On another note, I caught a program the other day about the ME 410. I thought the barbettes used on that aircraft were rather... "neat"!

Regards,
-Mike
Armament: Bv 222C-0The wiking was initially developed for Deutsche Lufthansa, which ordered three of the type. Only the first prototype entered civil service with the remainder being developed into freight transports for the Luftwaffe. Nine prototypes were built, no two being alike. The V9 became the first of four production Bv 222C-0 aircraft.
From 1941 onwards the Wikings shuttled freight throughout the Western and Mediterrainean theaters. Despite improving equipment and armament the Wiking proved vulnerable to Allied fighters and most were shot down or straffed at thier moorings. Four Wikings did survive until VE day but one was subsequently scuttled by it's crew. The other three were went to Britain and the United States for testing after which they were scrapped.
Arguably the largest bomber built by the Germans, the He 177 suffered many flaws and turned into one of the Luftwaffe's biggest failures (when compare service use to the amount of resources invested.) A significant problem that plagued the program from the beginning was a ludicrous requirement that this extremely large aircraft be capable of dive bombing. This combined with the attempt to reduce drag by coupling the engines, while theoretically sound, proved to be impossible in practice for no aircraft in history had engines that would so readily burst into flame. 75% of the prototypes crashed and a good percentage of the 35 A-0 pre-production airframes were written off in crashed or in-flight fires.
About 700 served on the eastern front using 50mm and 75mm guns for tank-busting while a few brave aircrews ineffectually bombed England.
The He 177 proved to be such a big problem that Goering forbid Heinkel to develope a four engine version (though Heinkel did anyways, the result being the He 277).
Armament: A-5/R2:
One 7.92mm MG 81J manually aimed in nose
Ammunition: 2000 rounds
One 20mm MG 151 manually aimed in forward ventral gondola
Ammunition: 300 rounds
Two 13mm MG 131 in remote front dorsal turret
Ammunition: 750 rounds per gun
One 13mm MG 131 in electric aft dorsal turret
Ammunition: 750 rounds
One 20mm MG 151 cannon in in tail position
Ammunition: 300 rounds
At least later Heinkel He 111H models and Junkers Ju 188 had turrets with one gun. Also Blohm & Voss Bv 138A had one 20mm MG 151 cannon in bow turret and Bv 138B and C had one 20mm MG 151 cannon in bow and stern turret.2ndPanzerEnthusiast wrote:What aircraft had them? I think the FW 200 Kondor had a turret, and perhaps a version of the DO 217...were there any others?
MFG, SvenJust under 200 Me 323's were built before production ceased in April 1944. There were several production versions, beginning with the D-1, which is the subject of this kit. Later D- and E- versions differed in the choice of power plant and in defensive armament, with improvements in structural strength, total cargo load and fuel capacity also being implemented. Nonetheless, the Me 323 remained significantly underpowered. There was a proposal to install six BMW 801 radials, but this never came to pass. The Me 323 was also a short-range aircraft, with a typical range (loaded) of 1,000 - 1,200 Km. Despite this, the limited numbers of Me 323's in service were an invaluable asset to the Germans, and saw intensive use. The Me 323 was something of a 'sitting duck', being so slow and large an aircraft. In the final weeks of the North African campaign in April/May 1943, 43 Gigants were lost, along with much greater numbers of Ju 52's. In terms of aircraft design, the Me 323 was actually very resilient, and could absorb a huge amount of enemy fire - the Afrika Korps' nickname of Leukoplastbomber (Elastoplast Bomber) was somewhat unfair. However, no transport aircraft can ever be expected to survive without air superiority or at least, comprehensive local air cover, and it is believed that no Me 323's survived in service beyond the summer of 1944