Junkers Ju 52 / 3m

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Junkers Ju 52 / 3m
Junkers Ju 52 / 3m in the colors of Lufthansa AG (Photo: Markus Kress)
Junkers Ju 52 / 3m D-AQUI in the colors of Lufthansa AG
Type: Passenger and transport aircraft
Design country:

German EmpireGerman Empire German Empire

Manufacturer:

Junkers

First flight:

March 7, 1932

Commissioning:

1932

Production time:

1932 to 1952

Number of pieces:

4845

Cockpit of a Ju 52, 1934
Cabin of a Ju 52
Ju 52
Junkers Ju 52 / 3m of Lufthansa at take-off

The Junkers Ju 52 (nicknamed "Auntie Ju") is a three-engine transport and transport aircraft of the German manufacturer Junkers aircraft factory AG in Dessau . The aircraft known today as the Ju 52 is the three-engine version Junkers Ju 52 / 3m from 1932, which emerged from the single-engine model Ju 52 / 1m .

history

The Junkers Ju 52 was originally planned as a single-engine, if possible equipped with a diesel engine, cargo aircraft that was supposed to carry large amounts of cargo in areas with poor infrastructure. Great emphasis was placed on low maintenance requirements. The development of the Ju 52 could be influenced by the Reichswehr Ministry (RWM) in such a way that military concerns were taken into account in the construction. A three-engine version as a commercial aircraft was also designed during the planning phase, but it was not originally intended to be built. It was only after pressure from Deutsche Luft Hansa , especially from Director Erhard Milch , that the decision was made in 1931 to include the three-engine version in the construction program.

The design of the Ju 52 represented a real innovation in aircraft construction because the military version of this aircraft could be created without modification. The basic design consisted of a structure that could withstand high static loads, a split chassis that allowed a continuous space for hanging bombs, a special division of the cargo hold and a hatch on the top of the fuselage that made it possible to retrofit a machine gun stand. The first 700 units built had flaps in the bottom of the fuselage through which two bomb bays could be installed afterwards; these were supplied as standard. Further flaps made it possible to add a lookout point (the so-called “bucket”) for the bombardier under the aircraft. This design paid off in 1933 when Junkers received the order for 450 makeshift bombers in the three-engine version as part of the Rhineland program. The development costs of the single-engine version were RM 1.3 million. It can be assumed that at least part of this sum went to Junkers as payment for the influence exerted by the RWM.

Equipped with the patented Junkers double wings , it should offer the possibility of transporting 15 passengers (plus two in emergency seats if necessary) to and from temporary airfields with a short runway. The aircraft known today as the Ju 52 is the three-engine version Junkers Ju 52 / 3m, which emerged from the single-engine model Ju 52 / 1m . The Junkers Ju 52 made its first flight as a three-engine machine on March 7, 1932. Curiously, the first two Ju 52 / 3m ever built (serial numbers 4008 - actually a converted Ju 52 ce - and 4009) were made in Bolivia and not, as is generally assumed, in Germany put into service. The three-engine version of the Ju 52 shaped civil aviation like few aircraft and is today one of the most famous historical aircraft from German production.

Characteristic design features of this machine are the corrugated iron planking (as in many Junkers aircraft) and the three engines. The Ju 52 served the German Air Force as a transport machine in World War II and was particularly impressive because of its low landing speed. A total of around 4,800 machines of this type were manufactured, around 1,900 of them before the outbreak of World War II.

In 1936 Junkers-Motorenbau GmbH and Junkers-Flugzeugwerk AG were merged to form Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM).

Use of the Junkers Ju 52 / 3m

Civil use

The breakthrough

A Ju 52 over a stagecoach ;
Poster designed by Max Ullmann , 1936
D-2201 on a
1969 stamp

Shortly after the first flight, " Deutsche Luft Hansa AG " took over the first Junkers Ju 52 / 3m in May 1932. In July this machine took on the Dübendorf airport in Zurich at the International Air Meeting Zurich , where she against competitors like the Dornier Do K and Fokker F.XII prevailed.

On the way home to Berlin on July 29, 1932, the D-2201 rammed a Udet U 12 Flamingo training aircraft after a stopover on the Oberwiesenfeld near Munich at a height of about 300 meters . The training aircraft hit the left landing gear while climbing, the left engine of the Ju 52 was almost torn off, the wing was damaged and the fuselage had large holes. Flight captain Polte and the mechanic Hänsgen did not initially recognize the cause of the explosive damage; However, they succeeded, secure the aircraft with the passengers, including Erhard Milch, director of Lufthansa on a corn field emergency landing . The student pilot was killed in the crash.

Security and comfort

The machine was popular with passengers because it offered a high level of comfort and was characterized by safe and punctual operation. Even the most difficult routes over the Alps or over the Andes were mastered safely and reliably with the Ju 52 / 3m. Since the machine did not have a pressurized cabin , but it was possible to fly altitudes of more than 3000 meters, there were oxygen masks for the passengers. In addition, the cabin was equipped with a heater. An on-board information system with an altimeter and thermometer as well as flight maps provided information for the passengers .

Competition from the Douglas DC-3

When other European airlines began to use the Douglas DC-2 and DC-3 , which were much more economical with only two engines and a much larger passenger capacity and, thanks to their modern design with sheet metal planking and retractable landing gear, also significantly exceeded the flight performance of the Ju 52 / 3m, Lufthansa had to look for a successor model. The resulting four-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor from 1937 could not replace the Ju 52 / 3m.

Airlines in Europe

DNL

The airline Det Norske Luftfartselskap first borrowed a Ju 52 / 3m and later bought it from Lufthansa. It was equipped as a floatplane and served the coastal route from Oslo to Bergen in Norway from June 1, 1936 . After the Second World War, a total of six machines were in service, which were used until 1956. In 1946 the LN-LAB in Oslo was lost after a crash.

