Junkers Ju 52

Ju 52
JU Air Junkers Ju 52/3m HB/HOS in flight over Austria (July 2013)
Role	Transport aircraft, medium bomber, airliner
Manufacturer	Junkers
Designer	Ernst Zindel
First flight	13 October 1930 (Ju 52/1m); 7 March 1932 (Ju 52/3m)
Status	In limited use
Primary users	Luftwaffe Luft Hansa Spanish Air Force
Produced	1931–1945 (Germany) 1945–1947 (France) 1945–1952 (Spain)
Number built	4,845

The Junkers Ju 52/3m (nicknamed Tante Ju ("Aunt Ju") and Iron Annie) is a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1931 to 1952, initially designed with a single engine but subsequently produced as a trimotor. It had both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Deutsche Luft Hansa as an airliner and freight hauler. In a military role, it flew with the Luftwaffe as a troop and cargo transport and briefly as a medium bomber. The Ju 52 continued in postwar service with military and civilian air fleets well into the 1980s. The aircraft has continued to be used well beyond that date for purposes such as sightseeing.

Design and development[edit]

The Ju 52 was similar to the company's previous Junkers W 33, although larger. In 1930, Ernst Zindel and his team designed the Ju 52 at the Junkers works at Dessau. The aircraft's unusual corrugated duralumin metal skin, pioneered by Junkers during World War I, strengthened the whole structure.

Lufthansa's 21st-century airworthy heritage Ju 52/3mg2e (Wk-Nr 5489) in flight, showing the Doppelflügel, "double wing" trailing-edge control surfaces

The Ju 52 had a low cantilever wing, the midsection of which was built into the fuselage, forming its underside.^[1] It was formed around four pairs of circular cross-section duralumin spars with a corrugated surface that provided torsional stiffening. A narrow control surface, with its outer section functioning as the aileron, and the inner section functioning as a flap, ran along the whole trailing edge of each wing panel, well separated from it. The inner flap section lowered the stalling speed and the arrangement became known as the Doppelflügel, or "double wing".^[2]

The outer sections of this operated differentially as ailerons, projecting slightly beyond the wingtips with control horns. The strutted horizontal stabilizer carried horn-balanced elevators which again projected and showed a significant gap between them and the stabilizer, which was adjustable in-flight. All stabilizer surfaces were corrugated.

Junkers Ju 52

The fuselage was of rectangular section with a domed decking, all covered with corrugated light alloy. A port-side passenger door was placed just aft of the wings, with windows stretching forward to the pilots' cockpit. The main undercarriage was fixed and divided; some aircraft had wheel fairings, others did not. A fixed tailskid, or a later tailwheel, was used. Some aircraft were fitted with floats or skis instead of the main wheels.

In its original configuration, designated the Ju 52/1m, the Ju 52 was a single-engined aircraft, powered by either a BMW IV or Junkers liquid-cooled V-12 engine. However, the single-engined model was underpowered, and after seven prototypes had been completed, all subsequent Ju 52s were built with three radial engines as the Ju 52/3m (drei motoren—"three engines"). Originally powered by three Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines, later production models mainly received 574 kW (770 hp) BMW 132 engines, a licence-built refinement of the Pratt & Whitney design. Export models were also built with 447 kW (600 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp and 578 kW (775 hp) Bristol Pegasus VI engines. The two wing-mounted radial engines of the Ju 52/3m had half-chord cowlings and in planform view (from above/below) appeared to be splayed outwards, being mounted at an almost perpendicular angle to the tapered wing's sweptback leading edge (in a similar fashion to the Mitsubishi G3M bomber and Short Sunderland; the angled engines on the Ju 52 were intended to make maintaining straight flight easier should an engine fail, while the others had different reasons). The three engines had either Townend ring or NACA cowlings to reduce drag from the engine cylinders, although a mixture of the two was most common (as can be seen in many of the accompanying photographs), with deeper-chord NACA cowlings on the wing engines and a narrow Townend ring on the center engine (onto which a deeper NACA cowl was more difficult to fit, due to the widening fuselage behind the engine). Production Ju 52/3m aircraft flown by Deutsche Luft Hansa before World War II, as well as Luftwaffe-flown Ju 52s flown during the war, usually used an air-start system to turn over their trio of radial engines, using a common compressed-air supply that also operated the main wheels' brakes.

