The Junkers Ju 188 "Rächer" (avenger) was a German Luftwaffe high-performance medium bomber built during World War II, the planned follow-up to the Ju 88 with better performance and payload. It was produced only in limited numbers, due both to the presence of improved versions of the Ju 88, as well as the increasingly effective Allied strategic bombing campaign against German industry and the resulting focus on fighter production.
Junkers Ju 188
A Ju 188A-3 of Kampfgeschwader 6 being loaded with bombs. Western Europe, 1944 - note differing radiator core layout compared to that on the Ju 88A
A view of the port side of the same machine, with Hohentwiel UHF radar aerials
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called Schnellbomber that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.
Junkers Ju 88
Standard Ju 88 main landing gear installation, from the V6 prototype onwards
Annular radiator on a wrecked Ju 88
Ju 88 assembly line, 1941