# Ju-287



## Velius (Nov 23, 2008)

Hello everyone. 

Out of all the experimental aircraft of WWII, the Ju-287 fascinates me the most. I have a couple questions regarding this odd bird.

1. Was it the first aircraft with swept forward wings?

2. It was made up of parts from a He-177 (fuselage), B-24 (nosegear), Ju-352(main landing gear), and Ju-388 (tail assy.). Were there other planes in history (any era) built from different aircraft components?

3. The V2 variant (if I am not mistaken) was built and powered by 6 BMW 003A turbojets arranged in clusters of three under each wing! Could this have been the first aircraft powered by 6 jet engines?

4. What is it's post-war history? 

and...

5. What are your personal thoughts/comments about this bird?

Thanks 8)


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## HoHun (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi Velius,

>1. Was it the first aircraft with swept forward wings?

Probably only the first with wings swept forward in order to reap the benefits this brings for transonic aerodynamics.

>Were there other planes in history (any era) built from different aircraft components?

The closest parallel I can think of is the Fisher XP-75.

>4. What is it's post-war history? 

The prototype was made airworthy by Ex-Junkers employees and flown for the benefit of Soviet jet bomber development. It also served as the basis for a couple more jet bomber prototypes developed in the Soviet Union by German engineers.

>5. What are your personal thoughts/comments about this bird?

It's pretty ugly! 

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)


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## Waynos (Nov 24, 2008)

1 - Agree with Ho Hun

2- In more recent times the 1970's Rockwell XFV-12 VTOL fighter was built using parts of the A-4 and F-4, the 1980's Grumman X-29 FSW demonstrator (hey, there's a link to the Ju-287!) used F-5 and F-16 components, its actually relatively common.

3. The entire Junkers design staff were incorporated into the Alekseyev design bureau under the directorship of Baade (who was not allowed to have the bureau carry his name because he was German, not Russian, hence Alekseyev) where the Ju-287 was further developed and flown in its intended production guise with two engines.


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## Waynos (Nov 25, 2008)

In looking through my PC I have dug out some pics you might be interested in;

First up is the twin engine version of the Ju 287 as flown by the Soviets;






Then here is the Alekseyev type 150 bomber prototype designed by the Junkers team as the EF.150;






Their final development to fly was the VL-DDR 152 airliner in the late 1950's, here are a couple of side elevations to illustrate it;

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## BombTaxi (Nov 25, 2008)

I was just about to ask if this design led to the 152 airliner 8) Did any of the Alekseyev bombers enter series production?


As an aside, am I right in thinking that the triple-cluster engine layout in the original three-view is unique? I cant think of any other a/c, concept, prototype or mass produced that used that format.


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## Graeme (Nov 26, 2008)

BombTaxi said:


> * am I right* in thinking that the triple-cluster engine layout in the original three-view is unique? I cant think of any other a/c, concept, prototype or mass produced that used that format.



I believe you are.

The only other "triple-jet per wing" I can think of would be the XB-48...


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## Flyboy2 (Nov 27, 2008)

As far as I can tell none of the aleksayev bombers entered production


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## Matt308 (Nov 27, 2008)

You mean triple jet in a common engine nacelle? If not there were others.


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## BombTaxi (Nov 27, 2008)

Matt308 said:


> You mean triple jet in a common engine nacelle? If not there were others.



I was referring to the specific layout shown in the Ju-287 threeview. The XB-48 had three jets in a common nacelle, as Graeme posted, were there any other types with a three jet per wing arrangement?


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## Flyboy2 (Nov 28, 2008)

Yeah i couldn't find any.. Alot of twin jet per wing arrangments like the B-45, but no triple jet ones


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## Graeme (Nov 28, 2008)

Matt308 said:


> You mean triple jet in a common engine nacelle? If not there were others.



"You talking to me?"  

Yeah Matt, that's what* I* meant to say. Otherwise you could include the B-47.
I now don't think the B-48 even fits the description, as I've read that there were large air tunnels between the jets. So I guess it's three evenly spaced jets, surrounded by a frame?


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## Kiwikid (Dec 17, 2008)

The EF131 posted with a three view drawing never actually flew. The Ju-287 which did fly was the Ju-287 V1 in October 1944 with four engines including two under the wing and from memory two either side of the nose.

Given the engines had an average TBO of 25 hours in flight disintegration of engines was a real and genuine risk.


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## Waynos (Dec 17, 2008)

In the upper photo that I posted it shows a prototype with two engines and wingtip tanks. Was this purely a postwar Soviet (or 'in the USSR') development?

I ask because I had always assumed that Junkers intended to develop the design to this standard eventually, given the right engines, but I read recently that the planned production version had four HeS 11 engines under the wings.