Operational history[edit]

Ju 52/1m replica (converted from 52/3m) of "CF-ARM" at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Ju 52s damaged in Crete, 1941

A Luftwaffe Ju 52 being serviced in Crete in 1943: Note the narrow-chord Townend ring on the central engine and the deeper-chord NACA cowlings on the wing engines.

Luftwaffe Ju 52s dropping paratroops

Internal view of Ju 52 showing a defensive MG 15 beam machine gun and storage mounts for spare saddle-drum magazines

Junkers Ju 52 cockpit layout

Prewar civil use[edit]

In 1932, James A. Richardson's Canadian Airways received (Werknummer 4006) CF-ARM, the sixth-built Ju 52/1m. The aircraft, first refitted with an Armstrong Siddeley Leopard radial engine and then later with a Rolls-Royce Buzzard and nicknamed the "Flying Boxcar" in Canada,^[3][4] could lift about 3 tons and had a maximum weight of 7 tonnes (8 tons). It was used to supply mining and other operations in remote areas with equipment too big and heavy for other aircraft then in use. The Ju 52/1m was able to land on wheels, skis, or floats (as were all Ju 52 variants).^[5]

Before the Nazi government seized control of Junkers in 1935, the Ju 52/3m was produced principally as a 17-seat airliner. It was used mainly by Luft Hansa and could fly from Berlin to Rome in 8 hours. The Luft Hansa fleet eventually numbered 80 and flew from Germany on routes in Europe, Asia, and South America.^{[citation needed]}

Military use 1932–1945[edit]

The Colombian Air Force used three Ju 52/3mde bombers equipped as floatplanes during the Colombia-Peru War in 1932–1933. After the war, the air force acquired three other Ju 52mge as transports; the type remained in service until after World War II.^{[citation needed]}

Bolivia acquired four Ju 52s in the course of the Chaco War (1932–1935), mainly for medical evacuation and air supply. During the conflict, the Ju 52s alone transported more than 4,400 tons of cargo to the front.^[6]

In 1934, Junkers received orders to produce a bomber version of the Ju 52/3m to serve as interim equipment for the bomber units of the still-secret Luftwaffe until it could be replaced by the purpose-designed Dornier Do 11.^[7] Two bomb bays were fitted, capable of holding up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) of bombs, while defensive armament consisted of two 7.92 mm MG 15 machine guns, one in an open dorsal position, and one in a retractable "dustbin" ventral position, which could be manually winched down from the fuselage to protect the aircraft from attacks from below. The bomber could be easily converted to serve in the transport role.^[8] The Dornier Do 11 was a failure, however, and the Junkers ended up being acquired in much larger numbers than at first expected, with the type being the Luftwaffe's main bomber until more modern aircraft such as the Heinkel He 111, Junkers Ju 86 and Dornier Do 17 entered into service.^[9][10]

The Ju 52 first was used in military service in the Spanish Civil War against the Spanish Republic. It was one of the first aircraft delivered to the faction of the army in revolt in July 1936, as both a bomber and transport. In the former role, it participated in the bombing of Guernica. No more of the bomber variants were built after this war, though it was again used as a bomber during the bombing of Warsaw^[11] during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The Luftwaffe then relied on the Ju 52 for transport roles during World War II, including paratroop drops.

World War II[edit]

In service with Lufthansa, the Ju 52 had proved to be an extremely reliable passenger airplane. Therefore, it was adopted by the Luftwaffe as a standard aircraft model. In 1938, the 7th Air Division had five air transport groups with 250 Ju 52s. The Luftwaffe had 552 Ju 52s at the start of World War II. Though it was built in great numbers, the Ju 52 was technically obsolete. Between 1939 and 1944, 2,804 Ju 52s were delivered to the Luftwaffe (1939: 145; 1940: 388; 1941: 502; 1942: 503; 1943: 887; and 1944: 379). The production of Ju 52s continued until around the summer of 1944; when the war came to an end, 100 to 200 were still available.

