Junkers Ju 388

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Junkers Ju 388
Junkers Ju 188 E-1
Junkers Ju 388 L-1
Type: Bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
Design country:

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire

Manufacturer:

Junkers

First flight:

December 22, 1943

Commissioning:

1944

Production time:

1944

Number of pieces:

94

The Junkers Ju 388 was a further development of the Junkers Ju 188 , which in turn was based on the well-known Ju 88 and how it was designed as a twin-engine all-metal low -wing aircraft . The decisive innovation of the Ju 388 compared to its predecessors was its conception as a fast high-altitude aircraft with a pressurized cabin and high-altitude engines. As a high altitude bomber Ju 388 K and high altitude reconnaissance aircraft Ju 388 L, it was supposed to evade enemy air defenses through superior flight altitude. The night fighter and destroyer variant Ju 388 J was intended to combat enemy high-altitude aircraft.

Development history

After the failure of the Bomber B project Ju 288 , issued Generalluftzeugmeister Office of Junkers commissioned as part of an earlier project, drawn up from the Ju 188 , a high-altitude aircraft as destroyers to develop long-range reconnaissance and bombers. The basic idea behind the Ju 388 was to be able to manufacture a high-speed aircraft in series as quickly as possible and without too much effort during production preparation or production start-up by using the large components of a type already in series (Ju 88/188). The Ju 388 was therefore designed to achieve the best performance in the full pressure height of the engine. In contrast to other high-altitude aircraft, which were designed to fly as high as possible, the Ju 388 should fly as quickly as possible at its operating altitude. For this reason, the enlargement of the wings, which is otherwise common for high-altitude aircraft, was dispensed with.

In addition to the elevator engines, the most obvious innovation compared to the Ju 188 was the newly developed pressurized cabin for a three-man crew, which was fed from the engine's charge air via an air conditioning system. There was also a Kärcher heater just for de-icing the tail unit. In addition, unprotected 500-liter tanks were installed in the wings, which could be emptied via a quick release valve. The wings and tail unit were taken over from the Ju 188, except for changes in detail. For defense, a remote-controlled tail stand with a twin MG 131 was installed in the end of the fuselage. A PVE 11 periscope sight with a view over and under the hull on the port side in front of the radio seat served as the aiming device.

Series

The Ju 388 should be built in the three main series J as a destroyer / night fighter, K as a high-altitude bomber and L as a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. For each of these series there were three subgroups (-1, -2 and -3), which differed in their motorization. For the first sub-series, the BMW 801 TJ was intended as the only immediately available elevator engine, which, in contrast to the normal 801, had an exhaust gas turbocharger and a higher output. The second was to be equipped with the company's own high-performance Junkers Jumo 222 E / F engine, which would have helped the machines with a top speed of just over 700 km / h at an altitude of eleven kilometers to achieve considerable flight performance, even in comparison with their Allied competitors. The third series was to be equipped with the company's own Jumo 213 E , which would have had the greatest range of all three series due to the low consumption of this engine.

Ju 388 J

This series, specially equipped for high altitude night hunting, was intended to combat high altitude bombers, enemy night fighters and high-speed bombers such as the Mosquito . In contrast to the K and L series, the J series did not have a full view cockpit, but a normal cabin that was armored to the front and had electrically heated armored glass panes for pilots and observers. The most striking differences to the other Ju-388 series concerned the armament. Originally, the offensive armament was six MG 151/20 with 250 rounds each in two stages under the fuselage (i.e. three side by side), which were used against two MG 151/20 and four MK 108 (each 100 rounds) or against four MG 151 / 20 and two MK 103 (100 rounds each) should be interchangeable. It was planned to equip the weapons installed in the first row with a fire suppressor. This offensive armament was finally not realized with the prototypes and the planned series, but it should at night hunting variant, two MK 108 and two MG 151/20 and as bevel music to be used for another two MK 108th Initially, the FuG 220 "Lichtenstein" was intended as the on-board radar device, which was to be exchanged in series for the further developed FuG 228 with a streamlined Morgenstern antenna. Preparations for series production of the Ju 388 J-1 were well advanced at the end of 1944, but came to a standstill when the war ended. Only four prototypes were made.

Ju 388 K

This type, specially equipped as a high-altitude bomber, was intended to enable penetration into enemy areas without regular fighter planes being able to intercept them. In contrast to the destroyer variant, the Ju 388 K had a bomb tray under the fuselage, in which a bomb load of 3000 kg could be carried. With the exception of a recess for the bomb sighting device, the full-view cockpit was identical to that of the Ju 388 L reconnaissance version. In addition to two prototypes (V3 and V4), the Ju 388 K-1 also built some series machines, which, however, due to the cancellation of all bomber programs as part of the Jäger emergency program in autumn 1944 were converted to reconnaissance aircraft of the type L-1 before delivery.

