Junkers Ju 87

Un Gustav au décollage

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Ju 87H :

Version désarmée destinée à l'entraînement et dérivée du Ju 87D.

Cockpit de l'instructeur avec double commande à la place du mitrailleur arrière.

Ju 87K : Qualification des versions destinées à l'export (Italie et Espagne).

Bibliographie

* Herbert Léonard et André Jouineau, Junkers Ju 87 de 1937 à 1945, Histoire et Collections, coll. « Avions et pilotes », Paris, mars 2003, 82 p. (ISBN 2-913903-52-5 et 978-2913903524)

Ju 87 G

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Le Stuka vu par Wikipedia version de langue anglaise :

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The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, "dive bomber") was a two-seat (pilot and rear gunner) German ground-attack aircraft.

Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, the Stuka first flew in 1935 and made its combat debut in 1936 as part of the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War.

The aircraft was easily recognizable by its inverted gull wings, fixed spatted undercarriage and its infamous Jericho-Trompete ("Jericho Trumpet") wailing siren, becoming the propaganda symbol of German air power and the "Blitzkrieg" victories of 1939–1942.

The Stuka's design included several innovative features, 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 acceleration.

Although sturdy, accurate, and very effective, the Ju 87 was vulnerable to modern fighter aircraft, like many other dive bombers of the war.

Its flaws became apparent during the Battle of Britain; poor manoeuvrability, lack of speed and defensive armament meant that the Stuka required heavy fighter escort to operate effectively.

Réplique

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The Stuka operated with further success after the Battle of Britain, and its potency as a precision ground-attack aircraft became valuable to German forces in the Balkans Campaign, the African and Mediterranean

Theaters and the early stages of the Eastern Front campaigns where Allied fighter resistance was disorganised and in short supply.

Once the Luftwaffe had lost air superiority on all fronts, the Ju 87 once again became an easy target for enemy fighter aircraft.

In spite of this, because there was no better replacement, the type continued to be produced until 1944.

By the end of the conflict, the Stuka had been largely replaced by ground-attack versions of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, but was still in use until the last days of the war.

An estimated 6,500 Ju 87s of all versions were built between 1936 and August 1944.

Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the most notable Stuka ace and was the most highly decorated German serviceman of the Second World War.

He was the only serviceman to receive the highest German military award, the Ritterkreuz mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten ("Knight's Cross with golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds"), on 29 December 1944.

Development

Early design

The Ju 87's principal designer, Hermann Pohlmann, held the opinion that any dive-bomber design needed to be simple and robust.

This led to many technical innovations, like the retractable undercarriage being discarded in favour of one of the Stuka's distinctive features, its fixed and "spatted" undercarriage.

Pohlmann continued to carry on developing and adding to his ideas and those of Dipl Ing Karl Plauth (Plauth was killed in a flying accident in November 1927), and produced the Ju A 48 which underwent testing on 29 September 1928.

The military version of the Ju A 48 was designated the Ju K 47.

Ju K 47

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After the Nazis came to power, the design was given priority. Despite initial competition from the Henschel Hs 123, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) - German for the "Aviation Ministry" - turned to the designs of Herman Pohlmann of Junkers and co-designer of the K 47, Karl Plauth.

During the trials with the K 47 in 1932, the double vertical stabilizers were introduced to give the rear gunner a better field of fire.

The main, and what was to be the most distinctive, feature of the Ju 87 was its double-spar inverted gull wings.

After Plauth's death, Pohlmann continued the development of the Junkers dive bomber. The Ju A 48 registration D-ITOR, was originally fitted with a BMW 132 engine, producing some 450 kW (600 hp).

The machine was also fitted with dive brakes for dive testing. The aircraft was given a good evaluation and "exhibited very good flying characteristics".