{"id":22542043,"date":"2026-09-15T15:32:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/heinkel-he-111z-zwilling-twin-fuselage-glider-tug\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T15:33:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:33:29","slug":"heinkel-he-111z-zwilling-twin-fuselage-glider-tug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/es\/heinkel-he-111z-zwilling-twin-fuselage-glider-tug\/","title":{"rendered":"He 111Z Zwilling: Five Engines, Two Fuselages, One Pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n<p>The Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant could carry an 88 mm gun and its tractor, or a medium tank, or two hundred equipped soldiers. Its cargo hold was deliberately sized to match a German railway flatcar, so that anything which could travel by rail could be flown instead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It was also a glider, which meant somebody had to get it into the air. The Luftwaffe&rsquo;s first answer was to tie it to three Bf 110s and have them take off together in formation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The second answer was to bolt two bombers together and put a fifth engine in the middle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#222\">Quick Facts<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Aircraft<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling (Twin), heavy glider tug<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Configuration<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Two He 111 airframes joined by a new centre wing in two 6.15 m sections<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Engines<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Five Junkers Jumo 211F, about 1,300 hp each<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Crew<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Seven, split across both fuselages; flight controls in the port fuselage only<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Fuel<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">8,570 litres internal, plus four 600-litre drop tanks<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Towing capability<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">A Go 242 or Me 321 for up to 10 hours at cruise<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Take-off assistance<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Jettisonable rocket pods, two per fuselage and one per wing, adding about 500 kg<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Tested<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Rechlin, 1941<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Numbers built<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Disputed. Accounts give four, five and ten in different places<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Fate<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">One shot down over France on 14 March 1944; eight destroyed during 1944<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The problem it was invented to solve<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The Me 321 first flew on 25 February 1941, towed by a Junkers Ju 90 and carrying three tonnes of ballast. Messerschmitt test pilot Karl Baur reported that the controls were heavy and the responses sluggish, which for an aircraft with a 55-metre wingspan and no engines is not a surprise.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The Ju 90 was not powerful enough to tow it reliably. So the Luftwaffe adopted the Troikaschlepp: three Bf 110 heavy fighters, taking off in a vee, all attached to one glider, often with rocket-assisted take-off units fitted as well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Read that sentence again. Three twin-engined fighters, in close formation, at take-off speed, on the end of ropes, with solid rockets burning. If one rocket failed, or one pilot drifted, everything in the formation was in trouble at once.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/messerschmitt-me-321-gigant-gliders-airfield.jpg\" alt=\"Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant cargo gliders on an airfield\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Me 321 Gigants photographed by Allied reconnaissance. Each one could swallow a medium tank. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>There is a well-known account of a 1941 accident at Leipheim in which the tow aircraft collided and everyone aboard all four aircraft was killed, 129 people, which would have made it the deadliest aviation accident in the world at that point. It is worth being careful with this one.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;One such failure did occur in 1941, which led to the collision of the tow planes and the deaths of all 129 occupants of the four aircraft. [dubious &ndash; discuss] [better source needed]&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Wikipedia, <em>Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant<\/em><\/strong> &mdash; The article&rsquo;s own accuracy flag on the 129-death claim<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The claim rests on a single secondary source and a paper-model website. It may well be true. It is repeated everywhere as though it were settled, and it is not.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>What is not in doubt is that the Troikaschlepp frightened the people responsible for it. Ernst Udet asked Ernst Heinkel to find a better way of getting a Gigant airborne.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YYGcGOVCJV4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Heinkel&rsquo;s answer<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Heinkel&rsquo;s solution has the brutal simplicity of a wartime engineering decision. Take two He 111 H-6 bombers off the line. Join them with a new centre wing section, built in two 6.15-metre pieces. Put a fifth Jumo 211F in the middle of it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The result had five engines, two fuselages, a crew of seven and a total internal fuel load of 8,570 litres, extendable with four 600-litre drop tanks. It could tow a loaded Go 242 or an Me 321 for up to ten hours, and it could stay in the air with the three central engines shut down entirely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The crew arrangement is the detail that sticks. Pilot, first mechanic, radio operator and a gunner in the left-hand fuselage; observer, second mechanic and a gunner in the right. The flight controls existed only on the left. If you were sitting in the starboard cockpit of an He 111Z, you were looking out of a bomber&rsquo;s nose at an aeroplane you could not fly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/heinkel-he-111-sinsheim-museum.jpg\" alt=\"A preserved Heinkel He 111 at the Sinsheim museum\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A conventional He 111. The Zwilling was two of these, joined by a new wing centre section carrying a fifth engine. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Tested well. Used barely.<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Trials at Rechlin in 1941 went well and the pilots rated the aircraft highly. Then the war declined to cooperate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The Zwilling was earmarked for Operation Herkules, the 1942 invasion of Malta, which was abandoned in part because there were not enough tugs. It was considered for a projected airborne assault on Astrakhan and Baku, which never happened. It was sent towards Stalingrad to help relieve Sixth Army, and by the time the gliders reached the front there were no suitable airfields left, so they were sent home again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>What it actually did was less dramatic: hauling equipment and people out of the Caucasus in 1943, and an attempt to reinforce Sicily. On 14 March 1944 RAF fighters caught one over France while it was towing a Go 242. Eight more were destroyed in the air or on the ground during 1944. A bomber-missile version and a long-range reconnaissance version were both drawn for 1944 and neither was built.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d1U0h_nAdIk\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1OvyOeXnW0k\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Nobody knows how many there were<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Here is the strangest thing about an aircraft this distinctive: there is no agreed production figure.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;Initially, four He 111 H-6s were modified. A batch of ten were produced and five were built from existing H-6s.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Wikipedia, <em>Heinkel He 111<\/em><\/strong> &mdash; The article&rsquo;s own three unreconciled figures for He 111Z production<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Four, ten, five. Those numbers appear within a few lines of each other and nobody reconciles them. The figure of twelve, which circulates widely online, does not appear in that description at all.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It is a useful reminder about late-war German aviation records generally. The programmes that mattered are documented. The oddities, the one-off conversions and the tools built to solve a single problem, frequently are not.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>What we can say is that the He 111Z was a sensible answer to a genuinely awful problem, that the crews who flew it liked it, and that by the time it existed the operations it had been built for had all been cancelled. That is about as German-1943 a story as aviation offers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was the Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The He 111Z Zwilling, meaning Twin, was two Heinkel He 111 bombers joined together by a new centre wing section carrying a fifth engine. It was built as a heavy glider tug, principally to tow the Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant cargo glider, and had twin fuselages, five Junkers Jumo 211F engines and a crew of seven.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Germany build a twin-fuselage bomber?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Because the alternative was killing crews. The Me 321 was too heavy for any single available tug, so the Luftwaffe used the Troikaschlepp, three Bf 110 heavy fighters taking off in formation on one glider. It was extremely dangerous. Ernst Udet asked Ernst Heinkel for something better, and Heinkel&rsquo;s answer was to bolt two He 111s together.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Where did the pilot sit in an He 111Z?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">In the port fuselage. Only that side had flight controls. The seven-man crew was split between the two hulls: pilot, first mechanic, radio operator and a gunner to port, observer, second mechanic and a gunner to starboard. The men on the right-hand side were passengers as far as flying the aircraft was concerned.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Could the He 111Z actually tow the Me 321?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes, but not a fully loaded one. It could tow a Gotha Go 242 or an Me 321 for up to ten hours at cruise, and could stay airborne with the three central engines shut down. Lifting a Gigant at maximum weight was beyond it, so some aircraft carried jettisonable rocket pods, two under each fuselage and one under each wing, for an extra 500 kg of thrust.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many He 111Z Zwillings were built?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Nobody can say precisely, and the standard references do not agree. Accounts variously describe four He 111 H-6s being modified initially, a batch of ten being produced, and five being built from existing H-6 airframes. The widely repeated figure of twelve does not appear in the primary description at all. It was, in any case, a very small number.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did the He 111Z see combat?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Barely. It was earmarked for the 1942 invasion of Malta, which was abandoned partly for lack of tugs, and for a projected airborne assault on Astrakhan and Baku that never happened. The Stalingrad relief operation was cancelled because no suitable airfields remained. In 1943 the type was used to evacuate equipment from the Caucasus and in an attempt to reinforce Sicily. One was shot down by RAF fighters over France on 14 March 1944 while towing a Go 242, and eight were destroyed in the air or on the ground during 1944.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Were there other versions planned?