Why are there only 2 Stukas left in tact today?

davebender · Jan 29, 2012

I don't think so. Ju-87 dive bomber production was rather small. 1943 is the only year Ju-87 production exceeded 1,000 aircraft.

German aircraft production during World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1939 production.
452. He-111 level bomber.
215. Do-17 level bomber.
134. Ju-87 dive bomber.
69. Ju-88 dive bomber.

1940 production.
1,816. Ju-88 dive bomber.
758. He-111 level bomber.
603. Ju-87 dive bomber.
260. Do-17 level bomber.

1941 production.
2,146. Ju-88 dive bomber.
950. He-111 level bomber.
500. Ju-87 dive bomber.
277. Do-217 level bomber.

Like the Tiger tank, Ju-87s were exceptionally effective giving them a combat reputation all our of proportion to their numbers.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Jan 29, 2012

michaelmaltby said:
By the local vandals ... ... and occupy movement protesters.

MM

Travis Roland · Sep 11, 2018

esto said:
Hi all. First post here, I hope I'm in the right place. My question is about the JU-87 Stuka. I'd been doing some research, and found that of the roughly 6,000 produced, there are only 2 remaining in tact (?!). One in a museum in Chicago, and another in the UK. What happend to the rest of them? Surely there must have been quite a few left after the war. Didn't anyone have the foresight to save more than 2 for historys sake?

Just wondering if anyone can give some insight to this. Thanks.

What's worse is that none of the blueprints survived. Which explains why I've been to dozens of Air Museums in the US and Europe and have yet to even see a full scale replica. A pilot in Maine made a good looking 3/4 scale replica that even flys though.

Travis Roland · Sep 11, 2018

Rodger Dodger said:
This is my first post. I'm damned glad I Googled "remaining stukas" and found this forum.

Well, I'm late to the dance on this thread, but have found reading the posts very interesting. I fortunately have gone flying in a WWII P-51D, which hooked me for life.

After WWII, all countries were scrapping their planes. The aluminum and other metals were more valuable than the planes, particularly since a the new generation fighter jets were beginning to dominate.

I understand there is only one Japenese zero that can fly left. Too bad there were no wealthy plane collectors after WWII, as I understand the planes were selling for the cost of their metal

Nobody wanted a reminder of the war after 1945 either.. too soon and close to home for most people. I don't even want to think about what was thrown away all over the world.

swampyankee · Sep 11, 2018

esto said:
Hi all. First post here, I hope I'm in the right place. My question is about the JU-87 Stuka. I'd been doing some research, and found that of the roughly 6,000 produced, there are only 2 remaining in tact (?!). One in a museum in Chicago, and another in the UK. What happend to the rest of them? Surely there must have been quite a few left after the war. Didn't anyone have the foresight to save more than 2 for historys sake?

Just wondering if anyone can give some insight to this. Thanks.

The victors don't have much interest in keeping the losers' stuff around.

GrauGeist · Sep 11, 2018

Travis Roland said:
What's worse is that none of the blueprints survived. Which explains why I've been to dozens of Air Museums in the US and Europe and have yet to even see a full scale replica. A pilot in Maine made a good looking 3/4 scale replica that even flys though.

Scale replicas are expensive to build and a Museum will most likely spend their money on restoration and preservation of existing types before they'll build a replica. This is not to say that replicas don't exist, they're just few and far between.

There is a full scale replica in New Zealand as well as one at the Frankfurt airport. There were also 4 Percival Procters converted to be lookalikes for the movie "Battle of Britain", but they weren't flown for safety reasons.

There are two intact Stukas, a Ju87R-2 (WkNmr 5954) at the Chicago Museum of Science and a Ju87G-2 (WkNmr 494083) at the RAF Museum in London.

nuuumannn · Sep 11, 2018

Two views of the RAF Museum's Stuka. The museum also has one of the gun pods that were carried under its wing, just the one.

Stuka survivor i

Stuka survivor ii

The reproduction in New Zealand is at the Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka, Blenheim, with decorative work done by Weta Workshop Ltd, film director Peter Jackson's special effects organisation. The Stuka was built by a local guy and quite a bit of effort has gone into getting it to look accurate. It's full size.

Stuka Repro i

Stuka repro ii

nuuumannn · Sep 11, 2018

GrauGeist said:
There were also 4 Percival Proctors converted to be lookalikes for the movie "Battle of Britain", but they weren't flown for safety reasons.

