The DFS 230F was a military assault glider designed and built in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, by

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, to succeed the smaller

DFS 230 The DFS 230 was a German transport glider operated by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It was developed in 1933 by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - "German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight") with Hans Jacobs as the he ...

which it was only related to by name.

Design and development

After initial operations using the DFS 230, it became obvious to the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

that a larger more capable assault glider would be desirable. The DFS 230 F was designed to fulfil that need, but in an atmosphere of political intransigence. The RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium - German Air Ministry), issued a directive in 1941 that no effort was to be spent designing a replacement for the rather dated

assault glider, in its weight class. Ing. Hünerjäger of

Gothaer Waggonfabrik ''Gothaer Waggonfabrik'' (''Gotha'', GWF) was a German manufacturer of rolling stock established in the late nineteenth century at Gotha. During the two world wars, the company expanded into aircraft building. World War I In World War I, Go ...

(Gotha) believed that a great improvement on the DFS 230 could be achieved with an aircraft of similar dimensions designing what was named the DFS 230 V7 despite the ban. Gotha named their new design's prototype DFS 230 V7, production aircraft were to be designated DFS 230F-1, to deflect criticism for ignoring the ban on DFS 230 replacement. Generally similar in layout and construction to the DFS 230A, the DFS 230F was a larger machine capable of carrying almost double the weight of cargo of the base-line DFS 230A-1, as well as seating up to 15 troops, as opposed to seven. Construction of the DFS 230F was of welded-steel tube for the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

with wooden wings, control and tail surfaces, all

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

skinned. The fuselage was provided with side doors and a removable roof panel to allow loading of bulky items. Control of the aircraft was by conventional elevator, ailerons, with large landing flaps to reduce landing speed and spoilers to adjust the approach angle. The

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

consisted of two main-wheels attached to the fuselage sides and a tail-skid. Completed in 1943 the DFS 230 V7 had a cargo hold measuring x x , a vast improvement on the DFS 230. Access to the hold was via large hatches in the fuselage sides and roof of the rear fuselage. For assault glider missions a crew of two would fly the aircraft with up to 11

Fallschirmjäger The () were the airborne forces branch of the Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. They were commanded by Kurt Student, the Luftwaffe's second-in-comman ...

or up to of cargo in overload conditions. Despite successful flight trials no orders for production aircraft were forthcoming and only the prototype was built.

Variants

''Data from: ;(Gotha) DFS 230 V7 :The prototype of an assault glider in the same class as the DFS 230 (an altogether new design) ;(Gotha) DFS 230F-1 :The proposed production version

Specifications (DFS 230 V7)

Design and development

Variants

Specifications (DFS 230 V7)

See also

References

Further reading