Why was the Ju 87 Built

[Masterdj83]

Hia

I'm a fan of WW2 Aviation but i can't understand why the Ju87 was Built! I mean you might as well explode the plane before the mission instead of getting shot out of the sky my rubbish AA Guns.

 

[Masterdj83]

Please reply if you have any answers to why the ju 87 'stuka' was built

 

[Gnomey]

At the time that it was built a slow accurate dive bomber was a much more effective form of delivery than the inaccurate medium/heavy bombers. At the time of its inception it was a good plane although with inadequate defensive armament (this was improved slightly). It was only when it met much superior fighters such as the Spitfire's and Hurricane's that it became completely obsolete and was removed from the frontlines (at least on the Western Front). On the Eastern Front it continued to serve for the remainder of the war and did a lot of damage to the Soviet war effort (read up on Rudel).

 

[Denniss]

The Ju 87 has not become obsolete during BoB . But to operate the Ju 87 it had to be protected by fighters so you had to have some form of air superiority. As the Luftwaffe was struggling to achive this over England the Ju 87 was relegated to antishipping missions over the channel as it was easier to protect there.
The Ju 87 continued to successfully serve as antishipping bomber especially in the Med and as dive bomber, ground attack and tank destroyer on the eastern front. During 1843/1944 it was gradually replaced by heavily armored Fw 190F fighter-bombers/ground attack and continued to serve as night nuisance bomber. As the Ju 87 was able to fly at a very slow speed the allied night fighters did have problems to kill them as they were often too fast to manouver in position once they detected them.

 

[delcyros]

In terms of payload, the Ju-87 was one of the most effective single engined bomber in ww2. It was also very rugged, and had for it´s time an excellent cockpit, engine and fuel tank protection. Finally it was easy to mainten and had full grass landing abilities.
The basic concept to deliver heavy payload at pinpoint accuracy is not flawed per se, esspeccially in a time prior to the more sophisticated gyro stabilized, computing bombsights but it is a concept to lead into a number of compromisses, which eventually doomed the Ju-87 later.

 

[Nikademus]

The Germans needed a tactical airforce given their geographical situation. I believe it was recently mentioned in another recent thread that at the time of development, no nation had any real Heavies developed yet and the US was one of the few doing so given it's geographical situation (a seperate continent seperated by wide oceans) So a tactical DB made sense for the Luftwaffe. I've read that the Stuka's excellent stability which made it such an effective attack platform also made it the ultimate sitting duck target. I suppose one could accuse it of being over-engineered for it's task. Still....when well protected or when in an envirnment where the Luft had air superiority, it was a deadly precision weapon. Put alot of enemy fighters within reach though....and aieee.

 

[Erich]

do a bit of research in it's nocturnal activities of lat 44 till wars end. A slow beast but did it's job well till the end

 

[machine shop tom]

It's ability to drop bombs very accurately was it's greatest asset. It was actually inferior to the Hs 123 in close support, but with fighter protection it remained effective as a dive bomber and later as an anti-armor weapon. It's greatest drawback was that it was used in situations that left it vulnerable to fighter attacks.

tom

 

[Catch22]

The funny thing was, it was originally designed to be able to protect itself without fighter escort, but we all know how well that worked.

 

[evangilder]

The funny thing was, it was originally designed to be able to protect itself without fighter escort, but we all know how well that worked.

So was the B-17...

 

[Nikademus]

So was the B-17...

 

[mkloby]

Think mobile air arty that didn't need to be trucked. It was an excellent aircraft when flown within its intended design constraints.

 

[SoD Stitch]

Think mobile air arty that didn't need to be trucked. It was an excellent aircraft when flown within its intended design constraints.

As mkloby said, it's original mission was, essentially, to be extremely accurate artillery. Nowadays, we have GPS satellites, and extremely accurate gyroscopes, but back then (1935) artillery wasn't so accurate; half the time you ended up putting rounds on your own guys. The Germans saw a need for extremely accurate tactical artillery and, since it wasn't technically feasible to put a round within 100 yards (let alone 100 feet!) of a target back then, something else had to be developed. Hence, the Ju 87. Yes, it was a sitting duck vs. much faster and more maneuverable single-engine fighters; but in Poland, with complete Luftwaffe air supremacy, it proved it's worth.

 

[Njaco]

When the Luftwaffe came about in the 1930s, it was seen as an extension of the Army. With the seeds of Blitzkreig developing, the aircraft was made a part of the ground force's weapons - hence an aerial artillery. At that time there were two strong individuals with ideas for the Luftwaffe and its relationship to the army. General Udet visioned a dive-bombing plane that would decimate the enemy strongpoints and rear-guard. He came to champion this idea after going to America and flying in several dive-bombers produced by the USA at the time. General Wever visioned a fleet of heavy bombers that would carpet bomb key points (much like what was tried in Spain).

