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Author Topic: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.  (Read 3009 times)

Offline Wmaker

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Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« on: September 25, 2012, 08:48:30 AM »
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Offline bortas1

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2012, 10:00:46 AM »
 :salute neat
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Offline macleod01

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2012, 12:21:45 PM »
Going to follow this story with interest. Wonder if they will try to salvage her. Be amazing to see a 323 in a museum one day!
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Offline SmokinLoon

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2012, 12:38:20 PM »
I know hind sight is always 20/20, but I have to wonder why the US, or the UK, or even the Soviets grab on to a single sample of everything they could get their hands on for museum purposes, displays, etc. 

It is hard for me to stomach that each and every piece of machinery was turned in to scrap.  Oh the horror!   :)
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Offline macleod01

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2012, 12:41:33 PM »
Quote from: SmokinLoon on September 25, 2012, 12:38:20 PM
I know hind sight is always 20/20, but I have to wonder why the US, or the UK, or even the Soviets grab on to a single sample of everything they could get their hands on for museum purposes, displays, etc. 

It is hard for me to stomach that each and every piece of machinery was turned in to scrap.  Oh the horror!   :)

Certainly not just the WW2 pieces that have been scrapped. After the Napoleonic Wars, 90% of the Heavy Cavalry swords where scrapped or cut down to make pokers! Such weapons that saw the fields of Salamanca, Talavera, Waterloo, cut down for scrap  :cry
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Offline Karnak

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2012, 04:15:36 PM »
Quote from: SmokinLoon on September 25, 2012, 12:38:20 PM
I know hind sight is always 20/20, but I have to wonder why the US, or the UK, or even the Soviets grab on to a single sample of everything they could get their hands on for museum purposes, displays, etc. 

It is hard for me to stomach that each and every piece of machinery was turned in to scrap.  Oh the horror!   :)
Wouldn't matter in the case of the Me323.  They had 100% losses on that aircraft.
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Offline Volron

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2012, 04:18:07 PM »
Quote from: Karnak on September 25, 2012, 04:15:36 PM
Wouldn't matter in the case of the Me323.  They had 100% losses on that aircraft.

Were not most of them destroyed on the ground, with only a few being intercepted in the air?
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Offline Ack-Ack

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2012, 04:29:29 PM »
Quote from: Volron on September 25, 2012, 04:18:07 PM
Were not most of them destroyed on the ground, with only a few being intercepted in the air?

A significant number were shot down, in one mission 21 out of 27 Me 323's were shot down in the MTO.

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Offline RTHolmes

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2012, 04:58:43 PM »
Quote from: SmokinLoon on September 25, 2012, 12:38:20 PM
I know hind sight is always 20/20, but I have to wonder why the US, or the UK, or even the Soviets grab on to a single sample of everything they could get their hands on for museum purposes, displays, etc.  

It is hard for me to stomach that each and every piece of machinery was turned in to scrap.  Oh the horror!   :)

as far as europe was concerned, we were generally sick of war after 6+ years of it*. it took us decades to rebuild and nobody really wanted anything to remind them about it.


* as well as the great war, and the 1000+ years of wars before them ...
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Offline Babalonian

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2012, 05:00:55 PM »
Quote from: Karnak on September 25, 2012, 04:15:36 PM
Wouldn't matter in the case of the Me323.  They had 100% losses on that aircraft.

This. 
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Offline Krusty

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2012, 07:56:51 PM »
It was a terrible idea overall. It was never supposed to be flown into combat areas like they eventually did. Far worse than the Marianas Turkey Shoot, most folks don't know about the vain attempt to resupply certain MTO islands near Italy and then the eventual retreat. HUNDREDS of Ju52s were shot down at a time. These Me323s were pushed in because they had a large cargo load. It was a woeful mess.


My question is: What do they mean intact? It didn't look all that intact. I mean I understand there's different levels of decomposition and all, but wasn't the Me323 mostly fabric covering pipe framework? Would there even BE anything other than the wing, and a bunch of pipes?
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Offline GScholz

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2012, 08:14:04 PM »
No cargo plane can survive against fighters. The Me 323 was a great aircraft that could carry nearly 30,000 pounds of freight. It was the C-5 Galaxy of its day.
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Offline Angus

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2012, 07:15:36 AM »
It had a slightly better payload than the 4 engined Avro York, or the Lancaster for that sake, with 6 engines rather than 4. No miracle performance. The York could actually get to around 290+ mph!
It was a bulk of a glider, which proved slightly too heavy and was clapped into a powered aircraft. Very remarkable feat though.
And it had sad days during the evacuation of Tunisia for instance, as so many German transports (and other aircraft as well) which got pushed in there from many other places, - aircraft were even brought in from Stalingrad.
There is yet a lot to be found at the bottom of the med....
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Offline GScholz

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2012, 08:55:46 AM »
The Avro York is an airliner/cargo conversion of the Lancaster. It could carry 20,000 pounds, not 30,000; that a lot more than "slightly". It did not have anywhere near the same cargo hold volume and couldn't land on rough unprepared airfields. It's tail-dragger configuration made loading/unloading a lot more difficult. You couldn't simply drive the cargo on/off the aircraft.

It couldn't do this:



The Me 323 was the first real military transport plane, not just a converted bomber or civilian airliner. All modern military transports have similar "drive on drive off" loading capabilities with either clam shell doors or ramps. Capable of carrying 100 combat-equipped troops or a similar freight load of about 15 tons, the Me 323 is in fact comparable to the C-130 Hercules in load capabilities. And just like the C-130 it could deliver its cargo close to the front lines at simple unprepared airfields.
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Offline GScholz

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Re: Me323 found at the coast of Sardinia.
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2012, 09:13:16 AM »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=500GZ5gfWZ0





The ten landing wheels gave the Me 323 superb rough-field performance. It could even land on frozen lakes.
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