Lo Junkers Ju 87 - said He knocks – was an important warplane of the Luftwaffe between the late 1930s and the entire period of the Second World War.
The aircraft was used as a dive bomber and ground attack aircraft. The main users of the aircraft – in addition to the Luftwaffe – were the Royal Air Force, the Bulgarian Air Force and the Royal Romanian Air Force.
The aircraft was conceived and designed by engineer Hermann Pohlmann in 1934, and the first prototype took flight for the first time on 17 September 1935. It subsequently entered service with the Luftwaffe in 1936 and, in total, approximately 1935 examples (including different versions) were built from 1944 to 6000.
Aesthetic features of the aircraft were the (inverted) gull wings and the fixed landing gear. In addition, the He knocks They became famous – during the Second World War – for their “Jericho Trumpets” (a sound device located at the front, which tore the air during the dive, causing terrifying psychological effects on the population).
It is important to point out that the Junkers Ju 87 It was essentially built to provide the Luftwaffe with a light aircraft, capable of dropping like "a hawk on the target and hit it with a single bomb, using the speed of the dive to avoid the defense's shot opponent".1 In fact, according to the Luftwaffe military technicians, long-range strategic bombers, capable of carrying a high explosive load, would not have been successful…
- He knocks They had their baptism of fire – with the Condor Legion – in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War (July 1936-April 1939). In the Second World War, the Luftwaffe employed the aircraft on all fronts.
Lo Junkers Ju 87 (version Ju 87 D-1) had a wingspan of 13,8 m, length 11,5 m and height 3,9 m. The empty weight was 3900 kg, while fully loaded 6600 kg.
Engine: 1 Junkers Jumo 211 J V-12, power 1400 hp. Maximum speed was 410 km/h at 4100 m, cruising speed was 319 km/h at 5100 m and service ceiling was 7300 m.
Armament consisted of two 2 mm MG 17 machine guns and one 7,92 mm MG 81 machine gun. In addition, the aircraft was equipped with a 7,92 kg bomb under the fuselage and four 250 kg bombs under the wings.
The plane could count on a crew of 2 men.
1 See G. Bonacina, The Stukas, in Illustrated History n°128, 1968, p.44
Photo: Bundesarchiv / web / RAF archive