Lufthansa
Ju 52 of the Deutsche Luft Hansa (1932)
Junkers Ju 52 / 3m (1987)
Ju 52 "Otto Falke" of Deutsche Lufthansa in the Balkans (1941)
Junkers Ju 52

After receiving the first aircraft in 1932, the extraordinary reliability of this type soon became apparent. Lufthansa therefore chose the Junkers Ju 52 / 3m as its standard aircraft type and ordered the first eleven aircraft in the fourth quarter of 1932. In 1938 about 75% of all air traffic was carried out with the Ju 52 / 3m. With Berlin-Tempelhof as the center, all of Europe was served. The important route from Berlin to Rome could also be flown reliably over the Alps with the Ju 52 / 3m . In 1934, the Moscow - Barcelona line was opened together with the German-Russian Air Transport Company , to which the Berlin- Madrid route was added two years later . Also in 1934 the Seville – Las Palmas section was opened as part of the mail route from Germany to America. At the beginning of the war, the DLH gave a large part of the fleet to the air force, but resumed air traffic at the end of September 1939. The Uetersen - Copenhagen air freight route was opened on January 29, 1940 . This route was flown twice a day. Mainly the routes in the Balkans, to Italy and further to Scandinavia were flown as long as the war events allowed. The fleet was supplemented with chartered Ju 52 / 3m of the DNL (via the Luftwaffe), the Ala Italiana, the Iberia and the Aero O / Y, after all of the Ju 52's (except one with floats) were owned during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942/43 ) had to be handed over to the Air Force to supply the 6th Army . The last flights of the Ju 52 took place in May 1945.

Junkers Ju 52 / 3m of Deutsche Lufthansa
year Duration Access Total loss Exit Closing stock
1932 0 2 0 0 2
1933 2 12th 0 1 13th
1934 13th 32 0 4th 41
1935 41 31 1 13th 58
1936 58 11 4th 6th 59
1937 59 22nd 3 10 68
1938 68 17th 8th 4th 73
1939 73 26 4th 17th 78
1940 78 6th 1 3 80
1941 80 7th 20th 1 66
1942 66 2 19th 2 47
1943 47 3 8th 1 41
1944 41 15th 16 0 40
TOTAL 186 84 62

In 21 of the above damages, inmates were killed. Eleven of the accidents occurred before and ten during the war, seven of them in 1944 alone. In 1945 there were two more fatal accidents. The Luftwaffe reported a total of 51 losses on aircraft chartered by DLH, which are included in the above number of total losses.

Italy

The Ala Littoria used a total of eight Ju 52 / 3m from 1935 to 1943. They were procured for the difficult Alpine route between Milan and Munich, as the Ju 52, unlike the Italian aircraft, was equipped with suitable de-icing devices. The first three aircraft delivered in 1935 were equipped with the commonly used BMW 132 A engines, but were subsequently converted to the Italian Piaggio X R engine with 700 hp. After two losses (March 30, 1938 I-BEZI without personal injury, December 4, 1939 I-BAUS with seven injured and four dead), Ala ordered three aircraft, which were delivered in 1940. These aircraft were equipped with the 750 hp 126-RC.34 engines from Alfa Romeo and were given the designation "lu". In September 1943 the DLH confiscated the four still existing Ju 52 / 3m of the Ala Littoria and chartered them for their own air traffic until the end of the war.

Spain

In the Iberia it was a subsidiary of DLH, which at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War has been revived. From July 1937, the DLH operated the traffic in national Spain. To do this, she used her own aircraft that were chartered out to Iberia. Seven aircraft were sold to Iberia on July 1, 1939. In 1941/42 DLH delivered a total of six Ju 52 / 3m - including four brand new ones that served as a stake in Iberia. From 1942 onwards, DLH chartered three aircraft for its own air traffic. The serial number 7053 EC-ABD was destroyed by a bomb attack on September 5, 1944. In the summer of 1964, a Ju 52 was still in use on the military part of Palma de Mallorca Airport .

Great Britain

In contrast to Imperial Airways , British Airways (BA) was allowed to procure aircraft abroad. In 1937, BA bought two used Ju 52s from the Swedish AB Aerotransport (ABA) for their night mail routes . In 1938 JFM delivered a new G-AFAP machine. It was the freight version of the Ju 52 / 3m. The aircraft was during the German occupation of Norway on the Oslo Airport Fornebu confiscated on 9 April 1940th The two remaining aircraft were taken over by Sabena in 1941 for use in the Belgian Congo .

From 1946 to 1948, British European Airways (BEA) used a total of ten aircraft from the spoils of war, mainly as freighters. One of the aircraft was the former D-APZX of the DLH.

Greece

The Greek Airline (HEES, Ελληνική Εταιρία Εναέριων Συγκοινωνιών) had a fleet of different Junkers types. Since the opening of the Athens – Heraklion line on March 19, 1939, only the three Junkers Ju 52 / 3m have been used on it. These were procured by DLH for HEES between June and August 1938. During the occupation of Greece in May 1941, the three aircraft were confiscated by the Luftwaffe.

USSR

Ju 52 was used by the Deruluft airline since 1934 on the Berlin – Moscow route. JFM delivered three Ju 52 / 3m to the Soviet Union in March 1941 and one Ju 52 / 3m in May 1941 (W.-Nr. 7180). Another six aircraft ordered were no longer delivered after the attack on the Soviet Union . In the USSR, the aircraft were intended as a test vehicle for engines and not intended for passenger traffic. Some of the aircraft not delivered were also used by the RLM as test vehicles (W. No. 7205 for Jumo 211 L, W. No. 7230, 7255 and 7280 intended for Jumo 223). During the Second World War, the USSR captured a large number of Ju 52s and used these machines until the 1950s, particularly in Siberia and Central Asia . The shorter runways required for the Ju 52 compared to the Li-2 (license of the DC-3 ) met the expansion of the infrastructure there. It was not until the lack of spare parts that the type was gradually phased out in the 1950s.

Austria

The ÖLAG flying in joint venture with DLH ordered a total of seven Ju 52 / 3m. The OE-LAL was lost due to a break on March 16, 1936, the rest was taken over by DLH when the ÖLAG was incorporated on December 31, 1938. The Austrian Armed Forces also owned three Ju 52 / 3m (two bombers and a staff machine).

