Ran across some background that the Gigante was the outcome of Hitler's decision to invade Britain.
This would be the Me-321 (the glider), the Me-323 was a later development
That invasion was never part of Hitler's original plan. You all might know the story of his blank stare at his foreign minister Ribbentrop (on Britain's declaration of war), when dumbfounded Hitler turned to Ribbentrop and asked him, "What now?!".
The invasion approach settled on was:
- Massive gliders.
It made sense considering they had France already, and the trip across the English Channel from there was peanuts, so why bother with the engineering, expense, and complication of engines?
Funny thing was apparently nobody thought of how to get them airborne until AFTER they had the prototype.
![Banana :naner: :naner:](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/images/smilies/banana.gif)