Ju 388 L

Height reconnaissance aircraft Ju 388 L with a clearly visible bomb tray

The only version built in a small series was the Ju 388 L, which was equipped as an altitude reconnaissance aircraft with serial imaging devices . Outwardly, it was indistinguishable from the Ju 388 K bomber variant, as it also had the bomb tray from the Ju 88 A-15. The imaging devices were installed under the fuselage tank in the rear cargo hold. They could be installed both vertically and at an angle of 10 ° to 30 ° to the side. In the daytime version, two cameras RB 20/30, Rb 50/30 or Rb 75/30 were provided, in the night scout two NRB 35/25, NRB 40/25 or NRB 50/25 were used. In addition, the large front fuselage tank of the night explorer was replaced by a smaller one with a capacity of 725 liters in order to create space below for an L-frame with eight light bombs . Taking into account the space requirements of the light bombs, the two image devices had to be installed next to each other, which reduced the fuel capacity from 3935 to 2980 l.

Production figures and aircraft distribution

Planning

In the Luftwaffe's new aircraft program (delivery schedule 226) adopted on July 8, 1944, the Ju 388, along with the Me 262 , Ar 234 , Do 335 and Ta 152, was one of the five remaining basic types with which all tasks were to be solved; all other aircraft types were canceled. Around 550 Ju 388s and 525 Do 335s were to be produced every month, a large part of which, together with 500 Ar 234 per month, should bring about a “qualitative and quantitative increase in the combat aircraft sector”.

Actual manufacturing

Six prototypes were built in Dessau - two each Ju 388 J-1, K-1 and L-1 - as well as the Ju 388 L-0 / V7, which was the first Ju 388 to fly on December 22, 1943. Junkers also manufactured the pre-series of the K-0 bomber and the L-0 reconnaissance aircraft from large components of the Ju 188 that were taken from ongoing series production. By the end of November 1944, 15 Ju 388 L-0s were produced, mostly in Merseburg, and seven Ju 388 K-0s; originally 50 K-0s were planned, but some of them were converted into reconnaissance vehicles and several machines were destroyed by bombs before they were finally completed in Merseburg. The night fighter J and the bomber version K were no longer produced in series. Only the reconnaissance aircraft L-1 was built in a small series with a total of 66 aircraft at ATG in Leipzig and at Weserflug in Liegnitz in Lower Silesia :

month ATG L-1 WFG L-1 JFM L-0 JFM K-0 ATG K-1 TOTAL delivered to air force (L + K)
until July 1944 6th 3 6th
July 1944 3 1 1 5
August 1944 4th 2 1 7th
September 1944 3 1 4th 4th
October 1944 6th 6th 6th
November 1944 15th 5 3 2 25th 23 + 2
December 1944 19th 5 2 26th 24 + 2
January 1945 8th 1 1 10 10
February 1945 (2) 2 2
TOTAL 55 11 18th 9 1 94 69 + 4

From February to June 1944 Junkers delivered a total of ten test and pre-production aircraft of the reconnaissance version to the RLM, which proved themselves well with the troops. The later regular machines intended for the reconnaissance units had to be delivered to retrofit companies, as the aircraft delivered by the industry were not clear to the front. However, the retrofit companies were only able to equip six of the 55 aircraft delivered with the missing devices. Ultimately, this meant that only a few aircraft were assigned to test units, the rest remained in the industry. No aircraft could be delivered to a regular combat unit. A total of around 100 aircraft were accepted by the BAL. However, this does not mean that all aircraft were actually completed, since if the program was canceled or if the aircraft were destroyed by bombs, the aircraft were reported as finished so that they were paid for by the RLM. Therefore, the number of completed Ju 388s is likely to have been lower. Apart from the ten pre-series machines, 69 Ju 388 L-0 and L-1 were delivered to the Air Force.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data of the Ju 388 J-1
length 16.20 (including radar)
span 22.00 m
height 4.35 m
Max. Takeoff mass 13,965 kg
Engines two 14-cylinder double radial engines BMW 801 TJ-0 with 1810 hp each
Top speed 590 km / h (as a night fighter with radar antennas at an altitude of 11,000 m)
Service ceiling ~ 13,000 m
Range 2,200 km
Armament
  • Two cannons each 30 mm ( MK 108 ) and 20 mm ( MG 151/20 ) in the nose and two 13 mm MG 131 in the rear
  • two MK 108 in the rear fuselage, firing about 60 degrees forward and upwards as weird music
radar

Preserved copies

A single Ju 388 has been preserved. This is the aircraft with the serial number 560049, which fell into the hands of the US armed forces in Merseburg in May 1945 . From there it came first via intermediate stations in Kassel and Cherbourg to Dayton , Ohio , where flight tests were carried out on Wright Field . It is currently located in the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility , part of the National Air and Space Museum , where a major restoration is to be undertaken.

See also

literature

  • C. Vernaleken, M. Handig: Junkers Ju 388 - Development, testing and manufacture of the last Junkers high-altitude aircraft. Aviatic-Verlag, Oberhaching 2003, ISBN 3-925505-77-6 .
  • Heinz J. Nowarra : The Ju 88 and its successors. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-87943-579-0 .
  • Wolfgang Wagner: Hugo Junkers, aviation pioneer - his aircraft. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-7637-6112-8 .

Web links

Commons : Junkers Ju 388  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Ju388.de (With many photos of the only surviving Ju 388)
  • Luftarchiv.de (With photos of the different versions)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Heinz J. Nowarra: The Ju 88 and its successor models. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-579-0 , p. 218.