Belgium

Before the war, SABENA procured a total of eight Ju 52 / 3mge. Two aircraft were lost in accidents (OO-AUA March 14, 1939, OO-AUB November 16, 1937 ). The remainder were sent to the Belgian Congo after the start of the war, where air traffic continued during the war. From 1941 aircraft and crews were chartered by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). In 1941 SABENA bought two Ju 52 / 3m from British Airways. In order to be able to maintain the traffic, some aircraft were used to obtain spare parts. The last two Ju 52 / 3m were deleted from the register in 1946.

Poland

The LOT received on 16 November 1936 Ju 52 / 3mge with the serial number 5588. In settlement gave her nine Junkers F 13 at the Dessau plant back. The aircraft with the registration number SP – AKX was initially used on the connection to Berlin and later to Rome . On September 12, 1939, the plane was flown to Bucharest , but was confiscated by the Romanian authorities.

Airlines in South America

The robust machines have proven themselves exceptionally well in South America in particular . The air traffic controlled by Lufthansa mainly used the Ju 52 / 3m.

Peru

Lufthansa operated the traffic in Peru through a subsidiary, "Deutsche Lufthansa Sucursal Peru". A total of four Ju 52s were used, of which the OB-HHB crashed on June 26, 1938. Two aircraft were confiscated by the Peruvian government on March 31, 1941 and DLH Peru's license was withdrawn.

Bolivia

After Lufthansa had rejected the single-engine Ju 52 / 1m, Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano ordered two copies in autumn 1931 on the condition that they were to be equipped with three engines (Pratt & Whitney "Hornet") instead of one. This can be the trigger for the further development of the Ju 52 / 1m to the Ju 52 / 3m. The two aircraft ordered (serial numbers 4008 and 4009) were originally planned with one engine and were converted to three engines while they were being built. Both machines were used as transporters in the war between Bolivia and Paraguay (1932–1935) - curiously, even before Lufthansa or the Luftwaffe put the Ju 52 / 3m into service. A total of five aircraft were procured. The sixth machine (W. No. 6993) could no longer be delivered to Bolivia in 1941 due to the war.

Brazil

The Brazilian airline Syndicato Condor Ltda. , which was a subsidiary of Deutsche Luft Hansa , flew to 15 airfields and 24 sea airports (with float planes). Their entire route network reached an expansion of 15,000 kilometers. The Condor was the most important company of the DLH in South America. Accordingly, a total of 16 Ju 52 / 3m were used from October 1933 to the end of 1945, even when the company was renamed Cruzeiro do Sul . Three aircraft were lost in crashes, two were given to SEDTA in Ecuador, and the remaining eleven were sold to the Argentine Air Force in late 1945 / early 1946 .

The VARIG continued the Ju 52 / 3m factory number 4058 PP-VAL (ex SAA ZS-AFA) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul one. In addition to its most important route from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, the VASP served three other destinations deep in the interior of the country. It bought its first aircraft about a year after it was founded in 1935. A total of five aircraft were used.

Argentina

With its home airport in Buenos Aires, Aeroposta Argentina flew to the sparsely populated areas down to Tierra del Fuego. In 1937, DLH procured three aircraft for Aeroposta. Some machines were used for transport to the Comodoro Rivadavia oil fields.

Uruguay

With only two machines, CX-ABA (W. No. 5877) and CX-ABB (W. No. 5886), CAUSA operated a shuttle service between Montevideo and Buenos Aires since 1938. High-density seating was used so that up to 28 passengers could be accommodated. The CX-ABB was lost in a crash on December 24, 1940.

Ecuatoriana

From 1956 to 1963 the Ju 52 / 3mg2e with the serial number 5489 flew freight and passengers between Quito and the upper Amazon region, probably Puerto Francisco de Orellana . Until 1969 it was still rotting at the international airport Mariscal Sucre in Quito and until 2018 it was in use with the Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Foundation with the historical registration D-AQUI.

Ecuador

After SEDTA had already had good experience with the Junkers W34 type, DLH procured two Ju 52 / 3m for the route from Quito to Guayaquil in 1938. These are the HC-SAC (serial number 5053) and HC-SAB (W.-No. 5915), which were lost as a result of a crash on December 10, 1938. Furthermore, two Ju 52s from Syndicato Condor were chartered and another was bought. On September 4, 1941, the Ecuadorian government confiscated the remaining two Ju 52 / 3m and withdrew the license from the SEDTA because of their connection with the DLH.

Colombia

Since the founding of the German-Colombian company SCADTA (Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo) in 1919, she has mostly used Junkers machines. The first two Ju F-13 aircraft for the SCADTA, purchased at a unit price of 12,000 gold dollars, reached Colombia by ship at the end of July 1920. As a result, three Ju 52 / 3m were also used from 1932, some with floats and from rivers operating. In the border war between Colombia and Peru (1932–1934), the first demonstrable military use of Ju-52 machines, some of which were flown by German SCADTA pilots, took place. One of them is still located as FAC 625 in the Museo Aeroespacial Colombiano (MAECO) of the Colombian Air Force in the CATAM military section of Bogotá Airport. The aircraft, which is no longer airworthy, was externally restored in 2008 and can be viewed there after registration. It was the country's first presidential plane.

Airlines in Africa

Three Junkers Ju-52s built for South African Airways
SAA

Junkers owned a majority stake in South African Airways , which was founded in 1934 . Since the German Reich chronically lacked foreign currency, Junkers participated in the company by bringing in material. The SAA therefore took over their first four Ju 52 / 3m from November 1, 1934. They took over the important route from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In 1937/38 a further eleven Ju 52 / 3m were procured because the SAA was planning an enormous expansion of the network at that time. At the same time, the old ZS-AFA was sold to Varig, the old ZS-AFC and ZS-AFD to DLH, which they immediately used for Iberia traffic. In 1940 the remaining ten Ju 52s were taken over by the SAAF and used as transporters or - in North Africa - as makeshift bombers against German troops.

