
Me323 Gigants on the Eastern Front 1943 - 1945


A skinpack with 44 fully marked and 3 generic and nomarks Me323, each single one based as well as possible on historical photographs. Many 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. I therefore adapted the skins to match closest the e-variant.

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 belonged to KGzbV323/TG5 and TG4, the units which flew the gigants in active frontline service. There were some school/training/replacement or maintenance units which used the Me323 as well but in much less numbers. 

The Paintschemes: 

The gigants flew either with factory codes (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. Unitcodes (C8 or G6) were overpainted or completely omitted oftenly. 
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. 
An emblem of TG4 isn't known, all original pics aren't displaying such. 
Unit codes for Stab and the 3 Staffeln of I./KGzbV323/TG5 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. Tactical tail markings adopted in the MTO were X1-? and used by
I.Group until about early 1944. Afterwards they had no meaning. Some birds flew with them til summer 1944 and some
retained their Y1-? markings from former service with II.Group.
Unit codes for Stab and the four Staffeln of II./KGzbV323/TG5 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. 
III./KGzbV323 existed for a short time only and flew exept a handful with factory coded  a/c. Found no pics of assigned a/c.   
There aren't any indices for the existence of a Geschwaderstab or such coded (C8+?A) Me323.


Unit codes for the 16th Staffel of IV./TG4 were G6+?Q. The staffel was formed from the remaining gigants after TG was disbanded and therefore the coloured a/c letters were of all
possible colours. Just G6 (in very small letters) and the staffelletter Q were painted over former codes. 
    

Short (really!) History:

The Me323 was the largest transport aircraft of WWII. It was developed from the glider Me321 by fitting six powerful Gnome Rhone (french booty) or Leo engines. It was faster than the Ju52 and in relation fuel waste/cargo load it was much more effective. I. e. complete tanks, heavy flak guns with
towing vehicles, several lorries or a complete company of infantry could be carried.   

The Me323 was in operational use from november 1942 onwards. I./KGzbV323 was the first unit to flew it. The group was immediately send to the MTO (Greece/Italy) where it fly supply missions
for Rommel's Afrikakorps. II./ and (much more) III./KGzbV323 flew missions to the eastern front from february 1943 onwards. No gigants (Me321 and Me323!) were involved in the stalingrad scenario. 
In april 1943 II./KGzbV323 was send to the MTO to reinforce I.Gruppe. After heavy losses (i. e. cape Bone massacre of april 22th 1943) due to lacking escorts II./KGzbV323 was temporarely disbanded
and gave it's a/c to I.Gruppe. From may 1st 1943 KGzbV323 was renamed TG5 (Transportgeschwader 5). In june 1943 II./TG5 was formed by simply renaming III./TG5 and sent to
the MTO (france, sardinia and corsica mostly) again. Single missions were flewn to the east from july 1943 onwards. In october/november 1943 complete TG5 was send to the eastern front and
saw service in Poland, Finland, Latvia, Rumania, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Jugoslavia and Czechoslowakia. Maintenance missions to Germany (i. e. Gttingen or Gardelegen). 
TG5 continued to loose a/c to fighters or flak or simply technical problems. The most gigants were destroyed on the ground during strafing or bombing raids, the huge a/c could be spotted from a far distance. Due to heavy losses on june 14th 1944 at Kecskemet (Hungary) airfield, were P38's of the 14th FG (15th USAAF) strafed and bombed the gigants, TG5 received disbandment orders in late august 1944. The remaining gigants were given to various units but the most to TG4, were they formed a 16th Staffel of IV./TG4. It isn't known if any missions were flown by 16./TG4. a pic in
Hans-Peter Dabrowski's excellent book (Me321 and 323 luftwaffe giants in WWII) showing armourers reloading ammo in the guns of G6+FQ suggests there were some activity. The most pics
of gigants in late 1944 or 1945 (at Skutec or Chrudim) are showing fixed tail rudders, what makes the experts (i. e. Dabrowski) assume they were grounded the most time due to lack of fuel. 
The last gigants were plundered by czech civilians for useful materials in may 1945 and set on fire. No Me323 survived the war.

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
