Junkers Ju-88
Luftwaffe Medium Bomber
By Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette
Aviation Art Store
I will add my research here in the future.
The Junkers Ju-88 was clearly equal to our B-25 and B-26. It out preformed the Boston bomber and the many RAF twin-engine medium bombers of its line.
The Junkers was the perfect airframe giving Junkers the capability to change and rearrange the aircraft for multiple combat rolls.
Below are profiles of artwork by artist Sydney P. Chivers.
II/K51G on the Russian front.
The two profiles above are the most common bomber versions, the Ju-88A models.
The Ju-88 A-4 from Group 77 has div-bombing air-brakes under the wings out side of the engine nuclei.
The Junkers Ju-88 was a stable platform and was used for many rolls and missions. Its first mission was to be a successful dive-bomber.
Yes the dive-bomber roll went well but the Junkers was made to hall-ass as a medium bomber. Quick in and out missions. It was to be used in conjunction with the Junkers 87, the Heinkel He-111 and the Donier Do-17. But as a dive-bomber, yes it worked but it was better for full throttle low-level.
Here are two other rolls for the Junkers
The anti-tank air-to-ground assault with 30mm cannon. This was used in Russia against the waves of T-34 tanks and their cohorts.
Here the Junkers was modified with the removal of the gondola and the addition of an huge fuselage compartment.
This allowed the Ju-88 to carry 6,600 lbs of bombs. About one hundred of these against England would have caused havoc.
But not the way the Germans used their assets. A few here, a few there, just test-beds. Not enough to really get their teeth into/
The aircraft companies like Junkers were running so many programs on so many different prototypes that taking the time to really take stock in you inventories potential was not a luxury. Because as soon as Junkers could evaluate the measure of their work, the war was turning against them and then desperation set into their minds.
Can you tell the depth of research I have invested into my project?
July 8, 2008