Airlines in Asia

Eurasia
A Eurasia Ju 52 in China

The subsidiary of DLH (33% stake) used a total of ten Ju 52 / 3m from 1935 onwards. The last one was scrapped in 1945 at the successor company CATCO. Eurasia was particularly hard hit by the fighting in the Sino-Japanese war and lost a total of five aircraft to Japanese bombs. The last aircraft delivered, Eu XXV, was shot down by Japanese fighters on October 26, 1940, injuring the crew. Three aircraft were lost in crashes between 1937 and 1939. Despite these adverse conditions, the Eurasia was able to maintain traffic until 1943. The route was variably adapted to the conditions. Abroad, Hanoi and Hong Kong were flown to in order to establish the connection with the Far East routes of Air France and Imperial Airways. For political reasons, however, it was never possible to establish a continuous connection between Europe and China via the Soviet Union.

Military use

A Ju 52 / 3m MS (magnetic coil) for clearing sea mines
A Ju 52 in Russia
Jump from paratroopers
Ambulance aircraft

In 1933 Junkers received an order for 450 three-engine makeshift bombers as part of the Rhineland program . The testing of the three-engine version as a makeshift bomber probably only began in the second half of 1933 with two aircraft (serial numbers 4032 and 4034). This test was under enormous time pressure, as the large-scale production under the code name ABC program was to begin as early as May / June 1934. In order to be able to cope with the enormous production figures (the delivery schedule 1a already provided for 707 JFM aircraft), the production of large components was outsourced to ATG in Leipzig and Weserflug and only the final assembly was carried out at Junkers. By the end of 1934, 192 makeshift bombers had been delivered after only 17 Ju 52 / 3m were built in 1933. ATG started series production as early as 1935 and delivered 154 aircraft by 1937. From 1934 to 1937 1027 makeshift bombers were delivered to be converted to the Transporter Ju 52 / 3mg4e. After the start of the war, ATG was again involved in the production of the Ju 52. Furthermore, in August 1941 orders were given to Amiot / SECM in France, which delivered the first aircraft from June 1942. In 1944, PIRT received an order from Hungary, but only four of the aircraft were delivered to the Air Force.

In 1937, WFG received the order to convert 404 makeshift bombers into transporters. Other aircraft were used as a C or blind flight training aircraft.

During the war the Ju 52 / 3m was used by the minesweeping squadrons of the Luftwaffe . The company MNH (Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hannover) converted a total of 151 aircraft accordingly by October 1944. The machines were called Ju 52 / 3m MS and were equipped with a magnetic coil with a diameter of 15 m installed under the fuselage. During the overflight at 120 km / h at a height of about 30 meters above sea level, the magnetic field detonated ground magneto mines. The power supply of the 35 centimeter wide and 10 cm high coil with 44 turns made of aluminum wire, through which a current of 300 amperes flowed, was provided by a generator with a power of 15 kW installed in the fuselage and driven by a car engine. The flight altitude of typically 30, at least 10 m, was controlled by a towed, weight-loaded cable that emitted an electrical signal when it hit the surface of the water. The first briefing of the crew took place on September 15, 1940. The first deployment took place from the Gilze-Rijen airfield at the mouth of the Westerschelde in Vlissingen .

The Ju 52 / 3m also served as a tow plane for the cargo glider DFS 230 in Airborne Squadron 1 .

Military production 1934–1944
version JF / JFM ATG PIRT Amiot TOTAL
Makeshift bomber 873 154 1027
g4e 933 120 1053
g5e 231 231
g6e 13th 160 173
g7e 134 134
g8e 793 624 4th 1421
g10e 200 200
g14e 316 316
total 2977 1058 4th 516 4555

Spanish Civil War

In July 1936, 20 machines were initially sent to the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War . From November 1936 to January 1937, the German legionaries threw explosive, fragmentation and incendiary bombs on Madrid from a total of 48 Ju 52s (Spanish nickname “Pablo”) and put the republican battleshipJaime I ” out of action with a 250-kilogram bomb and destroyed, among other things, the Basque cities Durango (Bizkaia) and Gernika (Spanish Guernica). These military successes prompted Hitler to say: "Franco should erect a monument to the Ju 52". Soon afterwards it became clear that the machines were only of limited suitability as bombers, in particular their low speed made them vulnerable. From May 1937 they were no longer used as bombers, but again as (military) transport aircraft.

Second World War

As a bomber, for example, the Ju 52 was involved in the bombing of Warsaw. In contrast to its use as a bomber, the Ju 52 / 3m remained on the Luftwaffe's standard transport aircraft throughout the Second World War. Compared to the Douglas C-47, the military version of the DC-3 , the Ju 52 / 3m had a lower performance and payload, on the other hand, the short take-off and landing capabilities ( STOL ) of the Ju 52 were advantageous in military use .

Planned successors to the Ju 52 / 3m were the Ju 252 and Ju 352 as well as the Arado Ar 232 , which were only produced in comparatively small numbers.

French Air Force

Even with the French Armée de l'air , the Ju 52 was still in use after the war until the end of the 1960s, mostly as the Amiot AAC.1 Toucan , of which at least 216 were used. Some Toucans brought relief supplies to Agadir in Morocco after a severe earthquake in 1960 . A Ju 52 of the French Air Force was briefly involved in the Berlin Airlift.

Italian Air Force

In Fascist Italy , some Ju 52 / 3m equipped with Piaggio engines flew in the Regia Aeronautica during the Second World War . These machines were taken over in 1940 by the national airline Ala Littoria as "militarized passenger aircraft" and served as transport aircraft in the Mediterranean region . They were all lost in missions until 1943.

Portuguese Air Force

The Portuguese Air Force procured a total of ten combat aircraft in 1937, which were used until the 1960s. In Portugal, some served by CASA in Seville (Spain) in license built CASA 352 as a transport aircraft to about the mid-1960s.