The same source also states that an EF 131 was completed and flown in Russia. Did the plane in this photo carry the EF 131 designation or is it refering to another aircraft?


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## Graeme (Dec 18, 2008)

Waynos said:


> In the upper photo that I posted it shows a prototype with two engines and wingtip tanks. Was this purely a postwar Soviet (or 'in the USSR') development?



Hi Wayne. According to Wiki and Gunston's "Russian Aircraft" this (your top photo) is the postwar (1947?) OKB Type 140 which was rebuilt from the Type 131 which in turn was derived from the Junkers Ju 287 V2. 

The Type 131 was considered as "inferior to the Il-22."

So the way I see it, the six-jet (two clusters of three) concept was flown, as the Type 131?...









OKB-1 EF 140 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ju287


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## PeterEvans LEMB Admin (Dec 20, 2008)

Hi there guys...

You might want to check out the following book, hot off the press - "Junkers Ju287, Germany's Forward Swept Wing Bomber" by S.Ransom, P.Korrell P.Evans - more details from the publisher here or from Amazon here...

The EF-131V-1 flew for the first time on 23rd May 1947 and the book covers the development of the Junkers FSW from the EF116, EF122A, B C wind tunnel models, Ju287V-1 and V-2, EF131 EF140...

cheers
Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator


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## Velius (Dec 21, 2008)

thanks for the link Peter  

thanks for all your input everyone


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## Vahe Demirjian (Dec 10, 2019)

I've attached a picture below of the EF 131 parked at Ramenskoye in early 1948 (the only photo of the EF 131 known to exist so far).


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## Vahe Demirjian (Dec 10, 2019)

Graeme said:


> I believe you are.
> 
> The only other "triple-jet per wing" I can think of would be the XB-48...


The Antonov An-225 Mriya and Boeing B-47 Stratojet are two other "triple-jet per wing" planes.


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## Vahe Demirjian (Dec 10, 2019)

Velius said:


> 3. The V2 variant (if I am not mistaken) was built and powered by 6 BMW 003A turbojets arranged in clusters of three under each wing! Could this have been the first aircraft powered by 6 jet engines?



I recently bought a copy of Horst Lommel's 2004 book on the Junkers Ju 287, and even though the Junkers Ju 287 V2 had six turbojets like the Junkers Ju 287 V3 and EF 131, it was a different plane from the EF 131, being built from components of other aircraft like Ju 287 V1 and lacking armament (the Ju 287 V3, like V2, was unarmed, but had the fuselage of entirely new construction, being based on that of the Junkers Ju 288). It differed from V1 in having the elevator lowered 30 centimeters and light-colored fixed nose gear pants. The V2 was originally to have four BMW 003s mounted in pairs on the wings and two Jumo 004s on the nose, but Junkers later decided to change the engine configuration for V2 to have six turbojets mounted in two underwing cluster-shaped triple packs. The Ju 287 V2, along with V1, was blown up by the Germans near the end of WW2 in Europe to avoid capture by Allied forces; nevertheless, the Soviets used remnants of the Ju 287 V2, including wing sections, in the construction of the EF 131. I've attached below a copy of drawings of the side views of the Ju 287 V2 and V3.

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## pinehilljoe (Dec 10, 2019)

Wings and Airpower did an article on the Ju-287, I will dry and dig it up from my files. It an issue in 1976 , one of the first I purchased when I was high school and got me hooked on the magazine.


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## Graeme (Dec 10, 2019)

Vahe Demirjian said:


> The Antonov An-225 Mriya and Boeing B-47 Stratojet are two other "triple-jet per wing" planes.



It was a while ago, but I believe we were discussing this arrangement...which doesn't include the Mriya or Stratojet.


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## Vahe Demirjian (Dec 10, 2019)

Graeme said:


> It was a while ago, but I believe we were discussing this arrangement...which doesn't include the Mriya or Stratojet.
> 
> View attachment 563587


The 3-view drawing contained in this post is from the 1990-1991 issue of the German magazine _Aviatik _by Uwe W. Jack that is titled _Junkers Ju 287 und EF 131_.


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## nuuumannn (Dec 10, 2019)

A few additions. The Ju 287 V2 was begun in Germany under the guidance of Hans Wocke, which thought up the forward swept configuration for these aircraft and was to have the three engine cluster under each wing, but was not completed before war's end. It was this that became the basis of the EF 131. This aircraft was begun by Junkers at Dessau in 1945 - 46 under Soviet supervision as OKB.1 led by Dr Brunolf Baade and was completed there under strict order from the Soviet Union, Directive No.864-266 dated 17 April 1946. Contrary to what has been stated, the EF 131 did actually fly, firstly in Germany, then in the Soviet Union. After this short test period, the aircraft was dismantled and relocated to State Experimental Plant No.1 at Doobna, near Moscow. It was to have taken part in the Aviation Day Flypast at Tushino, but a report by the test agency TsAGI found it was structurally weak and it underwent modification. It's first flight following that was 23 May 1947. In all, the EF 131 performed 15 flights, logging a total of 11 flight hours.

