German Bombers and Transport Aircraft

Bloody great shots!!!!! Thanks for posting!

Great shots!

The Ju 188 was an improved version of the Ju 88, one of the mainstays of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Although the aircraft only entered service in 1943, its basic design was based on an alternative cockpit for the Ju 88 that had been part of the original design for that aircraft in 1936. A prototype of this Ju 88B had flow in 1940, but the advantages of the modified cockpit were not enough to make it worth disrupting production of the already important aircraft. Instead Junkers were to concentrate on the Ju 288, part of the 1939 "Bomber B" competition. Work resumed on the Ju 88B under the new designation Ju 188 in October 1942. It was triggered by the failure of the Bomber B project. Work on the Ju 288 was scaled down in favour of the Ju 188, which as a modification of an existing aircraft would take much less time to enter service. It benefited from the years of development that had gone into improving the Ju 88, with the first prototype originally constructed as Ju 88 V44, (the forty-fourth development aircraft).

The RLM specification for the Ju 188 required it to be capable of acting as either a level or dive bomber. It was to carry the same dive-brakes and automatic pull-out gear as the Ju 88A. It was to be capable of being powered by either Jumo 213 (A series) or BMW 801 (E series) engines, built into a "power egg" that would allow either engine to be installed on the production line. The most obvious change made to the Ju 188 was in the cockpit. The stepped nose of the Ju 88 was replaced by a single canopy that began under the nose then curved up and over the cockpit, ending at the rear dorsal gun position, giving the new aircraft the profile of a tadpole. Changes were also made to the wings, increasing the wingspan by three feet while the tail was also enlarged and the fin made larger.

The standard bomber version carried four guns, all in the main cockpit. These included a 20mm cannon in the nose, an dorsal turret at the top of the cockpit, with either a 13mm or 20mm gun, a rear firing 13mm gun in the rear dorsal position and a rear firing MG 81Z twin machine gun in the ventral position. The normal bomber variant could carry a 3000kg/ 6614lb bomb load. Two prototypes were ready by January 1943, when they began flight tests. The new aircraft was generally popular. It outperformed the already excellent Ju 88, and features a more spacious cockpit with improved visibility. Its biggest weakness was the lack of any effective tail guns, which led to a variety of attempts to fit a rear turret.

The Ju 188 entered service in May 1943 with Erprobungskommando 188, a specialled service test unit, and with KG 6. I./KG 6 would be the first unit to go operational, on 20 October 1943, acting as a pathfinder unit. Only two bomber units (KG 2 and KG 6) would convert entirely to the Ju 188, which was also used by some elements of KG 26 and KG 66. Half of the 1,076 aircraft produced were reconnaissance aircraft, and the type was used by ten reconnaissance units.

The Ju 188 appeared too late to make any significant impact on the war. Of the total production, 283 were built in 1943 and 793 in 1944, by which time the German bomber forces were shrinking. From the summer of 1944 they almost completely disappeared in response to the fuel shortage caused by Allied heavy bombing. Allied control of the air meant that the Ju 188 was unable to achieve much as a reconnaissance aircraft either – the Luftwaffe would be essentially blind until the jet powered Arado Ar 234 entered service. In a somewhat unexpected twist, the Ju 188 was used by the French naval air arm (the Aéronavale) in the immediate post war era.

The Junkers Ju 90 airliner and transport series descended directly from the Ju 89, a contender in the Ural bomber programme aimed at producing a long-range strategic bomber. This concept was abandoned by the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium, Reich Aviation Ministry) in April 1937 in favour of smaller, faster bombers. In April 1939, the RLM asked Junkers for a further development of the Ju 90 for military transport purposes. The Ju 90V5 and V6 were the prototypes of this military design. They got a new wing with a straight inner section leading edge, of greater span (19%) and area (11%). The landing gear was strengthened with twin main-wheels and the fins were more rounded, lacking the characteristic horn balance nick of the earlier models. The windows were replaced by 10 small portholes a side. The Ju 90 V5 flew first on 5 December 1939. A special feature of both the V5 and V6 was a boarding ramp in the floor of the fuselage for loading cars and larger cargo freight[8][6]. This ramp, when lowered raised the fuselage to the horizontal flying position. Both aircraft were retrospectively fitted with the much more powerful 1,200 kW (1,600 hp) BMW 801MA radials.

The two last prototypes - the V7 and V8 - fed directly into the Ju 290 development programme. The former had a fuselage extension of 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) and the addition of dihedral to the tailplane to solve a yaw instability. A reconnaissance prototype aerodynamically similar to the V7, the V8 was armed, however,with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons and up to nine 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine guns in two dorsal, one ventral and one tail position. Some of the Ju 90s were converted into prototypes of the bigger Ju 290 transport and reconnaissance aircraft. The more powerful engines and other modifications to the Ju 90V5 and V7 were steps in this direction and the latter was converted into the Ju 290V3. The Ju 290V8 became the second prototype Ju 290V2. An uncompleted 11th A-series machine was turned into the Ju 290 V1. The Ju 90V6 airframe was used in the construction of the Junkers Ju 390 V1.