Swiss Air Force
Ju 52 HB-HOS of JU-AIR at the start of a sightseeing flight at the Albstadt-Degerfeld airfield (2016)

In 1939 the Swiss Air Force procured three Ju 52 / 3m. The type was the largest aircraft in the inventory of the Flugwaffe for the next 40 years and was used for a wide variety of tasks. The machines were not taken out of service until 1981. All three were taken over by Ju-Air and regularly used as HB-HOS (serial number 6580), HB-HOP and HB-HOT for sightseeing flights for 36 years without major incidents. However, on August 4, 2018, HB-HOT crashed on the Piz Segnas mountain ; all 20 inmates died .

Spanish Air Force

In 1939, after the victory of the nationalists under General Francisco Franco , most of the machines of the Condor Legion were handed over by the German Reich to the new Spanish air force Ejercito del Aire . At the same time, license production of the Ju 52 as CASA 352 L started in the last phase of the Spanish civil war , with a total of 170 aircraft being built. Various machines, including both the original Ju 52 and the license-built CASA 352L, were still in service with the Spanish Air Force as a transport aircraft until 1974. Many specimens remained in museums after they were decommissioned or were sold abroad.

variants

An almost unmanageable number of variants of the Junkers Ju 52 / 3m were built. In particular, the motorization has often been designed according to customer requirements.

Civil versions

A Ju 52 / 3m at Munich Airport, 1937
  • Ju 52 / 3m ce, equipped with three Pratt & Whitney Hornets with 404 kW (550 PS)
  • Ju 52 / 3m ba, equipped with a mid-engine Hispano-Suiza 12Mb with 551 kW (750 PS) and two wing motors Hispano-Suiza 12Nb with 423 kW (575 PS) each. This machine with the serial number 4016 was manufactured and sold especially for the President of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the Romanian Prince Gheorghe Bibescu, in March 1932 . The interior design was accordingly luxurious.
  • Ju 52 / 3m fe, improved version with fairing of the chassis and NACA hoods on the wing motors; three BMW Hornet engines.
  • Ju 52 / 3m fle, special version as a trainer aircraft
  • Ju 52 / 3m l, three Pratt & Whitney Hornet SE1G with 489 kW (665 PS) each
  • Ju 52 / 3m g, either three Pratt & Whitney R-1340 (S3H1-G) with 404 kW (550 PS) each (e.g. for Great Britain and Argentina ), three Piaggio PXR (for Italy ) with 515 kW each ( 700 PS) or three 533 kW (725 PS) Bristol Pegasus VIs (e.g. for Poland )
  • Ju 52 / 3m ho, equipped with three Jumo 205 diesel engines with 404 kW (550 PS) each (delivery to Lufthansa ), serial number 4045 and 4055
  • Ju 52 / 3m reo, three 588–647 kW (800–880 hp) BMW 132 Da / Dc
  • Ju 52 / 3m te, three BMW 132 G / L, fastest civilian variant

Military versions

Military use also produced a large number of variants:

  • Ju 52 / 3m g3e, with three BMW 132 equipped makeshift bombers. The type did not prove itself and was used again briefly as a transport aircraft in the Air Force from 1938.
  • Ju 52 / 3m g4e, 3 BMW 132A. In this type, the load compartment floor was reinforced, and a large side load compartment hatch and a large cargo hatch were installed in the roof of the cabin. The production took place in Dessau and at ATG in Leipzig.
  • Ju 52 / 3m g5e, armed transport variant with the BMW 132T. Partly equipped with equipment for hauling cargo sailors . Was introduced in 1941.
  • Ju 52 / 3m g6e, similar to Ju 52 / 3m g5e, slight changes to the chassis.
  • Ju 52 / 3m g7e, armed transport variant with the BMW 132T. Number of side windows reduced, loading hatch enlarged, autopilot from Siemens / LGW
  • Ju 52 / 3m g8e, like g6e, but with LGW autopilot
  • Ju 52 / 3m g9e, like g6e but BMW 132Z as engine. Changed equipment.
  • Ju 52 / 3m g10e, three BMW 132T engines. Also as a seaplane with floats.
  • Ju 52 / 3m g12e, like g10e, but BMW132L as engine
  • Ju 52 / 3m g14e, similar to g8e, but better armor
  • Ju 52 / 3m MS (magnetic coil), these machines of the Mausi mine search group were equipped with an electric coil that was supposed to detonate sea mines with magneto .

Other manufacturers abroad

The Ju 52 / 3m was also built under license in other countries during the Second World War and afterwards :

Amiot (France)

Amiot AAC.1 Toucan (Ju 52 / 3m g14e, built in 1946) in the Polish Aviation Museum

From SECM Amiot in Colombes ( France ) were 516 machines during the Second World War and still produced 415 after the end of the fighting, which then in the French Air Force and Air France under the name AAC.1 Toucan to about the late 1960s Years have been flown. One of these machines with the serial number 368 is in the Deutsches Museum today . It was bought by the Army de l'air in 1959 for one franc and flown from France to Oberschleißheim , where it was dismantled and taken to the museum's aviation hall.

CASA (Spain)

At CASA in Spain , a total of 170 aircraft were manufactured from the last phase of the Second World War and after its end. The first series was called CASA 352 ; 106 pieces were produced. Since the BMW 132 engine of the CASA 352 was no longer in production, the use of the Elizalde (ENMASA) Beta engine made in Spain changed the engine cowling of the middle engine; 64 of this version, called CASA 352L, were produced. Production was only stopped in 1954. These machines were flown by the Spanish Air Force Ejercito del Aire until 1974. Some also flew in Portugal . Many copies of the CASA 352 remained in museums after being taken out of service by the Air Force or were sold abroad, where some of them are still used for classic car tours. Due to the lack of airworthy original Ju 52s, some CASA 352s have replaced them at some airlines that have purchased a Ju 52 for classic car tours.

Incidents

Due to the abundance of accidents, only a selection of total losses, mainly from the period after the Second World War , can be presented here.

