Junkers Ju 87

The two 37 mm (1.46 in) cannons were mounted in under-wing gun pods, each loaded with a 6-round magazine of armour-piercing Tungsten carbide ammunition.

With these weapons the Kanonenvogel ("cannon-bird"), as it was nicknamed, proved spectacularly successful in the hands of Luftwaffe Stuka aces such as Rudel.

The G-1 was converted from older D-series airframes retaining the smaller wing but without the dive brakes.

The G-2 was similar to the G-1 except for use of the extended wing of the D-5. 208 G-2s were built and at least a further 22 more converted from D-3 airframes.

During the Battle of Kursk, only a handful of production Gs were committed.

On the opening day of the offensive, Hans-Ulrich Rudel flew the only "official" Ju 87 G, although a significant number of Ju 87 D variants were fitted with the 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon, and operated as unofficial Ju 87 Gs before the battle.

In June 1943, the RLM ordered 20 Ju 87 Gs as production variants.

The G-1 influenced the design of the 1970s US A-10 Thunderbolt II, with Hans Rudel's book, Stuka Pilot, being required reading for all members of the A-X project.

Night-harassment variants

The Soviet Air Force practice of harassing German ground forces using antiquated Polikarpov Po-2 and R-5 biplanes at night to drop flares and fragmentation bombs, inspired the Luftwaffe to form its own Störkampfstaffeln (Harassment squadrons).

On 23 July 1942, Junkers offered the Ju 87 B-2, R-2 and R-4s with Flammenvernichter ("flame eliminators"). On 10 November 1943, the RLM GL/C-E2 Division finally authorised the design in directive No. 1117.

This new equipment made the Ju 87 more difficult to detect from the ground in darkness.

Pilots were also asked to complete the new "Blind Flying Certificate 3", which was especially introduced for this new type of operation. Pilots were trained at night, over unfamiliar terrain, and forced to rely on their instruments for direction.

The Ju 87's standard Revi C12D gunsight was replaced with the new Nachtrevi ("Nightrevi") C12N. On some Ju 87s, the Revi 16D was exchanged for the Nachtrevi 16D.

To ease the pilot's ability to see his instrument panel, a violet light was installed.

On 15 November 1942, the Auxiliary Staffel were created.

By mid-1943, Luftflotte 1 was given four Staffeln while Luftflotte 4 and Luftwaffe Kommando Ost (Luftwaffe Command East) were given six and two respectively.

In the first half of 1943, 12 Nachtschlachtgruppen had been formed, flying a multitude of different types of aircraft, including the Ju 87, which proved itself ideally suited to the low-level slow flying needed.

Production

Despite teething problems with the Ju 87, the RLM ordered 216 Ju 87 A-1s into production and wanted to receive delivery of all machines between January 1936 and 1938.

The Junkers production capacity was fully occupied and licensing to other production facilities became necessary.

The first 35 Ju 87 A-1s were therefore produced by the Weserflug Aircraft Company Limited (WFG). By the 1 September 1939, 360 Ju 87 As and Bs had been built by the Junkers factories at Dessau and Weserflug factory in Bremen. By 30 September 1939, Junkers had received 2,365,196 Reichsmark (RM) for Ju 87 construction orders.

For development orders the RLM paid another 243,646 RM.

According to the Audit records in Berlin, by the end of the financial year on 30 September 1941, 3,059,000 RM had been spent on Ju 87 airframes.

By 30 June 1940 697 Ju 87 B-1s and 129 B-2s alone had been produced. Another 105 R-1s and seven R-2s had been built.

he range of the B-2 was not sufficient and it was dropped in favour of the Ju 87 R long-range versions in the second half of 1940.

The 105 R-1s were converted to R-2 status and a further 616 production R-2s were ordered. In May 1941 the development of the D-1 was planned. It was ordered into production by March 1942.

However the expansion of the Junkers Ju 88 production lines to compensate for the withdrawal of Dornier Do 17 production meant this did not take place.

The Weserflug plant in Bremen experienced production shortfalls.

This prompted Erhard Milch to visit and threaten the company into meeting the RLM's Ju 87 D-1 requirements on 23 February 1942.

To meet these demands, 700 skilled workers were needed.

Skilled workers had been called up for military service in the Wehrmacht. Junkers were able to supply 300 German workers to the Weserflug factory, and as an interim, Soviet prisoners of war and Soviet civilians deported to Germany.

Working around the clock the shortfall was made good. WFG received an official commendation.[74] By May 1942 demand increased further.

Chief of Procurement General Walter Herthel found that each unit needed 100 Ju 87s as standard strength and an average of 20 per month to cover attrition.

Not until June-December 1942 did production capacity increase and 80 Ju 87s were produced per month.

By 17 August 1942, production had climbed rapidly after the Blohm & Voss BV 138 production was scaled down and licence work had shut down at WFG. Production now reached some 150 Ju 87 D airframes per month.

But spare parts were failing to reach the same production levels. Undercarriage parts were particularly in short supply.

Milch ordered production to 350 Ju 87s per month in September 1942.

This was not achievable due to the insufficient production capacity in the Reich.

The RLM considered setting up production facilities to Slovakia.

But this would delay production until the buildings and factories could be furnished with the machine tools.

These tools were also in short supply, and the RLM hoped to purchase them from Switzerland and Italy.

The Slovaks could provide 3,500–4,000 workers but no technical personnel.

The move would only produce another 25 machines per month at a time when demand was increasing.

In October, production plans were dealt another blow when one of WFGs plants burned down leaving a chronic shortage of tailwheels and undercarriage parts.

Junkers Director and a member of the Luftwaffe industry council Carl Frytag reported that by January 1943 only 120 Ju 87s could be produced at Bremen and 230 at Berlin-Tempelhof.