Junkers & Co

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Junkers & Co was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and well known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany.

Unfortunately for Junkers, both the company and the man, the Nazi party came to power in Germany in 1933 and all German aviation development was shifted away from long-range civil aircraft types. Hugo Junkers himself was forced to transfer all his patents to the Nazis, who doubted that Junkers would comply with their plans. Shortly after, his holdings were expropriated and he was placed under house arrest. The company that had pioneered commercial aviation development for at least a decade was relegated to relatively small one- and two-engined military design competitions issued by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) the "Reich Aviation Ministry". Two exceptions to this were the legendary Ju 52 and the Ju 90.

Ju 52 development had started in 1928 as a single-engined commercial transport and evolved, initially to a two-engined, later into the classic "trimotor" design for which the Tante Ju became world famous. The Ju 52 was a bona fide commercial success, with over 400 airplanes delivered to various airlines around the world prior to the outbreak of World War II, including the countries of: Finland, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, South Africa, Denmark, Norway, Italy, UK, Belgium, Hungary, Estonia, Greece, Spain, and of course, Germany. Amazingly, and in tribute to its rugged design, both Spain and France resumed Ju 52 production after cessation of the Second World War.

With the introduction of the Junkers Ju 86 bomber of 1934, Junkers abandoned the corrugated sheeting of his earlier designs. The basic layout was used in the four-engine Junkers Ju 89 heavy bomber, but this program ended with the death of Walter Weber, and his Ural bomber program along with him. Junkers then adapted the Ju 89 to passenger use, introducing the Junkers Ju 90, one of the first planes specifically designed for scheduled trans-Atlantic flights to the US. Developed in 1937, the aircraft suffered multiple setbacks with crashes of prototypes in 1937 and 1938. Further refinements enabled certification in 1939 and spurred South African Airways to make an initial order for two aircraft fitted with US-built Pratt & Whitney engines. Just as the aircraft was being readied for its first commercial flights, World War II began. With the outbreak of hostilities, all models were requisitioned by the Luftwaffe for military air transport roles, and later, long-range maritime patrol.

World War II

Military aircraft production was begun by the company in the 1930s and eventually monopolized all its resources. Perhaps the most notable design was the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber, one of the Luftwaffe's most effective aerial weapons and continually used for bombing attacks as an integral part of the Blitzkrieg strategy. The Stuka was used for both precision tactical bombing and the strafing of enemy positions, acting as a sort of "airborne artillery" that was able to keep up with the fast-moving tanks and attack defended points long before traditional artillery could be brought into range. Later in the war it was fitted with a large cannon and employed in a "tank busting" role against Soviet armour. It gained much notoriety for its use at both Dunkirk and later Stalingrad, where it caused enormous destruction under Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen's VIII Air Corps.

Perhaps even more successful was the Junkers Ju 88, the primary light bomber of the German forces. It was used in practically every role imaginable; level bomber, shallow-angle dive bomber, night fighter and bomber destroyer and in anti-shipping raids. A variety of improved versions were also produced over the course of the war, including the Ju 188 and Ju 388 which included numerous features for better performance, but never replaced the Ju 88 outright. A much more formidable aircraft was also planned, the Junkers Ju 288, but the required high-power engines never worked and the effort was eventually abandoned.

A total of 4,845 Ju 52s were produced before and during the war. The wide availability of Ju 52s enabled their immediate utilization for the German war effort as a transport aircraft for delivering men and supplies. They were additionally used, with minor modification, to carry out bombing raids. Prior to WWII, the Ju 52 was utilized in the Spanish Civil War, where it took part in the Condor Legion's destructive raids on Durango and Guernica in 1937 which illustrated to the world - for the first time - the destructive potential and horror of strategic bombing. Unfortunately for its pilots and military passengers, by the outbreak of WWII, the Ju 52 was a thoroughly obsolete military design and unlike many other famous Luftwaffe aircraft, the Tante Ju was cumbersome, slow and therefore vulnerable to attack. This resulted in many losses, namely at Crete and Stalingrad.

Junkers also ran an engine factory, and in 1923 they separated it from the parent to form its own company, Junkers Motoren, or Jumo. This company expanded greatly in the 1920s and 30s, with factories spread across Germany. Jumo was the first German company to offer a truly modern engine suitable for aviation in the form of the 650 hp Jumo 210. But with the rapid advances in airframes, after a few short years this engine was considered to be underpowered causing Jumo to respond with the much larger Jumo 211. Perhaps unsurprisingly the 211 saw widespread use in Junkers bombers, but was little used otherwise, due largely to the better power output of the competing Daimler-Benz DB 601. Further development of the 211 led to the superb Jumo 213, which was in high demand for practically every late-war piston-engined aircraft. Their Jumo 004 jet engine was the first to be considered production quality and used in the then revolutionary Me 262 jet fighter.

The Junkers company survived the Second World War and was reconstituted as Junkers GmbH and was eventually merged into the MBB consortium. Within West Germany, Junkers GmbH was engaged in research on the future of aerospace transportation during the fifties and early-1960s. During this time period, Junkers employed the famous Austrian engineer and space travel theorist, Eugen Sänger, who in 1961 completed work for the design of an advanced orbital spacecraft at Junkers.

En Battleground Europe podemos encontrar modelados los siguientes aparatos de este fabricante:

• Transporte
  • Junkers Ju 52/3m
• Bombardeo Táctico/Ataque
  • Junkers Ju 87B