Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

HYBRID AIRCRAFT AND GLIDERS
GOTHA Go 244B
Type: Transport
Length: 15.80m (51.83ft)
Span: 24.50m (80.38ft)
Above: Like the Messerschmitt 'Gigant', the much smaller
Gotha Go 242 also made the transition from glider to
powered aircraft, becoming the Go 244 in the process.
example). It first became operational in November
1942, and was used to supply units of the Afrika
Korps from a base in Sicily. Although it was largely
successful, it did have its spectacular failures. On 22
April 1943, no less than 21 Me 323s, ferrying petrol,
were shot down in a single operation. Production
continued until m id-1944, and around 200 examples
were built in all.
THE Ju 322'MAMMUT'
The heavy glider Junkers produced was anything but
conventional. Designed by Heinrich Hertel, it was
simply an enormous flying wing, inside which it carried
almost all of its payload, with a tall fin carried on
a boom-like extension at the tail. In overall form it
was somewhat reminiscent of the Junkers-G 38, a
commercial passenger-carrier which made its first
flight in 1929. On RLM instructions, the Ju 322 was
constructed entirely from wood. With a span of 62m
(203.5ft) and a length of 30.25m (99.25ft) it had a
wing area of 925m 2 (9952 sq ft). The centre section of
the wing's straight leading edge housed a top-hinged
loading door, with a glazed cupola to the port side of
it containing the flight deck. The upper surface of the
wing was flat, and there was considerable dihedral on
the lower surface. At the centre point, it was over 3m
(9.8ft) thick. The prototype did fly in April 1941 but
by that time its payload had been cut to half of the
required 22.35 tonnes (22 tons) as the 'cabin 1 floor
was simply not up to the task: a tracked vehicle actually
broke through it during loading trials and the air-
48
Max take-off weight: 7800kg (17,196lb)
Max speed: 290km/h (180mph) at 3000m (9800ft)
Range: 740km (460 miles}
Armament: 4 x 7.92mm MG 34 machine guns
craft proved to be chronically unstable. It landed safely
and was towed back to the airfield at Merseburg.
Given a larger tail fin in an attempt to counter the
instability, it made a few more test flights before the
project was abandoned on the orders of the RLM. It
was then cut up for fuel, along with a completed second
aircraft and the components of 98 more which
were already in the process of construction.
THE GOTHA Go 242/244
Somewhat more practical than either of the giant gliders
and more numerous by far was the Gotha Go 242.
It was a shoulder-wing monoplane with a simple
square-section fuselage culminating in twin booms
linked by a cross-plane to form the tail. A loading
ramp at the rear of the fuselage pod let down to allow
loading and unloading of a small vehicle such as the
amphibious Kübelwagen, or 21 fully equipped troops.
Over 1500 were built, of which 133 were converted
into Go 244s, fitted with two VOOhp Gnome-Rhone
engines in forward extensions of the tailbooms.
A few of the gliders were converted to allow them
to alight on water; they carried a small catamaran
assault boat with a 1200kg (26461b) explosive charge
suspended between its hulls. The mission profile
envisaged for them saw the pilot setting down near an
enemy ship and taking to the assault boat, setting off
in it at high speed toward the ship and locking the
controls before baling out to be rescued later by seaplane
or submarine. No such mission ever took place,
though it is worth remembering that members of the
Italian Navy's Xth MAS flotilla disabled the cruiser
HMS York with explosive-packed motor boats at Suda
Bay in Crete in March 1941, so the idea was not that
far-fetched.