Intended to support large-scale invasions, the Me 321 had very limited use due to the low availability of suitable tug aircraft, high vulnerability whilst in flight, and its difficult ground handling, both at base and at destination landing sites.
[1] During the preparations for a possible invasion of Britain during World War II (Operation Sea Lion) the Luftwaffe's Transport Command saw an obvious need existed for a larger-capacity cargo- and troop-carrying aircraft than its mainstay, the Junkers Ju 52.
Accordingly, the Technical Bureau of the Luftwaffe issued a tender for rapid development of a Grossraumlastensegler ("large-capacity transport glider") to the aircraft manufacturers Junkers and Messerschmitt.
[3] The Me 321 was fitted with a jettisonable undercarriage comprising two Bf 109 mainwheels at the front and two Junkers Ju 90 main wheels at the rear and was intended to land on four extendable skids.
[dubious – discuss][4][5][better source needed] This was the deadliest aviation accident up to that time and was not matched until the Tachikawa air disaster of 1953 and not exceeded until the 1960 New York mid-air collision.
The Me 321 was less than successful on the Eastern Front for various reasons: In early 1942, the remaining Me 321s were withdrawn from service in Russia in anticipation of the planned Operation Herkules, the invasion of Malta, in which a fleet of the gliders hauled by He 111Zs was to be used.
In 1943, Me 321s returned to Russia for use in a projected operation to relieve the besieged Sixth Army at Stalingrad, but by the time they reached the front line, no suitable airfields remained and they were sent back to Germany.
Following the cancellation of the Stalingrad operation, the Me 321 gliders were mothballed, scrapped, or converted into the powered variant, the Me 323 with six 895 kW (1,200 hp) engines, the largest land-based cargo aircraft of World War II.
[8][9] Data from Die Deutsche Luftruestung 1933–1945 Vol.3 – Flugzeugtypen Henschel-Messerschmitt,[10] Fighting gliders of World War II[11]General characteristics Performance Armament