength, total cargo load and fuel capacity also being implemented. Nonetheless, the Me 323 remained significantly underpowered. There was a proposal to install six BMW 801 radials, but this never came to pass. The Me 323 was also a short-range aircraft, with a typical range (loaded) of 1,000-1,200 km (620-750 mi). Despite this, the limited numbers of Me 323s in service were an invaluable asset to the Germans, and saw intensive use.

Messerschmitt Me 323 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Photos :

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Messerschmitt Me-321 Gigant | Aircraft |

Massive German War Plane Wreck Found : Discovery News

Messerschmitt Me-323 Gigant (72nd Aircraft)

 

[Blackwater]

This is called Giant

 

[W.G.Ewald]

^^
Does it fly?

 

[Blackwater]

^^
Does it fly?

Kalinin K-7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
K-7

Role Heavy bomber/Civilian transport
National origin Soviet Union
First flight 1933
Status Destroyed in crash
Number built 1


A detailed scale model of a K-7
The Kalinin K-7 (Ukrainian: Калинін К-7) was a heavy experimental aircraft designed and tested in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. It was of unusual configuration with twin booms and large underwing pods housing fixed landing gear and machine gun turrets. In the passenger version, seats were arranged inside the 2.3 meter (7 ft 7 in) thick wings. The airframe was welded from KhMA chrome-molybdenum steel. The original design called for six engines in the wing leading edge but when the projected loaded weight was exceeded, two more engines were added to the trailing edges of each wing, one right and one left of the central passenger pod.[1] However V. Nemecek states in his book, The History of Soviet Aircraft from 1918, that there was only one further pusher engine added; this agrees with the specification below.
Designed by World War I Aviator Konstantin Kalinin, with a wingspan close to that of a B-52 and a much greater wing area, the K-7 was one of the biggest aircraft built before the jet age. It had one engine less than the B-52, having an unusual arrangement of six pulling on the wing leading edge and one pushing at the rear.
The K-7 was built in two years at Kharkiv starting in 1931.[2]
The K-7 first flew on 11 August 1933. The very brief first flight showed instability and serious vibration caused by the airframe resonating with the engine frequency. The solution to this was thought to be to shorten and strengthen the tail booms, little being known then about the natural frequencies of structures and their response to vibration. The aircraft completed seven test flights before a crash due to structural failure of one of the tail booms on 21 November 1933.[3] However, there appeared recently some speculations in the Russian aviation press about the role of politics and competing design office of A. N. Tupolev, suggesting possible sabotage. The accident killed 14 people aboard and one on the ground.[4] Although two more prototypes were ordered in 1933, the project was cancelled in 1935 before they could be completed.[1]
In 1938 Kalinin was executed as an enemy of the state during the Stalinist purges.[5]

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Hughes H-4 Hercules - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kunal Biswas]

This is a artistic impression..

Its projected never materialized..

This is called Giant

 

[Blackwater]

This is a artistic impression..

Its projected never materialized..

its was reality it flew at least once.


The K-7 first flew on 11 August 1933. The very brief first flight showed instability and serious vibration caused by the airframe resonating with the engine frequency. The solution to this was thought to be to shorten and strengthen the tail booms, little being known then about the natural frequencies of structures and their response to vibration. The aircraft completed seven test flights

 

[Kunal Biswas]

@BW,

That thing cannot fly, Its design is not practical nor power-plant were powerful enough, Though you can always show me a good link except wiki..