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Last
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Thursday, 2 October, 2003
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Junkers Ju 87 Stuka
May 13th 1940, Junkers JU87 B-1s of 9/St.G 51 dive with sirens wailing onto French artillery positions in preparation for a full scale river crossing of the vital Meuse river barrier before Sedan. The banshee wailing of the infamous Stuka staffels brought the full psychological impact of the blitzkrieg to bear on the French defenders who broke and ran in the face of these terrifying attacks.
[ Top of Page | Feedback ] Overview German and Chinese research into dive-bombing techniques using Junkers K47s during the mid-1920s led many Luftwaffe planners to consider this form of aircraft vital for combined-arms operations. When the Luftwaffe began expanding after 1933, a dive-bomber design was prominent. The general word for dive-bomber - Sturzkampfflugzeug - was shortened to become the name of the Ju 87, a Junkers low-wing monoplane design by Herman Pohlmann - the Stuka. The first prototype flew in 1935 with a 640 hp Rolls Royce Kestrel engine. It had large fairings over its fixed main undercarriage, twin fins, full-length double-wing flaps and ailerons, two crew in a glass-house cockpit and dive brakes. The wing was an inverted gull-shape for strength and it also enabled more robust undercarriage. The tail assembly failed during dive-testing and was replaced with a strengthened single fin on the second and third prototypes as seen on all later production Stukas. After fitting a German 640 hp Junkers Jumo 210Ca engine with a three-bladed variable-pitch propeller, further testing lead to production of the A-1 model commencing in early 1937. Production A-series Stukas were fitted with a 680 hp Jumo 210Da engine; a single 7.9 mm .311 in. MG 17 in the wing at the point of its bend; one 7.9 mm .311 in. MG 15 in the rear cockpit; and a bomb-load of one 551 lb 250 kg bomb. A single 1,102 lb 500 kg bomb could be lifted if crewed by the pilot only. A few were tested operationally during the Spanish civil war, but by the outbreak of World War II all A-series Stukas had been relegated to training schools. The fitting of the 1,200 hp Jumo 211Da with fuel injection greatly improved the performance of the B-series. Fuel injection prevented negative-g flight and icing conditions from interfering with available engine-power, and the bomb-load was increased by the ability to lift an extra four 110 lb 50 kg bombs on wing racks over a short range. A second 7.9 mm .311 in. MG 17 was added to the other wing. An important addition was an automatic dive control device triggered by a contact altimeter which gave 450 m 1,476 ft of ground clearance during a six-g pull-out. Undercarriage spats were visibly altered by being made smaller and shaped around the wheels. B-series Stukas were involved in all early war operations and became the icon of Blitkreig. C-series aircraft were planned for the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin and fitted with folding wings and an arrestor hook for deck operations, and flotation equipment and jettisonable wheels for ditching in water. When Graf Zeppelin construction was halted the C-models were completed and delivered as B-2 models. About the same time, a long-range R-model was produced, and used successfully during the invasion of Norway. It had extra internal wing tankage and provision for under-wing drop tanks. The most numerous of the Stukas produced was the D-series. It was introduced operationally in late 1941. The 1,400 hp Jumo 211J-1 engine and constant speed propeller enabled carriage of bomb loads of up to 1,800 kg 3,968 lbs, or a wide range of weapon-modules on under-wing racks. Defensive armament was increased to two 7.9 mm .311 in. MG 81z in the rear cockpit, and the D-7 and D-8 models had the internal wing guns replaced with 2 wing mounted 20 mm .75 in MG 151/20 cannon. By 1943 Stukas were being used primarily for ground attack and support and consequently protective armour was progressively added during D-series production. This added weight, and the D-7 was fitted with a 1,500 hp Jumo 211P engine. D-series aircraft were adapted for torpedo bombing, glider towing, night ground-attack, and various supply-pods for carriage of both men and equipment were experimented with. Production ended in September 1944. An anti-armour version - the model G-1 - was created from converted D-5 model aircraft by attaching two 37 mm 1.5 in FLAK 18 cannon in underwing pods. This weapon was very successful in the hands of highly experienced pilots who could survive daylight operations with the now poor flight-performance of the Stuka. Hans Rudel claimed 519 Soviet armoured vehicles in 2,530 sorties, and was still flying a Ju 87G-1 in the Courland Pocket on the last day of the war. The specialist operational skills needed to survive Stuka operations in the late war period led to the H model, an unarmed dual-trainer with canopy bubbles in the rear for increased instructor visibility. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Italy were all provided with German-built Ju 87 Stukas. These aircraft mainly operated on the Eastern Front, although Italy also used Stukas in the Mediterranean theatre.
[ Top of Page | Feedback ] Variants
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