Also the Bell Airacudas gunners in the engine were just almost loaders. This was becasue the guns were mostly fired inside from fire control officers. They could fire themselves but it was mostly they reloaded the gun.

The Bell FM AIRACUDA:

The plane was intended to be a ANti Aircraft Mobile platform. Its 600 lb bomb load was almost useless and each of the Nacelles had a 37 mm or 27 mm cannon in it. Airacuda pilots reported that the plane was unstable in a pitch with the power on, but once the power was reduced it became stable, which made it easy to land. THe highly complicated electircal system rewuired a full-time auxilary petrol motor running inside the fuselage to keep it energized. If it failed, which it did, the pilot lost flaps, gear, fuel pumps and engines. There was a perascope under the nose so the fire control officer could spot enemy fighters. The Airacuda had a lot of drag making it slower then most bombers and less manoverable then most fighters........It overall was a bad design.

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Hmm interesting details, being reduced to load guns for others must have been frustrating!
But aren't we getting off topic here?

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Opppsss didn't even realize it

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Stop 'em at the 38th Parallel,Blast those yellow reds to hell, And cold war kids were hard to kill
Under their desk in an air raid drill,Haven't they heard we won the war, What do they keep on fighting for?"

I just stumbled across this eBay listing of a guy selling prints of the above photo. His description of the item, for what it's worth, is

""A heavily armed six-engine ME-323 being shot down off Cape Corse, Corsica, by a B-26 Marauder of the Air Force."
US AAF Description

...heavily armed?

It could be a Waffentrager, but I have my doubts.

-whatever

-Lou

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INteresting

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Stop 'em at the 38th Parallel,Blast those yellow reds to hell, And cold war kids were hard to kill
Under their desk in an air raid drill,Haven't they heard we won the war, What do they keep on fighting for?"

I assume he means "heavily armed" simply because it has a dozen or more 7.9s. That's a lot of guns. It is not the WT because that thing had turrets in the tops of the wings.

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The Me-323 had fixed landing gear from it's glider days. It was very basic transportation like all gliders were. They just stuck some engines on it so it would be easier to get into the air. Making 5 engine He-111's was a waste of resources to just drag a big glider into the air.

The two bladed prop was made of wood to save on metal. It was not successful as you still had an underpowered transport plane.

In defence of the Germans and their big transports, I would say it would be really easy to shoot down a C-5 or C-130 if there were no escorts.

As a side note, the Germans made two bigger aircraft than this; the Blohm und Voss BV 238 and the Blohm und Voss BV 222 flying boats.

The BV 222 had a max weight of 100,531 pounds and six 1200 hp engines.

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Maybe not considering the alternative was the Troika-Schlepp, three Me110 trying to pull a 323 without colliding Wow!



Ahem, the picture on the left!

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Yes and the rocket pods far out on the wings were dangerous too. If one side started and the other did not or was late getting started then you would be making a very sharp turn and dragging the Me-110's with you.

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I could not imagine trying to get some rockets to start simultaneously, if they didnt then well everyone in the Me-110 would probably be dead..




I have a Question. Did the version of Me-110's that pulled the glider have a rear gunner?

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"I was born in '49, A cold war kid in McCarthy time
Stop 'em at the 38th Parallel,Blast those yellow reds to hell, And cold war kids were hard to kill
Under their desk in an air raid drill,Haven't they heard we won the war, What do they keep on fighting for?"

Have been reading this thread in one go to pick up.
Have a comment about the armament used uon the 323.

I know germans were using something called Schrage music on me-410's. Could be that they were using a simular system to control the armament here. Anybody who can confirm??

Have seen some pictures of the troika-schlepp some time ago. From what I remember, at first glance they look like regular me-110's. Don't remember however if they were manned.

No, they had all died of fright.

Definitely not. SM was generally a couple of 20mm cannon (with variations) firing from a nightfighter at a fixed angle upwards, into the belly of enemy bombers. No relation at all to Me323.

Schräge Musik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nightfighter Tactics

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A few random notes:

As the Allied air forces established enough fighter squadrons forward in Tunisia, and enough appropriate comm & HQ staff they were able to set up a system of standing air patrols and standby interceptors on the ground. The standing patrol would be vectored in on the approaching enemy to first confirm the nature of the enemy air group & then to drawn off the escourts. The standby squadrons would hopefully arrive bbefore the fight with the escourts had ceased.

The control HQ for the Allied interceptors were finally given close links to:

A. ULTRA decrypts and general signals analysis of the Axis radio stations controling the air support for Tunisia.

B. A OSS controled network of agents observing the Italian airfields and supply transport on the ground. The transmitter mentioned above in this thread was used several times earlier to notify te OSS CP in Tunisia of departing Axis aircraft. Its loss was sorely felt and the effort to replace it had high priority.

C. Powerfull early warning RADAR stations capable of giving 10-15+ minutes warning of approaching aircraft formations.

Earlier the interceptor groups had accquired the information though 'channels' making it nearly impossible to act on it effectively.

There was also mention of a B26 bomber shooting down a Gigant. This story turns up here & there, tho the target aircrft in the other versions was a Ju52. The most complete version decribes the bombers returning from raids on Sicilly & Italy being occasionally vectored to intercept for visual checks of approaching Axis flights. Also some Allied bomber formations seem to have encountered Axis formations by accident. Whicever the case a B26 pilot found a Ju52 in the gun zone and was able to line up a sucessfull shot. Like some models of the B25 the B26 had mounts for four forward firing 50 cal.

After the Cape Bon or Easter massacre the Axis air leaders begain planning night flights.

The intel sources, the OSS network & the ULTRA, were used to trigger premptive Allied air raids on the Italian airfield where the transports assembled to load the cargo. These raids had a lot to do with the many Gigant unfit to fly & prevented significant supplies from being leaving Italy/Sicilly. Ditto for raids on the Tunisian end of the flight. In short the Axis air transports were being struck in all phases of the supply mission, from loading to discharging. A similar front to back interdiction system had been developed vs the sea transports during the same months.

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Interesting thanks for posting!!

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"I was born in '49, A cold war kid in McCarthy time
Stop 'em at the 38th Parallel,Blast those yellow reds to hell, And cold war kids were hard to kill
Under their desk in an air raid drill,Haven't they heard we won the war, What do they keep on fighting for?"