The Ju 52 could carry 18 fully equipped soldiers, or 12 stretchers when used as an air ambulance. Transported material was loaded and unloaded through side doors by means of a ramp. Air-dropped supplies were jettisoned through two double chutes; supply containers were dropped by parachute through the bomb-bay doors, and paratroopers jumped through the side doors. SdKfz 2 Kettenkrafträder (half-track motorcycles) and supply canisters for parachute troops were secured under the fuselage at the bomb bay exits and were dropped with four parachutes. A tow coupling was built into the tail-skid for use in towing freight gliders. The Ju 52 could tow up to two DFS 230 gliders.

Lightly armed, and with a top speed of only 265 km/h (165 mph) – half that of a contemporary Hurricane – the Ju 52 was very vulnerable to fighter attack, and an escort was always necessary when flying in a combat zone. Many Ju 52's were shot down by antiaircraft guns and fighters while transporting supplies, most notably during the desperate attempt to resupply the trapped German Sixth Army during the final stages of the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943.

Denmark and Norway campaign[edit]

The first major operation for the aircraft after the bombing of Warsaw was in Operation Weserübung, the attack on Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940. Fifty-two Ju 52s from 1. and 8. Staffel in Kampfgeschwader 1 transported a company of Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) and a battalion of infantry to the northern part of Jutland, and captured the airfield at Aalborg, vital to support the operation in southern Norway. Several hundred Ju 52s were also used to transport troops to Norway in the first days of this campaign.

A minesweeper Ju 52/3m MS (Minensuch) equipped with degaussing ring

The seaplane version, equipped with two large floats, served during the Norwegian campaign in 1940, and later in the Mediterranean theatre. Some Ju 52's, both floatplanes and landplanes, were also used as minesweepers, known as Minensuch — literally, "mine-search" aircraft in German — and fitted with a 14 m (46 ft) diameter current-carrying degaussing ring under the airframe to create a magnetic field that triggered submerged naval mines. These aircraft were usually given an -"MS" suffix to designate them, as had been done with the similarly equipped Bv 138 MS trimotor flying boat.^[12]

Netherlands campaign[edit]

The Ju 52 transport aircraft participated in the attack on the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, where they were deployed in the first large-scale air attack with paratroops in history during the Battle for The Hague. Many aircraft where shot down by Dutch AA-fire; a total of 125 Ju 52s were lost and 47 damaged, a very costly defeat in the opening days for the Luftwaffe^[13]

Later, these aircraft were deployed at airfields in the Lyon, Lille, and Arras areas in August 1940.^[14]

A Ju 52 approaching Stalingrad, 1942

Balkans campaign[edit]

The next major use of the Ju 52 was in the Balkans campaign, most famously in the Battle of Crete in May 1941.

North Africa campaign[edit]

During the North African campaign, the Ju 52 was the mainstay reinforcement and resupply transport for the Germans, starting with 20 to 50 flights a day to Tunisia from Sicily in November 1942, building to 150 landings a day in early April as the Axis situation became more desperate. The Allied air forces developed a counter-air operation over a two-month period and implemented Operation Flax on 5 April 1943, destroying 11 Ju 52s in the air near Cap Bon and many more during bombing attacks on its Sicilian airfields, leaving only 29 flyable.^[15] That began two catastrophic weeks in which more than 140 were lost in air interceptions,^[16] culminating on 18 April with the "Palm Sunday Massacre" in which 24 Ju 52s were shot down, and another 35 staggered back to Sicily and crash-landed.^[17]

Hitler's personal transport[edit]

Hitler used a Deutsche Luft Hansa Ju 52 for campaigning in the 1932 German election, preferring flying to train travel. After he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hans Baur became his personal pilot, and Hitler was provided with a personal Ju 52. Named Immelmann II after the World War I ace Max Immelmann, it carried the registration D-2600.^[18] As his power and importance grew, Hitler's personal air force grew to nearly 50 aircraft, based at Berlin Tempelhof Airport and made up mainly of Ju 52s, which also flew other members of his cabinet and war staff. In September 1939 at Baur's suggestion, Immelmann II was replaced by a four-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, although Immelman II remained his backup aircraft for the rest of World War II.

