ICM new-tool Gotha Go 242 glider due soon in 48th. The total production of Go.242 gliders was 1528. The Gothaer Waggon Fabrik A.G., one of the manufacturers of the DFS 230, proposed a project for a twin boom glider featuring a rear loading door. It was 6m long, 2.30m wide and about 2m high, and could carry a load of two and a half tons, i.e. two and a half times the load of the DFS 230. Like the latter, it was intended to carry equipment (a Kübelwagen or an artillery piece could be loaded). It could also carry about twenty men with equipment, but due to its weight, the Go 242 could not be towed by the Hs 126 as was the case with the DFS 230. Its designated tug ship was the Ju 52. The Go 242 was first flight tested on 10 August 1940 and the first (known) loss was recorded on 18 March 1941 during a test flight (pilot uninjured, flight engineer killed). A few Gotha 242s reached the Eastern Front almost a year after the glider's first flight. In late September 1941, six Go 242 crews were placed under the command of Uffz Mirowski to form a Go-Einsatzkommando. In October, the latter left Eschwege for Smolensk (with their Ju 52 tugs) and were subordinated to VIII. Fliegerkorps. Given the bad weather and snow, no combat missions took place for a number of weeks. Further south, another Go-Kommando was assigned to Luftflotte 4. Composed of seven Go 242s led by Uffz Blessing, the detachment was sent to Kherson in mid-December, towed by two He 111s and five Ju 52s. Despite the more favourable weather, no missions were flown before the end of the year...
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Some 133 Go 242s were motorised and converted to the twin-engine Gotha Go 244.
