Why are there only 2 Stukas left in tact today?

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Well, 73 years after WWII ended, it's getting increasingly difficult to keep any aircraft of the era flying.

How many P-43s, OS2Us, Blenheims, or D3As are around?
 

I think quite a few of the WW2 fighters survived because they found they made pretty good pylon racers with some modifications.
 
A good number of WWII aircraft survive today, because smaller nations purchesed the surplus or surrendered aircraft as the war come to a close. As newer hand-me-downs became available from primary nations, many of these WWII aircraft were placed in reserve or stored.

The aircraft that weren't practical, obsolete or difficult to get parts for, were scrapped.

Several of the world's rarest WWII aircraft survive today, because they came from these smaller nations' former inventory.
 


Which museum is that? It looks nice.

Ole
 
How many P-43s, OS2Us, Blenheims, or D3As are around?
Click to expand...

There's only one actual complete Bristol built Blenheim left in the world. It's in Finland. All the others are Canadian imposters. This is a Bolingbroke built by Fairchild in Quebec retrofitted with a Blenheim Mk.I nose.

0707 Duxford Blenheim I

This is the only Bolingbroke in Britain restored as a Boli and not converted into a Blenheim. There were minor changes between the two to suit Canadian needs, but essentially they were the same airframe.

1807 National Museum of Flight East Fortune Bolingbroke
 
Another answer is that technically, the Stuka is not a very interesting airframe. If you look at the surviving German/Axis types in museums around the world, there are more Me 262s, Me 163s, V 1s and 2s, He 162s and that sort of thing than there are He 111s, Ju 87s, Ju 88s and Bf 110s. Because the advanced German technology at the end of the war was ripe for exploitation, so examples of these machines were kept for inspiration. A little acknowledged fact is that the Walther rocket motors became the foundation for the post-war British rocketry programme; virtually all of the families of British rocket motors were powered by T-stoff, hydrogen peroxide. I've seen early prototype British motors built by the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott with fuel lines stamped with 'T-stoff', instead of 'HTP', or High Test Peroxide.
 
nuuumannn said:
Because the advanced German technology at the end of the war was ripe for exploitation, so examples of these machines were kept for inspiration.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
Another example: the Me P.1101 became the Bell X-5, which in turn influenced later generations of aircraft.

The early German aircraft were novel at best by war's end and were of more value as desperately needed scrap metal than anything.
 
Production ended in 1944. I would guess that the the old design didn't have a lot of interest for the Allies for test purposes. Those left were probably chopped up after the War
 
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