Chiang Kai-shek's personal transport[edit]

A Ju 52 of Eurasia, 1930s in China

Eurasia was the main Chinese Airliner Company in the 1930s and the Ju-52 was their main airliner plane. One of them was commandeered by the Chinese Nationalist Party government and became Chiang Kai-shek's personal transport.^{[citation needed]}

Postwar use[edit]

Ju 52 HB-HOS on sightseeing tour at Degerfeld ^[19] airfield (2016)

Ju 52/3m of British European Airways in 1947

French-built AAC.1 of STA at Manchester Airport in 1948: This aircraft is preserved in Belgrade.

Junkers C-79, s/n 42-52883, at Howard Field, Panama Canal Zone, late 1942 with the USAAF 20th Transportation Squadron, Sixth Air Force.

Various Junkers Ju 52s continued in military and civilian use following World War II. In 1956, the Portuguese Air Force, which was already using the Ju 52s as a transport plane, employed the type as a paratroop drop aircraft for its newly organized elite parachute forces, later known as the Batalhão de Caçadores Páraquedistas. The paratroopers used the Ju 52 in several combat operations in Angola and other Portuguese African colonies before gradually phasing it out of service in the 1960s.^[20]

The Swiss Air Force also operated the Ju 52 from 1939 to 1982, when three aircraft remained in operation, probably the last and longest service in any air force.^[21] Museums hoped to obtain the aircraft, but they were not for sale.^[22] They are still in flying condition and together with a CASA 352 can be booked for sightseeing tours with Ju-Air.^[23] During the 1950s, the Ju 52 was also used by the French Air Force during the First Indochina War as a bomber. The use of these Junkers was quite limited.^[24]

The Spanish Air Force operated the Ju 52, nicknamed Pava, until well into the 1970s. Escuadrón 721, flying the Spanish-built versions, was employed in training parachutists from Alcantarilla Air Base near Murcia.^[25]

Some military Ju 52s were converted to civilian use. For example, British European Airways operated 11 ex-Luftwaffe Ju 52/3mg8e machines, taken over by the RAF, between 1946 and retirement in 1947 on intra-U.K. routes before the Douglas DC-3 was introduced to the airline.^[2] French airlines such as Societe de Transports Aeriens (STA) and Air France flew Toucans in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In the USSR, captured Ju 52s were allocated to the Civil Air Fleet, being found particularly suitable for transporting sulphur from the Karakum Desert.^[26] Various Soviet agencies used the Ju 52 through to 1950.

A Ju 52 and a Douglas DC-3 were the last aircraft to take off from Berlin Tempelhof Airport before all operations ceased there on October 30, 2008.^[27]

Other versions[edit]

Most Ju 52s were destroyed after the war, but 585 were built after 1945. In France, the machine had been manufactured during the war by the Junkers-controlled Avions Amiot company, and production continued afterwards as the Amiot AAC 1 Toucan. In Spain, Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA continued production as the CASA 352 and 352L. Four CASA 352s are airworthy and in regular use today.

A CASA-built Ju52/3m appears in the opening sequence and finale of the 1968 Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood film Where Eagles Dare.

Variants[edit]

Data from Junkers Aircraft & Engines 1913–1945^[28]

Civil variants[edit]

Ju 52

Prototype of the single-engined transport aircraft, of twelve laid down only six were completed as single-engined aircraft. First flight: 3 September 1930, powered by a BMW VIIaU engine.^[29]

Ju 52/1mba

The prototype Ju 52, (c/n 4001, regn D-1974), redesignated after being re-engined with a single Junkers L88 engine

Ju 52/1mbe

Aircraft powered by BMW VIIaU

Ju 52/1mbi

The second prototype, (c/n 4002, regn D-2133), fitted with an 600 kW (800 hp) Armstrong Siddeley Leopard engine

Ju 52/1mca

D-1974 fitted with drag flaps and refitted with a BMW VIIaU

Ju 52/1mcai

D-2356, (c/n 4005), crashed in May 1933

Ju 52/1mce

D-USON (c/n 4003) used as a target tug. D-2317, (c/n 4004), converted to a torpedo bomber in Sweden as the K 45

Ju 52/1mci

The second prototype fitted with 11.05 m (36 ft 3 in) long stepped floats, flying from the River Elbe on 17 July 1931