  • On July 22, 1935, a Ju 52 with 11 soldiers crashed in the Harz Auf dem Acker , which is still evident today in a monument west of the Hanskühnenburg .
  • On November 16, 1937, a Junkers Ju 52 / 3m of the Belgian Sabena ( aircraft registration OO-AUB ) was on the flight from Frankfurt Airport to Brussels-Haren Airport. Due to fog at the destination, it was avoided to the Stene airfield near Ostend . There, too, the weather had worsened. On the approach, the aircraft rammed the chimney of a brick factory at a height of 40 meters, whereupon the right wing broke off and the machine crashed into the brick factory. All eleven occupants were killed in this controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). The eight passengers included the German glider pioneer and propeller designer Arthur Martens and five members of the family of the former Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus of Hesse-Darmstadt (see also the flight accident in Ostend ) .
  • On December 2, 1938, a Ju 52 with the registration D-ANOY crashed on the approach to Vienna on Leopoldsberg between Vienna and Klosterneuburg . Despite the total loss of the aircraft, all passengers survived.
  • On March 14, 1939, a Ju 52 / 3mge of the Belgian Sabena (OO-AUA) crashed on a cargo flight near Haren Airport ( Brussels ). The plane came from London and was supposed to make a scheduled landing at Brussels Airport. However, the plane flew over the airport at an estimated height of 50 to 60 meters. It then sank to a height of 10 to 20 meters before taking off. Shortly afterwards, the plane crashed into a field. All three inmates were killed.
  • On December 18, 1942, a Ju 52 / 3m of Det Danske Luftfartselskab (DDL) ( aircraft registration OY-DAL ) coming from Copenhagen had an accident while approaching Vienna a few kilometers from the destination airfield. Two of the sixteen passengers died; the others and the three crew members survived.
  • On May 22, 1946, the left engine of a Ju 52 / 3m2e of the Det Norske Luftfartselskap (DNL) (LN-LAB) failed shortly after taking off from Oslo-Fornebu Airport . When attempting a turnaround, the flow stalled , the machine brushed treetops and crashed into a house on the southern edge of the airport. All 12 occupants except one passenger died.
  • On January 6, 1947, an Amiot AAC.1 of the Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) (F-BBYK) got off course due to strongly changed wind conditions and flew at 1,800 meters into a snow-covered flank of Mont Ventoux . The crew of three on the cargo flight from Marseille to Lyon survived.
  • On May 12, 1951, an Amiot AAC.1 of Air Fret Transimax ( F-BDYE ) crashed near Rovigo (now Bougara) ( Algeria ) and was irreparably damaged. All three crew members on the cargo flight died.
  • On July 26, 1951, an Amiot AAC.1 belonging to Compagnie Autrex ( F-BBYF ) had an accident near Lào Cai , Vietnam , and was irreparably damaged. At least one inmate died.
  • On January 2, 1952, an Air France (F-BAMQ) Amiot AAC.1 crashed near Andapa ( Madagascar ). Of the eleven occupants (eight passengers and three crew members), three passengers and all three crew members were killed.
  • On April 2, 1958, a Junkers Ju 52 / 3m of the Ecuadorian airline Transportes Aéreos Orientales (TAO) (HC-SND) crashed near Quito after engine problems. The machine was on the flight from Quito to Esmeraldas (Ecuador) . Of the 14 occupants (12 passengers and 2 crew members) 3 passengers were killed.
  • On June 8, 1965, two CASA 352s (license-built Junkers Ju 52 / 3m) of the Spanish Air Force collided near the Alcantarilla air base near Murcia . The two aircraft (T.2B-229 and T.2B-230) collided within a formation of nine CASA 352s when parachutists were dropped and crashed. All six crew members of the two machines as well as eight parachutists on board one of the machines were killed.

Technical specifications

Elizalde Beta engine
Detail of the Elizalde Beta
Parameter Data
crew 3
Passengers 15-17
length 18.50 m (with floats 19.40 m)
span 29.25 m
height 4.65 m, with chassis 6.10 m
Wing area 110.50 m²
Wing extension 7.7
Empty mass 5720 kg
max takeoff mass 10,500 kg
payload 1500 kg
Engines 3 × BMW 132 (several variants) or
3 × Pratt & Whitney "Hornet" or
3 × Elizalde Beta (Spanish replica of the Wright Cyclone )
power 3 × 600 PS (approx. 440 kW) to 3 × 750 PS (approx. 550 kW)
Start speed 120 km / h
Top speed 290 km / h
Cruising speed 180 km / h
Landing speed 106 km / h
Summit height 6300 m
Range 1200-1300 km
Armament a MG 131 cal. 13 mm in the open position over the fuselage
two 7.92 mm MG on the sides of the fuselage

"Aunt Ju" today

Some of the Ju 52 / 3m have been preserved and are partly used for classic car flights. Other machines are found in museums around the world or are exhibited in public places.

Airworthy Ju 52 / 3m (including variants)

There are still two airworthy Ju 52 / 3m from Junkers as well as four license replicas from Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA , which are mainly used for sightseeing flights.

operator Mark version Stationed in comment picture
Ju-Air HB-HOP
HB-HOS
Ju 52 / 3m g4e Dübendorf / Switzerland Former A-701/703 of the Swiss Air Force, original BMW engines.

The HB-HOS / A-701 was seen in the TV series " Two Heavenly Daughters " (1978).
The HB-HOT / A-702, which appeared in the films “ Agents die lonely ” (1968) “ Operation Walküre ” (2008) and “ To the horizon, then left! “(2012) was seen on August 4, 2018 in a crash .

After a temporary flight ban, Ju-Air's Ju-52s were allowed to fly again between August 16, 2018 and November 20, 2018 subject to additional conditions imposed by the FOCA : higher minimum flight altitude, carrying a GPS recording device and the passengers strapped to their seats From November 20, 2018, a general flight ban of this type for Switzerland was imposed until further notice due to possible safety problems. In March 2019, the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation (FOCA) withdrew the license for commercial passenger flights, and a resumption of flight operations “in a private setting” should still be possible with technical requirements. In May 2019, the maintenance operations were withdrawn after deficiencies were discovered. Until they receive a new license, the machines are effectively banned from flying.

