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

Ju 87 B-2

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 plane 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 maneuverability, lack of speed and defensive armament meant that the Stuka required a heavy fighter escort to operate effectively.

Stuka Stamp

The Stuka operated with further success after the Battle of Britain, and its potency as a precision ground attack aircraft became valuable to the German war effort in the Balkans Campaign, the African and Mediterranean Theaters and the early stages of the Eastern Front campaigns where Allied fighter resistance was disorganized and in short supply. However, 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, and lacking a successor, the type continued to be produced until 1944. By the end of the conflict, the Stuka was largely replaced by ground attack versions of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, but some units, like Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 “Immelmann” operated the Ju 87 to the last day of the war. An estimated 6,500 Ju 87s of all versions were built between 1936 and August 1944. Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the most notable Stuka ace and was the most highly decorated German serviceman of the Second World War. He received the highest German military award, the Ritterkreuz mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillianten, or the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds in Gold, on 29 December, 1944.

Early development

The Ju 87′s principal designer, Hermann Pohlmann, held the opinion that any dive-bomber design needed to be simple and robust.^[1] This led to many technical innovations, like retractable undercarriage being removed from the design, and also led to 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 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.

After the Nazis came to power the design was given priority. Despite initial competition from the Henschel Hs 123 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) – German for “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.^[2] 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 Hornet engine, producing some 450 kW (Kilowatt). The machine was also fitted with dive brakes for dive testing. The aircraft was given a good evaluation and “exhibited very good flying characteristics”.

Ernst Udet took an immediate liking to the concept of dive-bombing after flying the Curtiss Hawk II. When he invited Walther Wever and Robert Ritter von Greim to watch Udet perform a trial flight in May 1934 at the Juterborg artillery range it caused doubt about the ability of the dive-bomber. Udet had begun the dive at 1,000 metres and released his 1 kg bombs at 100 metres, barely recovering and pulling out of the dive.^[3] The Chief of the Air Weapons Command Bureau Walter Wever and Secretary of State for Aviation Erhard Milch feared that such high-level nerves and skill could not be expected of “average pilots” in the Luftwaffe.^[3] Nevertheless, development continued at Junkers.^[3] Udet’s “growing love affair” with the dive-bomber pushed it to the forefront of German aviation development.^[4] Udet went so far as to encourage all medium bombers to have dive-bombing capabilities

Ernst Udet

Differences between some variants

Tiger II of the 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion in Normandy 1944

The design followed the same concept as the Tiger I, but was intended to be even more formidable. The Tiger II combined the thick armor of the Tiger I with the sloped armor of the Panther. The tank weighed 68.5 (early turret) to 69.8 (production turret) metric tons, was protected by 150 to 180 mm of frontal armor, and was armed with the 88 mm KwK 43 L/71 gun. The very heavy armor and powerful long-range gun gave the Tiger II the advantage against virtually all opposing Allied and Soviet tanks. This was especially true on the Western Front, where the British and U.S. forces had almost no heavy tanks to oppose it. The M4 Sherman was unable to penetrate the front even at point blank range and the M26 Pershing (using tungsten HVAP ammunition) and IS-2 (using steel shot) had to come within 1300 m and 200 m respectively. The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless tank destroyer.

Ungarn - Budapest

Development

Initially two designs were provided, one by Henschel and one by Porsche. Both used a turret design from Krupp; the main differences were in the hull design, transmission and suspension.

The Henschel version used a conventional hull design with sloped armor resembling the layout of the Panther tank. It had a rear mounted engine and used nine overlapping road wheels per side, mounted on transverse torsion bars, in a similar manner to the original Tiger. To simplify maintenance, however, the wheels were overlapping rather than interleaved as in the Tiger I.

The Porsche hull design had a rear-mounted turret and a mid mounted engine. The suspension was the same as on the Jagdpanzer Elefant. This suspension had six road wheels per side mounted in paired bogies sprung with short longitudinal torsion bars that were integral to the wheel pair; this saved internal space and facilitated repairs. The Porsche version had a series-hybrid power system where the gasoline engines powered electrical generators which in turn powered electric motors which turned the sprockets. This method of propulsion had been attempted before on the Tiger (P) (later Elefant prototypes) and in some U.S. designs, but had never been put into production. The Porsche suspension would later be used on a few of the later Jagdtiger tank hunters.

Production

1,500 Tiger II were ordered, but the production was more than halved by Allied bombing^{[citation needed]} and total production reached only 487 units (1943 – 3, 1944 – 377, and 1945 – 107 produced). Full production ran from early-1944 to the end of the war.

Other specifications

• Gearbox: Maybach OLVAR EG 40 12 16 B (8 forward and 4 reverse)
• Radio: FuG 5, Befehlswagen (command tank) version: FuG 8 (Sd. Kfz. 267), FuG 7 (Sd. Kfz. 268)
• Ammunition: 88 mm — 80 rounds (Porsche turret), 86 rounds (Henschel turret), 7.92mm — up to 5,850 rounds
• Gun Sight: Turmzielfernrohr 9d (TZF 9d), early on the TZF 9b
• Armor layout: (all angles from horizontal)
  • Hull front, lower: 100 mm @ 40°; upper: 150 mm @ 40°
  • Hull side, lower: 80 mm @ 90°; upper: 80 mm @ 65°
  • Hull rear: 80 mm @ 60°
  • Hull top: 40 mm @ 90°
  • Hull bottom: 40 mm @ 90° (front), 25 mm @ 90° (rear)
  • Turret front: 180 mm @ 80° (Porsche turret: 60–110 mm, rounded)
  • Turret side: 80 mm @ 69° (Porsche turret: 80 mm @ 60°)
  • Turret rear: 80 mm @ 70° (Porsche turret: 80 mm @ 60°)
  • Turret top: 44 mm @ 0–10° (Porsche turret: 40 mm @ 0–12°)

source : Wikipedia.

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