Stuka with folding wings ? (1 Viewer)

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T Bolt

Colonel
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Mar 24, 2010
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I came across this picture and was shocked. I never knew any Stuka had folding wings. Looks like a Ju-87B or R from the radiator. Does anyone know the story on this?

Ju87 wingfold.jpg
 
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They were built that way for use on the Graf Zeppelin Aircraft Carrier.

They were Ju 87C-1 variants and approx. 120 were built before production was halted due to the cancellation of the Graf Zeppelin.

The Ju 87R was a long range variant of the Ju 87B. It did not have folding wings.
 
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The Ju87C Tragerflugzeug was rarely photographed. As well as the folding wings, features included jettisonable undercarriage and an arrestor hook. Kriegsmarine pilots trained in dive-bombing but with the cancellation of the project all Ju87Cs were absorbed into the Luftwaffe
 

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Junkers 87C

The development of the Ju 87C began at the end of 1938. It is probable that the first designation was Ju 87T. Two Ju 87 B-1 of a late batch were refitted to be the prototypes of the C version and test flown in March and April 1939. The next ten aircraft of the preproduction batch C-0 were built at Berlin-Tempelhof facilities during the summer of 1939. The C version had a 0.6 metre shorter wingspan than the B version and equipped with an electrical mechanism allowing the wings to be folded backwards. According to measurements taken at Travemünde the aircraft with wings folded was only 5.0 metres wide. A tailhook and fasteners for the catapult carriage were mounted on the bottom of the fuselage. The landing gear legs were fitted with small explosive charges allowing the landing gear to be jettisoned in case of an emergency landing on water which would otherwise have resulted in the aircraft tipping over. There were no sirens and the aircraft was sealed to present rapid sinking. Newly installed fuel tanks, two in the fuselage and two in the wings, increased the total fuel volume to 2,500 litres which extended the range to over 11,000 kilometres. An emergency fuel dump allowed for the jettisoning of all the fuel in approximately one minute. O 170 Ju 87C-1s ordered, only a few were completed. These composed the special experimental unit 187/42. The aircraft were sent to the test facility at Rechlin and to the E-Stelle at Travemünde, where extensive ground and flight tests were made, The detailed report on the tests was made 10th June 1942. The rest of the nearly finished C-1 aircraft were completed as the B-2 version.

Junkers 87E

The Ju 87E-1 was the planned carrier-based torpedo bomber version of the Ju 87D-1. This aircraft was initially intended to operate against allied shipping in the Mediterranean. The necessity for adapting the aircraft came from delays in the construction of the Graf Zeppelin, which made the Fi 167 aircraft intended for the torpedo bomber role obsolete.The Ju 87Es were to carry the LF T5W torpedo. The special equipment was the same as the Ju 87 C-0 and C-1. The tests of the E-1 version were made in spring and summer of 1942 at the Erprobungsstelle at Travemünde. The addition of rocket boosters was planned, which would shorten the takeoff run on the carrier deck. The order for 115 aircraft was cancelled after further construction of the Graf Zeppelin was curtailed in February 1943.
 
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How redundant would those Jericho horns be if the aircraft is loaded for torpedo bombing?
 

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