JU52 HB-HOP.jpg
HB-HOP (2012)

Cabin Ju-Air HB-HOP 2017.jpg
Cabin HB-HOP (2017) HB-HOS
JU52 HB HOS.jpg

Ju-Air HB-HOY CASA 352A-3 Mainly Mönchengladbach airfield , otherwise Dübendorf / Switzerland now with original BMW engines, formerly exhibited on the spectator terrace at Düsseldorf Airport as D-CIAK. The Association of Friends of Historic Aircraft e. V. in Mönchengladbach is the owner of HB-HOY. Ju-Air CASA 352 (HB-HOY) in Zurich
German Lufthansa Berlin Foundation (DLBS) D-CDLH Ju 52 / 3m Hamburg Airport In the former Lufthansa color scheme as D-AQUI from 1936, P&W engines, converted to 3-blade propellers, known as Iron Annie N52JU until 1984. Returned to Hamburg from Titusville in Florida in December 1984. A report on the history of the operations of the machine and on the repair work in Hamburg of the "oldest licensed commercial aircraft in the world that still regularly takes off with passengers" was published in 2017 in the VDI nachrichten . In January 2019, the DLBS initially announced that all passenger flights with the Ju52 would be suspended until further notice due to a damaged engine mount. After the decision by the Lufthansa Executive Board to discontinue cost subsidies to the DLBS, the DLBS announced the end of the passenger flights. The machine was dismantled in Munich and brought to Hamburg by road in April 2019. It was stored there. For cost reasons, it should no longer be refurbished so that it can fly, but should be presented again in a museum. In September 2019 it was transported to Bremen and stored there in a hall. In September 2020 it was transported to Paderborn / Lippstadt Airport , where it will be exhibited in the Quax hangar in the future. JU 52 Lufthansa D-AQUI.jpg
South African Airways Historic Flight ZS-AFA CASA 352 Swartkop / South Africa Purchased from England in 1984 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the SAA SAA Museum CASA 352L ZS-AFA (8382849734) .jpg
Commemorative Air Force N352JU CASA 352L Gary Regional Airport / Indiana / USA operated by "The Great Lakes Wing" of the "Commemorative Air Force", P&W engines, converted to 3-blade propellers Junkers Ju 52-3m (Old Tante Ju) (337118814) .jpg
Amicale JB Salis F-AZJU CASA 352 Cerny / La Ferté Alais near Paris / France A German nameplate from 1943 with the registration number 24 was discovered in the fuselage (after the license was sold to CASA, Junkers delivered 30 original aircraft to check the Spanish assembly lines), which has been airworthy again since 2003 Amicale JB Salis CASA 352 (F-AZJU)

Ju 52 / 3m in museums

Europe

Junkers Ju 52 / 3m in the visitor park at Munich Airport
Junkers JU 52 in the Aviation Museum at the airport in Belgrade, Serbia
Belgium
Germany
France
Greece
Great Britain
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Sweden
Serbia
Spain

North America

South America

Cinematic reception

A Ju 52 played a central role in the six-part television series Two Heavenly Daughters (1978). Here Kikki ( Ingrid Steeger ) and Chantal ( Iris Berben ) inherited an old Ju 52 (called Emma ) from an admirer and founded the Donnerflug airline . On their flights they experienced all sorts of amusing things with their pilot Tino ( Klaus Dahlen ). The running gag of the series was that every time the aircraft took off, it flew so close over the control tower that its window panes were broken. Today's HB-HOS (then A-701) was used for this. The badge of the Swiss Air Force and the license plate of the machine were covered with the insignia of the fictional airline for the filming. (Zöller, p. 102)

HB-HOT, which was completely destroyed in a crash in 2018, could be seen in the following films: Agents die lonely (1968) Operation Walküre (2008) and To the horizon, then left! (2012).

See also

literature

  • From the large freighter to the commercial aircraft and transporter Ju 52 / 3m. In: Wolfgang Wagner: Hugo Junkers aviation pioneer - his airplanes. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-7637-6112-8 (Volume 24: Die deutsche Luftfahrt ), pp. 343-358
  • Wolfgang Miertsch: Junkers Ju 52 / 3m. = Junkers Ju 52. civil versions. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-7637-6015-6 ( From the original to the model: Junkers ).
  • Helmut Erfurth: Airplane legend Ju 52. History and technology, passenger flights and war missions. GeraMond, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-95613-401-2 .
  • Paul Zöller: The last Junkers aircraft II , BoD, Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-7528-8016-8 :
    • Junkers Ju52 / 3m, pp. 28-135
    • AAC.1, pp. 136-163
    • CASA 352, pp. 164-232
  • Günter Schmitt: Junkers and his aircraft , transpress, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-344-00065-9 , pp. 172-174

Video material

  • Aunt Ju at the big check. A classic car is being retreaded. TV report, Germany, 2013, 29 min., Script and director: Andreas Graf, production: SWR , series: Schlaglicht, first broadcast: November 26, 2013 on SWR, synopsis from ARD and online video .
  • Historical flight routes, 90-minute documentary on ServusTV