Ju 52/1mdi

The second prototype after having the floats removed and undercarriage reinstated, registered as D-USUS from 1934

Ju 52/1mdo

D-1974 fitted with a Junkers Jumo 4 engine as a testbed, reregistered as D-UZYP from 1937

Ju 52/3m

Three-engined prototype, powered by three 410 kW (550 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engines, first flight: 7 March 1932

Ju 52/3mba

VIP version for the president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Romanian prince Gheorghe Bibescu, powered by a 560 kW (750 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Mb engine in the nose and two 423 kW (567 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Nb engines (one on each wing)

Ju 52/3mce

Three-engined civil transport aircraft, powered by three Pratt & Whitney Hornet or BMW 132 engines

Ju 52/3mci

Planned version for Sweden, powered by Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines, not built

Ju 52/3mde

Seaplane version for Bolivia and Colombia, converted from Ju 52/1m

Ju 52/3mfe

Improved version, with chassis reinforcements and NACA cowlings on the outer engines, powered by three BMW 132A-3 engines

Ju 52/3mf1e

Trainer version for DVS

Ju 52/3mge

Airliner version, powered by BMW Hornet 132A engines

Ju 52/3mho

Two aircraft powered by Junkers Jumo 205C diesel engines, used only for testing

Ju 52/3mkao

Version powered by two BMW 132A and one BMW 132F or BMW 132N as a testbed

Ju 52/3ml

Powered by three 489 kW (656 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1690-S1EG engines

Ju 52/3mlu

Airliner version for Italy, powered by Piaggio Stella X engines, later re-engined with Alfa Romeo 126RC/34 engines

Ju 52/3mmao

Similar to kao except with NACA cowling

Ju 52/3mnai

Airliner version for Sweden and Great Britain, powered by Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines

Ju 52/3mreo

Airliner version for South America, powered by BMW 132Da/Dc engines

Ju 52/3msai

Airliner version for Sweden and South America, powered by Pratt & Whitney Wasp engines

Ju 52/3mte

Airliner version, powered by three BMW 132K engines

Ju 52/3mZ5

Export version for Finland, powered by BMW 132Z-3 engines

Military variants[edit]

Ju 52/3mg3e

Improved military version, powered by three 541 kW (725 hp) BMW 132A-3 (improved version of the Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet) radial engines, equipped with an improved radio and bomb-release mechanism. Later versions had a tailwheel that replaced the tailskid.

Ju 52/3mg4e

Military transport version, the tailskid was replaced by a tailwheel.

Ju 52/3mg5e

Similar to g4e, but powered by three 619 kW (830 hp) BMW 132T-2 engines, it could be fitted with interchangeable floats, skis, and wheeled landing gear.

Ju 52/3mg6e

Transport version equipped with extra radio gear and autopilot, could also be fitted with a degaussing ring

Ju 52/3mg7e

Transport version, capable of carrying 18 troops or 12 stretchers, featured autopilot and larger cargo doors

Ju 52/3mg8e

Similar to g6e, but with improved radio and direction finding gear, a few were fitted with floats.

Ju 52/3mg9e

Tropical version of g4e for service in North Africa, fitted with glider towing gear and strengthened undercarriage

Ju 52/3mg10e

Similar to g9e, but could be fitted with floats or wheels, lacked deicing equipment

Ju 52/3mg11e

Similar to g10e, but fitted with deicing equipment

Ju 52/3mg12e

Land transport version, powered by three BMW 132L engines

Ju 52/3m12e

Civilian version of Ju 52/3mg12e for Luft Hansa

Ju 52/3mg13e

No details are known.

Ju 52/3mg14e

Similar to g8e, but with improved armor, last German production version

Preserved AAC 1 showing corrugated skin, at Duxford, 2001

A.A.C. 1 Toucan

Postwar French version of g11e, 415 built^[30]

CASA 352

Postwar Spanish version, 106 built^[30]

CASA 352L

Spanish version with Spanish 578 kW (775 hp) ENMA Beta B-4 (license-built BMW 132) engines, 64 built^[30][31]

C-79

Designation assigned to a single example operated by the United States Army Air Forces^[32]

D52

Designation used by the Czechoslovak Air Force

T2B

Designation used by the Spanish Air Force

Tp 5

Designation used by the Swedish Air Force

K 45c

A single Ju 52/1mce (c/n 4004) was delivered to the Junkers factory at Limhamn in Sweden, where it was converted to a torpedo bomber as the K 45c.