This and lots more information can be found in the excellent book German Aircraft in the Soviet Union and Russia by Yefim Gordon and Sergei Kommissarov (Midland, 2008)

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## Vahe Demirjian (Dec 11, 2019)

I forgot to mention that Ju 287 V1 and V2 were given the cover designations "Ju 288 V201" and "Ju 288 V202" by the Nazis to deceive foreign intelligence into thinking that these aircraft were merely jet-powered versions of the Ju 288. Also, three additional Ju 287 prototypes were planned, the Ju 287 V4 (same layout as Ju 287 V3) and the Ju 287 V5 & V6 (armed prototypes). The Ju 287 V3 was 80-90 percent complete when WW2 was over, and the Ju 287 V4 was 60 percent complete at war's end.

This additional info is also from Horst Lommel's book _Junkers Ju 287: The World's First Swept Wing Jet Aircraft _(Schiffer Publishing, 2004).


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## Vahe Demirjian (Dec 16, 2019)

I've attached project documents for the Junkers Ju 287B-1 below:

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## Vahe Demirjian (Feb 2, 2020)

Drawings of the EF 131's components (from project documents) are available at these links:

Junkers EF 131 
Junkers Ju 287, development, projects and prototypes 

You'll note that unlike the production Ju 287 and third prototype Ju 287, the EF 131 had six Junkers Jumo 004Bs (of which captured engines were built under license in USSR as the RD-10).


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## tyrodtom (Feb 3, 2020)

Vahe Demirjian said:


> Drawings of the EF 131's components (from project documents) are available at these links:
> 
> Junkers EF 131
> Junkers Ju 287, development, projects and prototypes
> ...



The Soviets continued building the Jumo 004B as the RD-10, but it wasn't under a license from Junkers.
It was taken as war booty, they paid Junkers no royalties .

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## Vahe Demirjian (Feb 4, 2020)

tyrodtom said:


> The Soviets continued building the Jumo 004B as the RD-10, but it wasn't under a license from Junkers.
> It was taken as war booty, they paid Junkers no royalties .


I meant to say that when the Red Army entered Germany and captured several BMW 003s and Jumo 004s, they reverse-engineered those captured engines at Stalin's will and designated them RD-10 and RD-20. It's quite similar to me recently learning that blueprints for the Nazi-era Jumo 022 turboprop were used by the Soviets to build the NK-12 turboprop for the well-known Tu-95 "Bear" bomber.

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## Vahe Demirjian (Feb 9, 2020)

nuuumannn said:


> The Ju 287 V2 was begun in Germany under the guidance of Hans Wocke, which thought up the forward swept configuration for these aircraft and was to have the three engine cluster under each wing, but was not completed before war's end. It was this that became the basis of the EF 131.


When you say that the Ju 287 V2 formed the basis of the EF 131, you meant to say that shortly after the nearly complete Ju 287 V2 (code RS+RB) was blown up by the Nazis at Brandis along with the Ju 287 V1 to prevent capture by the approaching Allies, the Americans, upon overrunning Brandis, salvaged the remnants of the second Ju 287 prototype, including the wings, and later handed them over to the Red Army, who used the Ju 287 V2 remnants in construction of the EF 131, given that the original engine arrangement for the Ju 287 V2 (four underwing BMW 003s and two fuselage-mounted Jumo 004s) was changed by Junkers to two three-engine clusters under each wing to save time for test flights. The Ju 287 V3 too had the three engine cluster under each wing, but was to be of all new construction, as was the production Ju 287. As most Ju 287 documentation was destroyed in Allied air raids, Bruno Baade and his ilk had to create a new Ju 287 design from scratch under the EF 131 designation, and consequently, they used the wings of the Ju 287 V2 for building the only EF 131 prototype in tandem with new components (Ju 188/288/388-like fuselage).


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## nuuumannn (Feb 9, 2020)

In a manner of speaking. The Ju 287 was still the basis of the EF 131 regardless of its fate.

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## Vahe Demirjian (Feb 9, 2020)

On page 67 of Horst Lommel's book _Junkers Ju 287 _there is a photo of US Army First Sergeant Gorman D. Gillian of the 3rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion posing in front of the tail empennage of the Junkers Ju 287 V1 at Brandis after US troops overran the German air base there.


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