Web links

Commons : Junkers Ju 52  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Lutz Budrass: eagle and crane. Lufthansa and its history 1926–1955. Blessing, Munich 2016.
  2. ^ The Zurich Meeting. (PDF) Circuit of the Alps (Commercial Aircraft). In: FLIGHT, AUGUST 5, 1932. Flightglobal.com, August 5, 1932, p. 726 , accessed on May 17, 2012 (English): “Five machines had been entered for this contest, and three finished. They were a Junkers three-engined "Ju.52" (Hornet), a Dornier four-engined "Do.K" (Walter), and a Fokker three-engined "F.VII" (Wright). The "Ju.52" secured first place, the "Do.K" second, and the "F.VII" third. "
  3. A Remarkable Crash. (PDF) In: FLIGHT, AUGUST 19, 1932. Flightglobal.com, August 19, 1932, p. 779 , accessed on May 17, 2012 (in English, with a photo of the D-2201 that crashed).
  4. Andreas Acktun: Air traffic in Germany and Great Britain 1924 to 1946. Air traffic in the field of tension between state and business interests. Marburg 2006.
  5. Annual reports DLH 1937 to 1942
  6. Federal Archives / Military Archives, Freiburg: Head of Aviation, RL 6
  7. ^ Annual financial statements BOAC 1941/42, British Airways Archive
  8. ^ Annual financial statements DLH 1938 and 1941, Lufthansa archive, Cologne
  9. Helmut Erfurth: Airplane legend Ju 52. GeraMond, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-95613-401-2 , pp. 134/135.
  10. ^ JFM Monthly Reports, National Archives, Washington
  11. ^ Mieczysław Mikulski, Andrzej Glass: Polski transport lotniczy 1918–1978 . Warsaw 1980, p. 370 .
  12. http://www.fac.mil.co/?idcategoria=23326. Retrieved May 8, 2017 .
  13. FlugRevue April 2011, pp. 92–95, With “Mausi” against mines
  14. ^ German aircraft - stationed or visiting Langenlebarn: Junkers Ju 52 / 3m and Junkers Ju 52 / 3m "Mausi". gotech.at, undated, accessed August 5, 2018.
  15. ^ Hans-Jürgen Becker: Ju 52. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1991, pp. 115-116.
  16. [1] , accessed on May 25, 2020.
  17. ^ Accident report Ju 52 OO-AUB , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 15, 2019.
  18. Rudolf Ster, Reinhard leash: German Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 / 3m te D-Anoy From Pamirflug to crash in the Vienna Woods . Ed .: ILF. ILF self-published.
  19. 80 years ago: The last flight of the "Rudolf von Thüna". Retrieved September 19, 2020 (Austrian German).
  20. Aircraft accident data and report Ju 52 OO-AUA in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 15, 2021.
  21. ^ Accident report Ju 52 OY-DAL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 4, 2017.
  22. Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 43 (English), December 1991, pp. 91/108.
  23. ^ Accident report Ju 52 LN-LAB , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 7, 2017.
  24. accident report AAC.1 / Ju 52 F-BBYL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 17, 2017th
  25. accident report AAC.1 / Ju 52 F-BBYK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 17, 2017th
  26. ^ Accident report Ju 52 G-AHOK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2018.
  27. accident report AAC.1 / Ju 52 F-BDYE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 15 January 2018th
  28. accident report AAC.1 / Ju 52 YU-ACE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 15 January 2018th
  29. accident report AAC.1 / Ju 52 F-BBYF , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 15 January 2018th
  30. accident report AAC.1 / Ju 52 F-BAMQ , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on 22 August 2018th
  31. ^ Accident report Ju 52 PT-AUX , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2018.
  32. ^ Accident report Ju 52 HC-SND , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2018.
  33. ^ Accident report Ju 52 / CASA 352 T.2B-229 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2018.
  34. ^ Accident report Ju 52 / CASA 352 T.2B-230 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2018.
  35. ^ Accident report Ju 52 HB-HOT , The Aviation Herald (English), accessed on August 5, 2018.
  36. Aunt Ju crashed near Flims - police with initial information. In: derbund.ch , August 5, 2018, accessed on August 5, 2018.
  37. a b types of aircraft in the world. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1997, ISBN 3-86047-593-2 .
  38. a b Karsten Palt: Junkers Ju 52 / 3m - technical data / description. Retrieved May 8, 2017 .
  39. ^ Paul Zöller: The last Junkers aircraft II: Junkers Ju52, AAC.1 and CASA 352 . Dietzenbach 2018, ISBN 978-3-7528-8016-8 , pp. 102 .
  40. ↑ The airline is allowed to continue flying after the "Tante Ju" crash orf.at, August 16, 2018, accessed August 16, 2018.
  41. Ju-52: Federal government issued a provisional flight ban . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . November 20, 2018, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  42. Flugrevue.de (from March 12, 2019): Switzerland prohibits Ju-Air passenger flights , accessed on March 12, 2019
  43. tagesschau.de (from March 12, 2019): Ju-Air loses commercial flight license , accessed on March 12, 2019
  44. Elisa Miebach: Flying Oldtimer turns 80: Happy Birthday to "Ju". In: Spiegel Online from April 6, 2016.
  45. Old Aunt Ju: Oldtimer of the skies in the sky. Travel EXCLUSIV magazine website, accessed December 17, 2014.
  46. Wolfgang Heumer: The Eternal Aunt. (Aviation: The world's oldest registered airliner is currently being repaired in Hamburg. It could celebrate its 100th birthday in flightworthy condition.) In: VDI nachrichten , April 7, 2017, No. 14/15, p. 12/13. The eternal aunt. April 6, 2017 Issue 14 - online
  47. ^ Findings on our Ju52. Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung , accessed on January 22, 2019 .
  48. Wolfgang Horch, Volker Mester: Oldtimer "Tante Ju" - The farewell to a legend. Berliner Morgenpost , January 28, 2019, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
  49. aerotelegraph.com: German Junkers Ju-52 comes to the museum
  50. Lufthansa stores historical aircraft in Bremen. weser-kurier.de, September 8, 2019, accessed on September 23, 2019 .
  51. Last trip for "Tante Ju": traditional plane arrived in Bremen. butenunbinnen.de, September 18, 2019, accessed on September 23, 2019 .
  52. The D-AQUI comes to Paderborn. Flugrevue.de, August 11, 2020, accessed on September 30, 2020 .
  53. Aunt Ju at Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport: The last journey of the grand dame of aviation. Der Patriot, September 27, 2020, accessed September 30, 2019 .
  54. ^ Paul Zöller: The last Junkers aircraft II: Junkers Ju52, AAC.1 and CASA 352 . BoD - Books on Demand, 2018, ISBN 978-3-7528-8016-8 ( google.de [accessed January 10, 2019]).