Warplanes of Germany: Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Junkers Ju 97 Stuka dive bombers in winter camouflage.

The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 and served the Axis in the Second World War. The aircraft is easily recognisable by its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage. Upon the leading edges of its faired main gear legs were mounted ram-air sirens known as Jericho trumpets, which became a propaganda symbol of German air power and of the so-called Blitzkrieg victories of 1939–1942, as well as providing Stuka pilots with audible feedback as to speed.

The Stuka's design included several innovations, including automatic pull-up dive brakes under both wings to ensure that the aircraft recovered from its attack dive even if the pilot blacked out from the high g-forces, or suffered from target fixation.The Ju 87 operated with considerable success in close air support and anti-shipping roles at the outbreak of the Second World War. It led air assaults in the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Stukas proved critical to the rapid conquest of Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France in 1940. Though sturdy, accurate, and very effective against ground targets, the Stuka was, like many other dive bombers of the period, vulnerable to fighter aircraft. During the Battle of Britain of 1940–1941, its lack of manoeuvrability, speed, or defensive armament meant that it required a heavy fighter escort to operate effectively.After the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe deployed Stuka units in the Balkans Campaign, the African and the Mediterranean theatres and in the early stages of the Eastern Front war, where it was used for general ground support, as an effective specialised anti-tank aircraft and in an anti-shipping role. Once the Luftwaffe lost air superiority, the Stuka became an easy target for enemy fighters, but it continued being produced until 1944 for lack of a better replacement. By 1945 ground-attack versions of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 had largely replaced the Ju 87, but it remained in service until the end of the war in 1945.

Germany built an estimated 6,000 Ju 87s of all versions between 1936 and August 1944. Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel became the most successful Stuka pilot and the most highly decorated German pilot of the war. (Wikipedia)

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 D-5 of the German 1./SG 3, code S7+HH) at Immola airport.

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Three German Junkers Ju 87D dive bombers, Stuka October 1943.

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber, coded S7+EP, captured in North Africa, 1943.  (USAAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka factory.  (Luftwaffe Photo)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, with BK-3.7 cannon pods.  (Luftwaffe Photo)

(National Archives Photo)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, with BK-3.7 cannon pods.  

(RuthAS Photo)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, (Wk. Nr. 494083) painted as W8+A, on display in the RAF Museum, Cosford in 1970.  This aircraft was captured at Eggebek in Schleswig-Hostein, Germany in May 1945.  No Air Ministry number was allocated.

(Ducatipierre Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 D G-2, RAF Museum London.

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, (Wk. Nr. 494083) on display in the RAF Museum, Cosford, painted as +JK.  This aircraft was captured at Eggebek in Schleswig-Hostein, Germany in May 1945.  No Air Ministry number was allocated.  (Kogo Photos)

The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, dive-bomber displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum was captured by British troops in Germany in 1945  It is thought to have been built in 1943–1944 as a D-5 before being rebuilt as a G-2 variant, possibly by fitting G-2 outer wings to a D-5 airframe.  After the war, it was one of 12 captured German aircraft selected by the British for museum preservation.  In 1967, permission was given to use the aircraft in the film Battle of Britain and it was repainted and modified to resemble a 1940 variant of the Ju 87.  The engine was found to be in excellent condition and there was little difficulty in starting it, but returning the aircraft to airworthiness was considered too costly for the filmmakers, and ultimately, models were used in the film to represent Stukas.  In 1998, the film modifications were removed, and the aircraft returned to the original G-2 configuration.  This aircraft has also been reported as Junkers Ju 87B, (Wk. Nr. 5763), RAF HK827.  Junkers Ju 87B-1, (Wk. Nr. 087/5600), S2+LM from II./StG77 was reported as being on the scrap area at Farnborough in Dec 1946.

Captured Junkers Ju 87G with flame concealing exhaust, 3.7mm cannon, Salzburg, Austria, 1945.  (USAAF Photo)

(ox6adb015 Photo)

Junkers Ju 87R2/Trop Stuka, dive-bomber, (Wk. Nr. 5954), on display in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Illinois.  This aircraft was abandoned in North Africa and found by British forces in 1941.  The Ju 87 was donated by the British government and sent to Canada and then the USA during the war.  It was fully restored in 1974 by the EAA of Wisconsin.

Junkers Ju 87D-5 (Wk. Nr. 131587), coded Q9+CH, restoration project with the Hudson, Massachusetts-based American Heritage Museum. Flying with Luftflotte 5, 1 Staffel, Schlachtgeschwader 5, this Stuka ran short of fuel and landed on a frozen lake near Kemjarvi, Finalnd on 4 April 1944. The aircrew detonated a grenade in the cockpit to disable the aircraft, which later sank through the ice. It was recovered in 2021.

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 G-2 Stuka “Kanonenvogel” (Cannon-Bird) having her Bordkanone BK 37mm cannons inspected by British soldiers. The two underwing cannons were loaded with two six-round magazines of armour-piercing tungsten carbide-cored ammunition.

(Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-646-5184-26)

Junkers Ju 87 G-1 "Kanonenvogel" with its twin Bordkanone 3.7 cm (1.46 in) underwing gun pods, operating in Russia, c1943.

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(Luftwaffe Photos)

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka flown by Hans Ulrich Rudel, 1 May 1944.

(Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-655-5976-04 / Grosse / CC-BY-SA 3.0)

(USAAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka equipped with BK 3,7 anti-tank guns is examined by an American sergeant at an airfield in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia.

Overall, 550 Ju 87 As and B2s were completed at the Junkers factory in Dessau. Production of the Ju 87 R and D variants was transferred to the Weserflug company, which produced 5,930 of the 6,500 Ju 87s produced in total.