Messerschmitt Me 323
Description
Role	Heavy transport
Crew	5
First flight
Entered service	1943
Manufacturer	Messerschmitt A.G.
Dimensions
Length	28.2 m	92 ft 4 in
Wingspan	55.2 m	181 ft 0 in
Height	m	ft in
Wing area	m²	ft²
Weights
Empty	15,500 kg	34,000 lb
Loaded	29,500 kg	65,000 lb
Maximum takeoff	kg	lb
Powerplant
Engine	6 Gnôme-Rhône 14N
Power (each)	700 kW	950 hp
Performance
Maximum speed	270 km/h	170 mph
Combat range	800 km	500 mile
Ferry range	km	miles
Service ceiling	m	ft
Rate of climb	m/min	ft/min
Armament
Guns	(example) 18 × 7.92 mm MG81 machine-guns

The Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant" was a German transport aircraft of the Second World War. It was a powered variant of the Me 321 glider. It was the biggest land-based cargo airplane of the World War II. Just over 200 are recorded as having been made.

To make the Me 323 fit for cheap mass production, it had been designed with a fabric-covered steel tube framing instead of a conventional light-alloy monocoque structure. Inititally, it was planned to power the Me 323 with four engines, but flight testing a prototype showed that six engines were necessary to achieve the desired load-carrying capability.

Capable of carrying 100 combat-equipped troops or a similar freight load of about 15 tons, the Me 323 was used in 1943 to ferry supplies and reserve troops from Italy and Sicily to the German Armies in North Africa. However, using Ultra intelligence, the transport formations' flight schedules were known to the Allies, and many transport aircraft, including Me 323s, were intercepted and shot down as a result.