Profile Luftwaffe Ju-87 Stuka

29 Jun, 2014 By luftwaffe | Comments are closed

Ju-87 Stuka

Published by Luftwaffe Sim (Ju-87 Stuka)

The Junkers Ju-87 or Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, “dive bomber”) was a two-man (pilot and rear gunner) German dive bomber and ground-attack plane. Made by Hermann Pohlmann, the Stuka very first flew in 1935 and made its combat launching in 1936 as part of the Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion throughout the Spanish Civil War.

The aircraft was easily recognisable by its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage, upon the leading edges of its faired maingear legs were mounted the Jericho-Trompete (“Jericho Trumpet”) howling sirens, ending up being the propaganda sign of German air power and the blitzkrieg triumphes of 1939– 1942. The Stuka’s design included several cutting-edge features, consisting of automatic pull-up dive brakes under both wings to guarantee that the plane recovered from its attack dive even if the pilot blacked out from the high acceleration.

Although tough, precise, and very effective against ground targets, the Ju-87, like many other dive bombers of the war, was susceptible to modern-day competitor airplane. Its defects emerged during the Battle of Britain; inadequate manoeuvrability and an absence of both speed and defensive weaponry indicated that the Ju-87 Stuka needed heavy competitor escort to operate effectively.

The Ju-87 Stuka ran with further success after the Battle of Britain, and its potency as a precision ground-attack airplane became important to German forces in the Balkans Campaign, the African and Mediterranean theaters and the early phases of the Eastern Front projects where Soviet competitor resistance was disorganised and in brief supply.

When the Luftwaffe lost air superiority on all fronts, the Ju-87 Stuka once again ended up being an easy target for opponent fighter airplane. In spite of this, due to the fact that there was no better replacement, the kind remained to be produced till 1944. By the end of the problem, the Stuka had actually been mostly changed by ground-attack versions of the Focke-Wulf Fw-190, however was still in use till the last days of the war. An approximated 6,500 Ju 87s of all versions were built between 1936 and August 1944.

Some significant airmen flew the Ju-87 Stuka. Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the most successful Stuka ace and the most extremely decorated German serviceman of the Second World War. The substantial majority of German ground attack aces flew this plane at some time in their professions.