
Me323 Gigants in the MTO 1942 - 1943


A semihistorical skinpack with 51 fully marked and 3 generics/nomarks, based as well as possible on historical photographs. All fuselage codes are 100% historical.   
The very most of the original a/c were early D-1 to D-6 variants, the game variant is closest to the E variant, which i. e. had the two additional upper wing turrets to increase defensive fire power. 
Many compromises were necessary because of assymetrical mapping and stretching of the 3D model, so forgive me it wasn't always possible to skin all details 100% correctly/historically.
Included are Me323 which serviced  with KGzbV323 (renamed TG5 on may 1st 1943) in the MTO from November 1942 to oktober 1943. The gigants mainly flew supply missions for Panzerarmee Afrika
(formerly named Afrikakorps) from Italy to Tunisia. After the heavy loss of 14 gigants and 119 of personnel on april 22th 1943 ('Cap bon massacre'- see separate skinpack) the unit flew supply missions within Italy,
Sardegna, Corsica and France. In october 1943 complete TG5 was ordered to the eastern front, where it serviced until disbandment.  

The Paintschemes: 

The gigants flew either with factory codes (black coloured Stammkennzeichen) or unit codes, which were painted over the factory ones when assigned. I found no 'rules' why some received unit codes and 
others never. As always with the luftwaffe of WWII there were variations in the camo (RLM 70/71/65 splinter camouflage) and in the style of letters and numbers. 
KGzbV323, which later became TG5, had three unit emblems:  A flying elephant carrying a case for I.Group, Baron von Mnchhausen riding a cannonball towed by geese for II.Group and
a prop with oak leaves and the number 6 for Stab I.Group. The emblems weren't applied always. 
 
Unit codes for Stab and the 3 Staffeln of I./KGzbV323 were C8+?B-E-F-G. There isn't any evidence for a real existence of a 4th Staffel. Staffelcolours were green-white-red-yellow. 
At cap bon all gigants of I,/KGzbV323 - except C8+AF, which aborted the mission - were still factory coded.Tactical tail markings adopted in the MTO were X1-? and used by
I.Group until about early 1944. 
Unit codes for Stab and the four Staffeln of II./KGzbV323 were C8+?C-N-P-R-S. Colours here were green-white-red-yellow-blue. Tactical tail markings (Y1-?) usually not used from summer 1943 onwards.
Code letters were of different styles. 
After cap bon The remnants of II./KGzbV323 gave all it's a/c to I./KGzbV323 (renamed I./TG in may) and moved to Germany 
(therefore some a/c of I.Gruppe served with the Y tail letter of II.Gruppe). There it formed a new II./TG5 from III./KGzbV323 in summer 1943.   


Credits/Sources:

Foo'bar and Sparty for using their templates
Hans-Peter Dabrowski, book author of the no1 reference 'luftwaffe giants in WWII' (schiffer publishing 2002),
who patiently answered all my questions
'...schleppte und flog Giganten' (towed and flew gigants) by Ernst Peter
Transporter Vol.1 and 2 by Martin Pegg (classic publications)
'Messerschmitt Giganten und der Fliegerhorst Regensburg-Obertraubling' by Peter Schmoll
'Die Giganten Me321 Me323' by Kurt Pawlas
'Transporter' wer kennt sie schon... by Karl Kssler
Luftwaffe Experten Message Board & Stammkennzeichen database
Luftarchiv.de

As always the skins are free for noncommercial use only. Any reupload requires my permission.
Hope you enjoy these works - your feedback is much appreciated!

ATB
Cheruskerarmin

mailto  cheruskerarmin@freenet.de
