Junkers Ju 87

• 1. Design And Development History

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  The Junkers Ju 87 first flew on the 17th of September 1935. Hermann Pohlmann led the engineering team that created this aircraft. He believed dive bombers needed to be simple and robust. This philosophy led to the removal of retractable landing gear in favor of fixed spatted undercarriage. The initial prototype used a British Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine costing £20,514 2s 6d. A crash on the 24th of January 1936 killed test pilot Willy Neuenhofen. The twin tail design proved too weak during high-speed dives. Engineers replaced it with a single vertical stabilizer shortly after. Ernst Udet championed the project despite early doubts from Walther Wever. Udet's personal interest pushed the Stuka into front-line service. The Reichsluftfahrtministerium initially favored the Heinkel He 118 rival. Udet crashed the He 118 prototype on the 27th of July 1936. This incident secured the Ju 87 as the winner of the development contest. Wolfram von Richthofen criticized the aircraft for being underpowered throughout testing. Pilots complained about mixed navigation instruments and poor visibility. Despite these flaws, the airframe could withstand diving speeds up to 400 km/h. The inverted gull wings improved ground visibility and allowed shorter landing gear height.

• 2. Operational Combat Record

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  The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Condor Legion. A single prototype flew secretly to Cádiz aboard the ship Usaramo on the night of the 1st of August 1936. It participated in the Nationalist offensive against Bilbao in 1937. Three Ju 87 As arrived in Spain again in January 1938. They attacked the Port of Barcelona on the morning of the 21st of January 1939. Republican fighter Francisco Alférez Jiménez claimed a kill near El Vendrell but missed. Heinz Bohne was shot in both legs during an attack on Molins de Rei on the 24th of January 1939. He and his gunner Albert Conrad were the only Stuka casualties of that war. On the 15th of August 1939, thirteen Ju 87s crashed into the ground at Neuhammer training grounds. The first bombing attack of World War II occurred at 04:26 CET on the 1st of September 1939. Bruno Dilly led a Kette of three aircraft against rail bridges over the Vistula. Leutnant Frank Neubert shot down a Polish PZL P.11c fighter from Balice airfield on the same day. German forces lost thirty-one aircraft during the invasion of Poland. Operation Weserübung began on the 9th of April 1940 with attacks on Norway. Twenty-two Ju 87s helped suppress defenders at Oscarsborg Fortress. The heavy cruiser HMS Suffolk had its stern virtually destroyed on the 17th of April 1940. The light cruiser Curacoa suffered lengthy attacks that damaged it severely. The sloop Black Swan fired one thousand rounds without shooting down any attackers before sinking on the 30th of April.

• 3. Variant Production And Specifications

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  The A-0 series featured an enclosed cockpit under a greenhouse canopy. Twin radio masts were diagonally mounted to either side of the fuselage. Early models carried only 500 kg of bombs if the gunner vacated his seat. The A-1 differed slightly by adding two fuel tanks into the inner wing. It lacked armor protection and omitted two MG 17 machine guns due to weight concerns. The A-2 received a Jumo 210Da engine with a two-stage supercharger. By mid-1938, 262 Ju 87 As had been produced across Dessau and Lemwerder factories. The B-1 replaced the A-series with a redesigned fuselage and landing gear. Its Jumo 211D engine generated 1,200 PS. Six pre-production B-0s were built from existing A airframes. Mass production reached sixty aircraft per month after proving abilities in Spain. The R-series added external drop tanks for anti-shipping missions. The C-series attempted carrier operations but was cancelled on the 6th of October 1939. Only ninety-one arrested landings occurred before testing ended. The D-series introduced aerodynamically refined cockpits and increased armor. It quadrupled bomb carrying ability to 1,800 kg maximum load. The D-5 variant featured wings 0.6 meters longer than previous models. Production of D variants totaled over 5,930 units at Weserflug. The final G-series converted older D airframes into tank killers.

• 4. Psychological Warfare Sirens

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  The Lärmgerät noise device mounted on faired main gear legs became a propaganda symbol. These sirens were driven by propellers with a diameter of one meter. They caused a loss of twenty to twenty-five km/h through drag. Adolf Hitler reportedly suggested the idea or Ernst Udet did. Some bombs carried whistles on their fins to produce noise after release. Pilots used the sound as audible feedback regarding their speed during dives. The devices remained installed on many units despite reducing performance. Later versions omitted them entirely due to operational disadvantages. The trumpets created fear among ground troops facing the screaming dive. This psychological impact complemented the physical destruction caused by bombs. The noise served as both a warning system for pilots and a terror weapon against enemies. Units continued using them to various extents throughout the war years.

• 5. Anti-Tank Kanonenvogel Role

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  Hans-Ulrich Rudel suggested mounting two 37 mm Flak 18 guns under the wings. These Bordkanone BK 3,7 cannons proved very successful in combat. The first flight of this modified machine took place on the 31st of January 1943. Hauptmann Hans-Karl Stepp piloted the test aircraft near Briansk training area. Each gun pod held two six-round magazines of tungsten carbide-cored ammunition. The G-1 variant retained smaller wings but removed dive brakes from older D-series airframes. Only a handful of production Gs saw action at the Battle of Kursk. Rudel flew the only official Ju 87 G on the opening day of that offensive. Soviet tanks became priority targets after German fortunes reversed in 1943. The RLM ordered two hundred Ju 87Gs as production variants in June 1943. The G-2 used extended wings from the D-5 model. Two hundred eight G-2s were built plus twenty-two converted from D-3 airframes. This specialized ground attack conversion allowed Stukas to penetrate heavy armor effectively.

• 6. Production Logistics And Decline

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  Germany built an estimated 6,000 Ju 87s between 1936 and August 1944. The Junkers factory in Dessau completed 550 A and B2 models. Weserflug produced 5,930 of the total 6,500 units manufactured. Production reached one hundred fifty airframes per month by late 1942. Skilled workers called up for military service created labor shortages. Soviet prisoners of war and deported civilians filled gaps temporarily. One WFG plant burned down in October leaving chronic shortages of tailwheels. Erhard Milch threatened Weserflug into meeting requirements on the 23rd of February 1942. General Ernst Kupfer decided further development brought little tactical value. Göring limited production to two hundred per month on the 28th of July 1943. Life expectancy dropped from nine point five months to just ten operational flying hours. The Focke-Wulf Fw 190F replaced the Ju 87 for day missions starting in 1943. Night harassment variants continued operating until the end of the war. No official Nacht Stuka existed but modifications varied by sub-contractor. Records were lost when Metal Works Lower Saxony Brinckmann und Mergell equipment was seized.