The Reich Air Ministry (RLM) first learned of the American B-29 Superfortress in late 1942, possibly from the sighting of a YB-29 Superfortress at RAF Bovingdon nicknamed the "Hobo Queen" that made a headline photo appearance in a news article in the Völkischer Beobachter newspaper. The performance estimates of this aircraft were cause for great concern in the Luftwaffe. The B-29 had a maximum speed around 560 km/h (348 mph), and would attack in a cruise at about 360 km/h (224 mph) at 8,000-10,000 m (26,247-32,810 ft), an altitude where no current Luftwaffe aircraft was effective.

To counter the B-29, the Luftwaffe would need new day fighters and bomber destroyers. The fighter chosen was the Focke-Wulf Ta 152H. This was based on the Fw 190D with longer wings and the new high-altitude "E" model of the Junkers Jumo 213 engine. An alternative was the Messerschmitt Me 155B, a long-winged development of the Bf 109 that had already undergone numerous developments, which would ultimately be built in prototype form by Blohm Voss.

For the bomber destroyer and night fighter needs, the Ta 154 and Heinkel He 219 had the performance needed to catch the bomber, but both designs only gained that performance by mounting short wings that were inadequate for flight at high-altitude. The Junkers Ju 88 had already been modified for high-altitude use as the S and T models, but these did not have the performance needed. Similar high-altitude modifications to the Ju 188 were being looked at as the projected Ju 188J, K and L models, which included a pressurized cockpit and wing and elevator deicing equipment for extended flights at very high altitude. These were selected for the role, and re-named Ju 388. Deliveries started in August 1944 but very few Ju 388s were delivered. About 47 L models seem to have been built, the majority as -1s with the BMW 801J engine, and only three -3s with the Jumo 213E. Fifteen K-1s were built, and only three J-1 models were produced.

The Junkers G.38 was a large German four-engined transport aircraft which first flew in 1929. Two prototypes were constructed in Germany. Both aircraft flew as a commercial transport within Europe in the years leading up to World War II. During the 1930s, the design was licensed to Mitsubishi which constructed and flew a total of six aircraft, in a military bomber/transport configuration, designated Ki-20. The G.38 carried a crew of seven. On board mechanics were able to service the engines in flight due to the G.38's blended wing design which provided access to all four power plants.

On 1 July 1931 Lufthansa initiated regularly scheduled service between Berlin and London on flights carrying up to 13 passengers. This London-Berlin service was halted in October 1931 to retrofit the aircraft and expand the passenger cabin of the D-2000. Construction lasted from this time until the summer of 1932, during which a second deck was built within the D-2000's fuselage - enabling an increased cargo capacity and seating for up to 30 passengers. Additionally the D-2000's engine were again upgraded to four L88s, giving a combined power total of 2352 kW (3154 hp). Also at this time the D-2000's certificate number was changed to D-AZUR.

Meanwhile, a second G.38 - factory number 3302 and c/n D-2500, later changed to D-APIS - was built with a double deck fuselage and capacity for 34 passengers. Six passengers were carried in two compartments in the leading edge of each wing and the remaining 22, on two levels, in the fuselage. Lufthansa used D-APIS on a scheduled service covering the cities Berlin, Hanover, Amsterdam and London. This aircraft was named the General Feldmarschall von Hindenburg. In 1934 D-2000/D-AZUR had its engines upgraded, this time with Jumo 4 engines, giving a total power rating of 3000 kW (4023 hp). Both planes were in service simultaneously until 1936, when D-AZUR crashed in Dessau during a post-maintenance test flight. Lufthansa had to write off this aircraft due to the extensive damage, but test pilot Wilhelm Zimmermann survived the crash, and there were no other casualties.

The second G.38 - marked D-2500 and later D-APIS - flew successfully within the Lufthansa fleet for nearly a decade. With the outbreak of World War II the D-2500/D-APIS was pressed into military service as a transport craft by the Luftwaffe. It was destroyed on the ground during an RAF air raid on Athens on 17 May 1941.

I always lived that aircraft, thanks for posting!

Me 323 Gigant, Tunisia 1943

The Illustrated London News overview of the Me 323, drawn by G H Davis, published in 1943. Allied fighter pilots would have been fully aware of where the fuel tanks were located within the wooden frame.




The Me 321 glider was used to transport heavy weapons during the invasion of Russia.



The Me 321 required three aircraft to pull it off the ground as well as assistance from rocket motors.



Eventually the LW wised up and put some engines on it.



A Me 323 delivers a Renault tracked vehicle to the Tunisian front.



German casualties from Tunisia arriving in Italy March 1943.



MG 131 13 mm (.51 in) wing gun positions



Glider footage
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OvyOeXnW0k

Junkers Ju 88A-1



Heinkel He 111

The Messerschmitt 264 first flew in December 1942 but the programme fell victim to development problems and changing priorities. Only three were ever built.



Messerschmitt 264. It was intended that the Luftwaffe would bomb New York with it.

Some good shots...

Beautiful!

Arado Ar 234 "Blitz" (Lightning)

The spanish He 111 is not really beatiful due to using the wrong engine. But the spanish Bf 109 is even worse, looking really ugly. But thanks to both we still have some German WW2 aircraft flying around.

#76 last pic AM26 = Ar234B-2b, werk nr. 140476, ex 1(F)/33, 8H+DH at Grove

What does the small b denotes on the Ar 234? Doesn't look like a BMW 003 engine (if b used like on Me 262).