Osprey - Com 146 - Junkers Ju 188 Units of World War 2 (Robert Forsyth).pdf

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CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER TWO
ENTER THE ‘E’
CHAPTER THREE
SERVICE DEBUT
CHAPTER FOUR
FROM THE ARCTIC TO AFRICA
CHAPTER FIVE
REACTIVE DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER SIX
TARGET ENGLAND
CHAPTER SEVEN
EBBING TIDE
APPENDICES
COLOUR PLATES COMMENTARY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER ONE
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
F
or good reason, the name ‘Junkers’ is synonymous with German inter-war
and wartime aviation. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Junkers
Flugzeugwerke based in the Saxony–Anhalt town of Dessau, at the junctions
of the Mulde and Elbe rivers, built a series of all-metal aircraft, including the
single-engined F 13 (the world’s first metal airliner) and several other
successful, if short-lived, commercial machines. The F 13 saw service in
more than 30 countries, while the firm’s later, larger, three-engined G 24 won
international recognition when two examples made a long-range, route-
proving flight from Berlin, across Siberia, to the Far East.
A wind tunnel model of the Ju 85 project from the late 1930s showing a long, tapered
fuselage, twin vertical stabilisers (to aid installation of rear guns), ventral gondola and raised
cockpit canopy. Although not connected directly to the Ju 188, it would serve as inspiration to
Dipl.-Ing.
Ernst Zindel when he worked on that design (EN
Archive)
The corrugated Duralumin with which Junkers built its early aircraft
proved a very suitable material, and although parasitic drag was more of a
problem than with smooth skins, it was not too much of an issue when
considering the relatively low aircraft speeds of the time. This philosophy
eventually manifested itself in the Ju 52/3m airliner/transport, which would
serve as a beacon for German aeronautical design, engineering and reliability.
For several years, as a result of the Ju 52/3m, the German national airline
Deutsche Luft Hansa became one of the best in the world, trailblazing routes
across Europe and in South America, South Africa and the Far East.
With the outbreak of World War 2, the Ju 52/3m proved itself a sturdy,
dependable multi-role transport for the Luftwaffe. It went on to serve on
every front to which German forces were deployed, becoming respected by
its crews and army ground units whenever the latter became trapped in
‘pockets’ by enemy forces. The Ju 52/3m was also critically important when
supplies of fuel, food, ammunition and spares had to be flown across the
Mediterranean or the vast, open and dangerous spaces of Soviet Russia.
Finally, the aircraft airlifted more wounded troops from the battlefronts to
safe rear-area hospitals than any other Luftwaffe transport.
Another Junkers design also gained a reputation as an iconic (to use an
overused, but in this case quite accurate term) symbol of German
Blitzkrieg.
The inverted gull-winged Ju 87 was a purpose-built dive-bomber that made
its operational debut with the Luftwaffe’s
Legion Condor
in Spain’s
catastrophic civil war. Despite initial scepticism amongst some senior
German air commanders, the Stuka was used to devastating effect when
pinpoint accuracy was required against Republican positions and ships.
With tactical experience gained in Spain, the Ju 87 went on to specialise in
attacking similar targets in Poland, the West, the Balkans, North Africa and
the USSR, its howling dive-bombing earning the aircraft a fearsome
reputation amongst enemy forces. Quite literally, the Ju 87 was the airborne
spearhead that offered effective battlefield support to German ground forces
during their offensive campaigns between 1939 and 1942.
But perhaps most superlative of Junkers’ leading designs was the Ju 88, a
type which has become regarded as one of the outstanding combat aircraft of
World War 2. Entering service in the autumn of 1939 as a
Schnellbomber
(fast bomber), the sleek Ju 88 soon came to be regarded as the most advanced
bomber in the world.
It had evolved from a series of prototypes created during the 1930s by a
formidable team of designers and engineers at Dessau under the leadership of
Dipl.-Ing.
Ernst Zindel. They had responded to a 1934 requirement from the
Reichsluftfahrtministerium
(RLM – German Air Ministry) for a multi-role
and heavily armed
‘Kampfzerstörer’
(‘battle destroyer’) that would be able to
fly bomber, reconnaissance and ground-attack missions.
Just months later, however, the RLM revised its requirement as it was
envisaged that, realistically, such an aircraft would be viewed as ‘Es
kann

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