Operators[edit]

A Lufthansa Junkers Ju 52/3m (registered D-CDLH), until 1984, known as "Iron Annie N52JU", was painted as D-AQUI in historic 1936 Deutsche Luft Hansa colors. D-CDLH has P&W engines, now with three-bladed propellers (ex Caiden).

CASA 352 (license-built Junkers Ju 52/3m) in Ju-Air markings at Zürich airport

Accidents and incidents[edit]

Surviving aircraft[edit]

Airworthy aircraft[edit]

As of 2018^[update], six Ju 52 remain in operation, two of which operate pleasure flights from Dübendorf airport in Switzerland.^[33] Lufthansa operates one Ju 52/3m (D-AQUI) for air shows and pleasure flights.^[34]

Aircraft on display[edit]

Germany

Junkers Ju 52/3m (D-AZAW) is on display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin

• Junkers Ju 52/3m (Amiot AAC.1 Toucan) is on display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Munich. Ex FAF 363
• Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352L, c/n 016) is on display at the Flugausstellung Leo Junior at Hermeskeil, Germany.^[35]
• Junkers Ju 52/3m (D-AZAW) is on display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin.^[36]
• Junkers Ju 52/3m is on display at the Technikmuseum "Hugo Junkers" in Dessau, which is situated where the Junkers factory stood until 1945.^[37]
• Junkers Ju 52/3m g4e (WNr.6693) is on display at "Ju 52 Hangar" of Traditionsgemeinschaft Lufttransport Wunstorf e. V.(Air Transport Community of Tradition) near Wunstorf, Germany.^[38]
• Junkers Ju 52/3m (D-ANOY) is on display at the Visitors Park at Munich Airport.^[39]

Survivor in the Munich Airport

Argentina

• Junkers Ju 52/3m (WNr.4043) is on display at the Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica de Argentina (National Aeronautics Museum) in Morón, Buenos Aires.^[40]

Belgium

• Junkers Ju 52/3m is on display at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.

Colombia

• Junkers Ju 52/3m ge (AMC-625) is display at the MAECO Museum of Colombian Air Force in El Dorado Airport, Bogotá, Colombia.

France

• An Amiot AAC.1 Toucan was acquired in 2011 by the Association des Mécaniciens Pilotes d'Aéronefs Anciens, Brétigny-sur-Orge, Essonne, France. Formerly with the Portuguese Air Force as 6311, it had been stored for over 40 years at the Portuguese Air Force Museum, Alverca do Ribatejo.^[41]

Norway

• Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352L)(LN-DNL) is on display at the Norwegian Aviation Museum, Bodø, Norway.^[42]
• Junkers Ju 52/3m g4e (CA+JY) is on display at the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection at Gardermoen near Oslo, Norway.^[43]

Poland

• Junkers Ju 52/3m g10e (Amiot AAC.1 Toucan) previously exhibited in Duxford is on display at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków.

Portugal

• Junkers Ju 52/3m ge is on display at the Museu do Ar in Sintra, Portugal.

Serbia

• Junkers Ju 52/3m (Amiot AAC.1 Toucan) 7208 ex F-BBYB is on display at the Museum of Aviation, Belgrade.

Spain

• Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352) is on display at the Spanish Air Museum in Cuatro Vientos (Madrid, Spain).

Sweden

• Junkers Ju 52/3m built in Spain in 1948 (painted as a Ju 52 that flew to Sweden with eight German refugees in 1945) is on display at Svedinos Bil- och Flygmuseum in Ugglarp, Sweden.