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. A Z-2 was projected as a heavy bomber carrying Hs 293 guided missiles, and a Z-3 as a long-range reconnaissance aircraft with a range of 6,000 km. Both were planned for 1944 and neither was built.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was the Troikaschlepp really as dangerous as it sounds?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">It was dangerous enough that the Luftwaffe commissioned a purpose-built aircraft to replace it, and it limited the Me 321 to a one-way range of about 400 km. A widely repeated account describes a 1941 accident at Leipheim in which the tow aircraft collided and all 129 people aboard the four aircraft were killed. That figure is disputed and flagged as needing a better source, so it should be treated with caution rather than repeated as established fact.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The He 111Z Zwilling, meaning Twin, was two Heinkel He 111 bombers joined together by a new centre wing section carrying a fifth engine. It was built as a heavy glider tug, principally to tow the Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant cargo glider, and had twin fuselages, five Junkers Jumo 211F engines and a crew of seven.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did Germany build a twin-fuselage bomber?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Because the alternative was killing crews. The Me 321 was too heavy for any single available tug, so the Luftwaffe used the Troikaschlepp, three Bf 110 heavy fighters taking off in formation on one glider. It was extremely dangerous. Ernst Udet asked Ernst Heinkel for something better, and Heinkel\u2019s answer was to bolt two He 111s together.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Where did the pilot sit in an He 111Z?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"In the port fuselage. Only that side had flight controls. The seven-man crew was split between the two hulls: pilot, first mechanic, radio operator and a gunner to port, observer, second mechanic and a gunner to starboard. The men on the right-hand side were passengers as far as flying the aircraft was concerned.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Could the He 111Z actually tow the Me 321?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes, but not a fully loaded one. It could tow a Gotha Go 242 or an Me 321 for up to ten hours at cruise, and could stay airborne with the three central engines shut down. Lifting a Gigant at maximum weight was beyond it, so some aircraft carried jettisonable rocket pods, two under each fuselage and one under each wing, for an extra 500 kg of thrust.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many He 111Z Zwillings were built?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Nobody can say precisely, and the standard references do not agree. Accounts variously describe four He 111 H-6s being modified initially, a batch of ten being produced, and five being built from existing H-6 airframes. The widely repeated figure of twelve does not appear in the primary description at all. It was, in any case, a very small number.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did the He 111Z see combat?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Barely. It was earmarked for the 1942 invasion of Malta, which was abandoned partly for lack of tugs, and for a projected airborne assault on Astrakhan and Baku that never happened. The Stalingrad relief operation was cancelled because no suitable airfields remained. In 1943 the type was used to evacuate equipment from the Caucasus and in an attempt to reinforce Sicily. One was shot down by RAF fighters over France on 14 March 1944 while towing a Go 242, and eight were destroyed in the air or on the ground during 1944.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Were there other versions planned?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. A Z-2 was projected as a heavy bomber carrying Hs 293 guided missiles, and a Z-3 as a long-range reconnaissance aircraft with a range of 6,000 km. Both were planned for 1944 and neither was built.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was the Troikaschlepp really as dangerous as it sounds?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"It was dangerous enough that the Luftwaffe commissioned a purpose-built aircraft to replace it, and it limited the Me 321 to a one-way range of about 400 km. A widely repeated account describes a 1941 accident at Leipheim in which the tow aircraft collided and all 129 people aboard the four aircraft were killed. That figure is disputed and flagged as needing a better source, so it should be treated with caution rather than repeated as established fact.\"}}]}<\/script><p><em>Sources: Wikipedia, Heinz J. Nowarra, <em>Die Deutsche Luftruestung 1933&ndash;1945<\/em>; Staerck and Sinnott, <em>Luftwaffe: The Allied Intelligence Files<\/em>; Mrazek, <em>Fighting Gliders of World War II<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/focke-achgelis-fa-330-bachstelze-u-boat-rotor-kite\/\">Fa 330 Bachstelze: The Kite U-Boats Flew From Their Decks<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/blohm-voss-bv-141-asymmetric-reconnaissance-aircraft\/\">Blohm &amp; Voss BV 141: The Asymmetric Warplane That Flew Well<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/blohm-voss-bv-40-glider-fighter\/\">The Blohm &amp; Voss BV 40: Germany&rsquo;s Engineless Fighter<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Messerschmitt Me 321 Gigant could carry an 88 mm gun and its tractor, or a medium tank, or two hundred equipped soldiers. Its cargo hold was deliberately sized to match a German railway flatcar, so that anything which could travel by rail could be flown instead. It was also a glider, which meant somebody [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":22541536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22542043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>He 111Z Zwilling: Five Engines, Two Fuselages, One Pilot | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Heinkel He 111Z Zwilling was two bombers joined by a new wing with a fifth engine, built to tow the Me 321 Gigant after three-fighter tows proved lethal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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