You know that:
- Junkers chief designer Hermann Pohlmann had been working on the design of the bomber since 1933.
- The prototype, still equipped with a British Rolls-Royce engine, first flew from the factory airfield in Dessau on 17 September 1935.
- In its time, it was a high-quality and reliable machine equipped with a semi-automatic assistant for leveling dive flight.
- A Jericho-Trompete siren was installed on the leading edges of the wings, the scream of which accompanied every attack of the aircraft.
- Initially, the JU 87 was a dangerous Luftwaffe weapon, but by 1940 it was easily the victim of anti-aircraft fire and fast maneuvering duels with fighters.
- Production ended in 1944 when the decimated Luftwaffe no longer had enough aircraft to escort the vulnerable Junkers.
- In the last year of the war, the aircraft were used almost exclusively for night missions to minimize their own losses under cover of darkness.
- The JU 87 B-2 TROP version was specially modified for operation in desert conditions.
- Perhaps the most successful pilot of the JU 87 was Hans-Ulrich Rudel, who took off from his home airfield in Bohemia at the end of the war on 8 May 1945 to fly over American-occupied territory to avoid capture by the Soviet Army.
- A total of about 5,800 were produced in 30 different versions.
- The Ju 87 was in the armament of several European countries such as Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
Technical parameters:
- dimensions: wingspan 13.6 m, length 11.1 m, height 4.1 m
- empty weight 2 750 kg
- maximum take-off weight 5 000 kg
- power unit 12-cylinder Jumo 211DA engine with 882 kW
- range 790 km
- maximum flight level 8 000 m
- climb rate 5,5 m/s
- maximum speed 380 km/h
- fuel tank capacity 780 l
- armament 2x 7.92 mm MG 17 machine gun in wings + 1x 7.92 mm MG 15 rear machine gun + 250 kg air bomb under fuselage 4x 50 kg air bomb under wings
- 2 crew
From the memoirs of American soldier Desmond Doss:
"The Stuka were terrible. When you heard them, you felt like a mouse in a trap. You couldn't run or hide. You had to pray and hope they would miss you. They were infernal machines."
Assembly instructions
