Biggest Plane of WWII

the second world war saw aircraft of all different shapes and sizes the conflict produced planes which were incredibly fast and agile it saw long range bombers capable of crossing the Seas and it also had some of the smallest with only a single occupant to maneuver it around but perhaps one of the most spectacular and incredible is the mesmi me 323 gigant or giant this German aircraft was was the largest land-based plane of the war its sheer size was like nothing seen before but why was it needed at all well in today's video we'll look at the biggest plane of World War II if you enjoy this video and want to see more hit that subscribe button it's free and really helps the channel reach more history lovers like you the me 323 was born out of its very similar me 321 sister this version was close in appearance however the 321 was a glider based aircraft and apart from an initial thrust of rocket boosters in takeoff it wasn't able to propel itself through the air the 323 was created in the leadup to the planned invasion of Britain Germany needed the ability to land tanks vehicles and heavy equipment much further Inland than the beach assaults would allow hence the requirement for a heavy transport aircraft ultimately after the operation was called off the needs still existed on the Eastern front as well as the operations in North Africa the gigant was huge with a wingspan of 55 M or 180 ft it was 28 M or 94 ft long and 10 m or 33 ft in height it was powered by six large radial engines two interesting things surrounding the engines were the fact that they were were French made the decision to use these over a German engine was due to the thought process of lessening the burden on German manufacturing the other interesting fact was the direction the propellers moved the port side Wing had three engines which rotated counterclockwise whereas the starboard side's engines rotated clockwise to save on weight most of the wings were made from Timber and fabric the fuselage featured metal tubings surrounded by additional fabric as the experimental process evolved several variants were created however the main version would feature a main crew of five men this involved two pilots two flight engineers and a radio operator additionally two Gunners could be carried depending on the flight operation the two Engineers sat in small rooms on each wing and concentrated their efforts on the engine status as far as a defensive Armament the 323 was only equipped with five machine guns one in each Wing facing rearward and operated by the engineers and three in the fuselage the aircraft's massive mouth opened up to reveal its 12ton cargo hold this had the ability to carry a fully equipped Panza 4 or an 88 mm gun with half track for towing ability it could carry huge amounts of supplies including around 50 barrels of fuel and even as many as 130 men now with those kinds of numbers you can see the draw card of this aircraft in all 2133 were manufactured or created out of the 321 glider version operationally the 323 saw use on the Eastern front in North Africa and even Italy the size of the aircraft and lightweight materials meant it was actually able to absorb quite a lot of damage and still stay airborne however its slow speed and sheer size meant any Allied aircraft could simply continue to fire on it until it fell from the sky one example of this was in 1943 when a formation of 27 gigants flew across the Sicilian straight although they were escorted by Fighters the intercepting Allied aircraft were able to shoot down 21 of the enormous planes when they were successfully used they definitely helped the men on the ground especially when it comes to the isolated Africa Corp who relied on supplies of food and water from the air but the ultimate demise of the plane was its need for fighter escorts as the war went on these Fighters were better placed elsewhere such as intercepting the seemingly endless Allied bombing formations over Western Europe the last of the 323s flew in 1944 and after that no further aircraft were manufactured although it wasn't as much of a success as German inventors would have hoped in some small way it played a part in the design of modernday large Transport Aircraft the size of the plane definitely warrants it to be remembered in the history books as the biggest landbased plane of World War II what did you think of the Mesa Smith 323 did you realize it was that big let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below as always guys thanks for watching be sure to hit that subscribe button if you want to expand your knowledge and join the growing Premier history community