United Kingdom

• Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352L) is on display at the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford.^[44]

United States

• Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352L) is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia.^[45]
• Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352L) is at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The aircraft was donated to the museum by the Spanish government in 1971. After being on display outside for 40 years, the aircraft has been placed in indefinite storage to protect it from further deterioration.^[46]
• Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352L) (N352JU) is on display at the Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Specifications (Junkers Ju 52/1m ce)[edit]

Data from Wagner 1996^[47]

General characteristics

• Crew: Two
• Capacity: 1,820 kilograms (4,010 lb) of cargo
• Length: 18.5 m (60 ft 8 in)
• Wingspan: 29.5 m (96 ft 9 in)
• Height: 4.65 m (15 ft 3 in)
• Wing area: 116 m² (1,250 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 4,000 kg (8,818 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 7,000 kg (15,432 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × BMW VIIaU V12 engine, 507 kW (680 hp) (690 PS^[48])
• Propellers: 4-bladed

Performance

• Maximum speed: 195 km/h (121 mph; 105 kn) at sea level
• Cruise speed: 160 km/h (99 mph; 86 kn)
• Range: 1,000 km (621 mi; 540 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 3,400 m (11,200 ft)
• Rate of climb: 2.3 m/s (450 ft/min) at sea level
• Time to altitude: 8.6 min to 1,000 m (3,300 ft); 20.5 min to 2,000 m (6,600 ft)
• Wing loading: 60.34 kg/m² (12.36 lb/sq ft)
• Power/mass: 13.8 kg/kW

Specifications (Junkers Ju 52/3m ce)[edit]

Data from Wagner 1996^[49]

General characteristics

• Crew: Two
• Capacity: 17 passengers
• Length: 18.9 m (62 ft 0 in)
• Wingspan: 29.25 m (96 ft 0 in)
• Height: 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)
• Wing area: 110.5 m² (1,189 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 5,970 kg (13,162 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 9,210 kg (20,305 lb)
• Powerplant: 3 × BMW Hornet A2 radial engines, 386 kW (518 hp) each (525 PS^[48])

Performance

• Maximum speed: 271 km/h (168 mph; 146 kn) at 900 metres (3,000 ft)
• Cruise speed: 222 km/h (138 mph; 120 kn)
• Range: 950 km (590 mi; 513 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 5,200 m (17,100 ft)
• Rate of climb: 3.9 m/s (770 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 83.35 kg/m² (17.07 lb/sq ft)
• Power/mass: 7.95 kg/kW

Specifications (Junkers Ju 52/3m g7e)[edit]

CASA 352-L

Data from Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II, 1946^[50]

General characteristics

• Crew: three (two pilots, radio operator)
• Capacity: 18 troops or 12 litter patients
• Length: 18.90 m (62 ft 0 in)
• Wingspan: 29.25 m (95 ft 10 in)
• Height: 4.5 m (14 ft 10 in)
• Wing area: 110.5 m² (1,190 ft²)
• Empty weight: 6,510 kg (14,325 lb)
• Loaded weight: 9,200 kg (20,270 lb)
• Max. takeoff weight: 10,990 kg (24,200 lb)
• Powerplant: 3 × BMW 132T radial engines, 533 kW (715 hp)^[51] each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 265 km/h (165 mph) at sea level
• Cruise speed: 211 km/h (132 mph)
• Range: 870 km (540 mi)
• Service ceiling: 5,490 m (18,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 2.99 m/s; 17 minutes to 3,050 m (10,000 ft)

Armament

• Guns:
• 1 × 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine gun in a dorsal position
• 2 × 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine guns
• Bombs: up to 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of bombs (some variants)

See also[edit]

Related development

• Junkers Ju 252
• Junkers Ju 352

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Douglas DC-3/C-47
• Fokker F.VII
• Ford Trimotor
• Savoia-Marchetti SM.81
• Stout 3-AT

Related lists

• List of aircraft of World War II
• List of airworthy Ju 52s

Other

• 2018 Ju-Air Junkers Ju 52 crash

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Cicalesi, Juan Carlos; Rivas, Santiago (2009). Núñez Padin, Jorge Felix, ed. Junkers F13 / W34 / K43 / Ju52. Serie en Argentina (in Spanish). 3. Bahía Blanca, Argentina: Fuerzas Aeronavales. ISBN 978-987-20557-7-6. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-24.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Junkers Ju 52.

• Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung
• Junkers Ju 52/3m at the Norwegian Aviation Museum