The intent was that the Stuka now at the RAF Museum was going to be restored to flying condition, but it was going to cost more than what the budget allowed, so the Proctors were modified. If you look closely during the scenes in the film, the Stuka models are late model ones, rather than resembling the Ju 87B variants that were in use in 1940. This is because the radio control miniatures were based on the surviving one they were restoring. They were quite big and there is one or two surviving in British museums.

GrauGeist · Sep 11, 2018

Those are fantastic photos, Grant!

Especially the Omaka Stuka - thanks for sharing them!

nuuumannn · Sep 12, 2018

No worries Dave, the Omaka one is a bit of a bugger to photograph.

GrauGeist · Sep 12, 2018

Well, you did a hell of a job!

She's fantastic for a repro, too.

nuuumannn · Sep 12, 2018

Yeah, it looks great. It's made of wood, but clad with ali and has a Saab 340 propeller! It's worn a few different colour schemes throughout its life. Here it is as an Italian Picchiatello.

AHC Gate Guards Picchiatello

And here it is in a summer 1940 scheme that Hans Ulrich Rudel apparently flew.

AHC Gate Guards Luftwaffe Stuka

Note also that the Hurricane in the background has also changed markings.

GrauGeist · Sep 12, 2018

Yeah...not sure if I'm falling for the VVS scheme on the Hurri!

Airframes · Sep 12, 2018

Here's a pic of one of the 'Proctukas'. heavily modified Percival Proctor, intended for use in the BoB movie, but ultimately not used.(from my files, origin unknown)

Beau Brandt · Sep 13, 2018

esto said:
Hi all. First post here, I hope I'm in the right place. My question is about the JU-87 Stuka. I'd been doing some research, and found that of the roughly 6,000 produced, there are only 2 remaining in tact (?!). One in a museum in Chicago, and another in the UK. What happend to the rest of them? Surely there must have been quite a few left after the war. Didn't anyone have the foresight to save more than 2 for historys sake?

Just wondering if anyone can give some insight to this. Thanks.

I could also be, that by 1942 the Stuka was essentially obsolete after the Battle of Britain and any airworthy aircraft were relegated to the Russian front, used-up, destroyed and/or discarded.

Arrawin · Sep 13, 2018

I had no idea there were so few Stuka's left in flying condition or even just intact. I was hoping our local aero museum might get one but that is out of the question. I had a control line model of a stuka when I was a kid that I just loved to death, it even had a bomb it could drop. The one time I tried it I smacked into the ground, so I quickly knew it was a lot harder to do than it looked. Breaks my heart to see that one Stuka is such poor condition on display. No WW2 plane deserves that.

GrauGeist · Sep 13, 2018

The Stukas continued in Europe after the Battle of Britain.
Serving with StG3, they inflicted serious damage against the Allies in Italy as well as the British in the Dodecanese Campaign during October 1943.
They also were a vital part of the defense of Berlin, operating during the day and night.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Sep 13, 2018

Arrawin said:
I had no idea there were so few Stuka's left in flying condition or even just intact. I was hoping our local aero museum might get one but that is out of the question. I had a control line model of a stuka when I was a kid that I just loved to death, it even had a bomb it could drop. The one time I tried it I smacked into the ground, so I quickly knew it was a lot harder to do than it looked. Breaks my heart to see that one Stuka is such poor condition on display. No WW2 plane deserves that.

There are no Ju 87's that are airworthy. The two survivors are static display only.

nuuumannn · Sep 14, 2018

GrauGeist said:
Yeah...not sure if I'm falling for the VVS scheme on the Hurri!

Yep, it looked the part though. Both schemes the Hurri was in were aircraft flown by Kiwis. The squadron leader of 151 Wing, sent to Russia with its Hurricanes was a New Zealander, the excruciatingly English-public-schoolboy named Henry Neville Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood. The previous marking and as it is depicted today is in the markings of local Marlborough lad Jim Hayter.

billrunnels · Sep 14, 2018

One of the reasons you see more WWII aircraft in the USA today is they found use for them following end of the war. Example the-B-17 was used as a tanker fighting forest fires and it along with the P-51 received so much publicity. The p-51 also became a favorite private aircraft of which many are in the air today. The Stearman is a favorite today. They were available in numbers and reasonable to buy following the war. While in Bombardier School 1944 there were 10 to 12 Stearman tailed to a fence at the Midland, Texas Base Airport and you could take your pick for $500.00

Why are there only 2 Stukas left in tact today?

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