Two things then brought about the dive-bomber and the Ju 87. General Wever died in an air crash and his heavy bomber concept was left at the wayside. And it was decided that with the material it was decided that instead of one heavy bomber, they could make several smaller bombers such as the Ju 87.

The Ju 87 was quite handy through out the war. Its speed was never a great part of it but in the hands of an experienced pilot and gunner it could hold its own. One trick used by Stuka pilots was when being attacked from the rear, they would suddenly slow or side-slip allowing the Spit or whoever to overshoot...into the Stukas gunsights. Planes would stick together and provide mutal firepower ...not unlike the boxes used by B-17s.

I'll probably be hammered but this was just a quick reference and quite possibly not very accurate but that is the jist of why the Ju 87 was made.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Hia

I'm a fan of WW2 Aviation but i can't understand why the Ju87 was Built! I mean you might as well explode the plane before the mission instead of getting shot out of the sky my rubbish AA Guns.

Because it was actually a damn good Dive Bomber.

Like any Dive Bomber it relied on aerial superiority, however the aircraft itself was actually very rugged and a very accurate dive bomber and later a great tank killer.

The funny thing was, it was originally designed to be able to protect itself without fighter escort, but we all know how well that worked.

When it was originally designed it was a realistic thing. It was faster than most of its oposition at the time.

 

[DOUGRD]

I wholeheartedly agree with Nj and Der Adlers statements. The Ju-87 is a much maligned aircraft. You hear many people say it couldn't hold its own in a dogfight or it was fodder for Spits or Mustangs. though they are right the aircraft was never intended to be a fighter and a lot of other planes were fodder too. But the Stuka was first rate in its intended role. taking everything into account such as design, mission performance and adaptability I think it was one of the better planes in the war. It had some fairly advanced features for its time too if I remember correctly. Somewhere I read that it had an automatic system for bomb release. Once the pilot nosed it over into the standard 80 degree dive he would press a button on the control stick. The dive angle and airspeed were locked in and at a preset altitude the aircraft would release the bomb and pull up into a climb attitude. Has anyone else read that? If it's true then the Germans had a pretty good way to combat "target fixation" didn't they?

 

[Haztoys]

Its all time and space...At the time the Stuka was first used ..It was the master of teh dive bombers...But like most planes time keeps coming...And the Stuka like most dive bombers became obsolete..Why do people just look at the end of the planes life span..And not the hey day of its life span.. ...

Look at the Stuka in the Spanish Revolution and the Poland campain..Not just the last year or so of WW11...

 

[Njaco]

Doug, from Wiki (caution, ) but does a fair description.

Junkers Ju 87 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.....Diving procedure
Flying at 4,600 meters (15,000 ft), the pilot located his target through a bombsight window in the cockpit floor. After opening the dive brakes and retarding his throttle, he then rolled the aircraft 180°, automatically nosing the aircraft into a dive. Red tabs protruded from the upper surfaces of the wing as a visual indicator to the pilot that in case of a g induced black-out, the automatic dive recovery system would be activated. The Stuka dived at a 60 - 90 degree angle, accelerating to 600 km/h (350 mph).

When the aircraft was reasonably close to the target, a light on the contact altimeter came on to indicate the bomb-release point, usually at a minimum height of 450 m (1,500 ft). The pilot released the bomb by depressing a knob on the control column to release weapons and to initiate the automatic pull-out mechanism. An elongated U-shaped crutch located under the fuselage would swing the bomb out of the way of the propeller, and the aircraft would automatically begin a 6 g pullout.

Once the nose was above the horizon, dive brakes were retracted, the throttle was opened, and the propeller was set to climb. The pilot regained control and resumed normal flight.

In his book Wings of the Luftwaffe, Royal Navy test pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown reported that a captured Ju 87 D-3 he test-flew after the war felt "absolutely right" diving at a 90° straight down angle, and stated that he had no doubt of the Stuka's ability in its assigned role........

 

[Seawitch]

Hi all
The reason for the Stuka (STUrtz KAmpth if I spelt that right?) has been well mapped out, power through accuracy in the shelter of air supremacy to support the Army, a Blitz kriek weapon.
Times would change though, and the Stuka produced a variant that carried two 37 mm cannon to equal the odds a bit against the mass of Soviet tanks they faced.
The slow A10 Thunderbolt appeared decades later to do the very same job!
I read Rudels book some years ago, he destroyed hundreds of Tanks in this aircraft, I find the topic of him already well covered here..
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEovxiP2Rxg

 

[DOUGRD]

Thanks Chris, that's pretty close to what I read before, if memory serves me correctly. I'll have to find that book I read. Maybe it was in Rudels book. Seawitch, great footage, thanks