Aviation of World War II

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Ju-87A

Dive Bomber

Junkers

Ju 87A

The history of the Ju 87B began at the end of 1937, when it was decided to launch a series production of a new Junkers engine, the Jumo 211, and a group of Junkers designers led by Hermann Pohlmann began design work on a modified Ju 87. Already at the beginning of 1938 The prototype Ju 87V6 took off - the serial Ju 87A-1 with the Jumo 211Aa engine. The new engine was 267 mm longer and 200 kg heavier than the Jumo 210. The Ju 87V7 became the real prototype of the new Stuka modification. The general layout of the car remained the same, but the engine compartment and its hood, the glazing of the cockpit and the main chassis were radically altered. Two cylindrical oil coolers were replaced with one segmented one, which was placed above the engine. The air intake of the oil cooler acquired an asymmetrical shape, its high lateral stampings had different lengths (the left one was shorter than the right one). The dimensions of the liquid radiator have increased, and its shape has acquired a streamlined semicircular shape. Controllable shutters were installed at the inlet, the outlet section was regulated by a large movable "scoop". The semi-circular air intake of the supercharger has moved to the right side of the engine hood.

On the Ju 87V8 prototype, the chassis and the canopy were radically altered. The design of the main landing gear was simplified, additional longitudinal and transverse struts disappeared, the fairings decreased in size and acquired a different shape. All parts of the left and right landing gear struts and fairings are symmetrical and interchangeable. The cockpit canopy has been redesigned. Now all the movable glazing elements did not tilt to their side, but moved back along the guides. On the cover of the glazing of the lantern, only one antenna post remained, but a towed radio antenna post appeared under the fuselage. The 7.92 mm MG 15 machine gun of the radio operator to protect the rear hemisphere was installed in the Linzenlafette ZIOd ball mount, which had increased firing angles. The composition of the cockpit equipment was fundamentally changed, the arrangement of instruments on the instrument board and the shape of the control knob changed. The Revi C / 12A (Stuvi) sight was replaced with a new Revi C / 12C sight. The air pressure receiver was moved to the right console.

On the ninth prototype, the updated bomber weapons were debugged. By this time, the power of the Jumo 211A engine had grown from 900 hp. from. (on prototypes V6 - V8) up to 1000 hp from. The standard bomb load of the Ju 87 was now one 500 kg and four 50 kg bombs. Semi-automatic device Abfanggerat provided safe entry and exit from a dive, not requiring great physical effort from the pilot. During the dive, a frequent signal was heard in the pilot's headset. After flying over the pre-set bomb drop height from the central bomb rack, the signal disappeared. The pilot pressed the reset button on the control stick and at the same moment Abfanggerat rearranged the trims on the elevators and changed the angle of the propeller blades.

Ju-87 A-1 in Flight

                                                                                                                                                                                                              
Specification
Ju-87A-1 Ju-87B-1 Ju-87B-2 Ju-87C-1
Crew 2
Dimensions
Length, m 10.78 11.10 11.10 11.00
Height, m 3.89 4.01 4.01 3.77
Wing span, m 13.80
Wing area, m2 31.90
Wing loading, kg/m
  
106.6 136 136 141
Weight, kg:
Empty weight 2300 2710 2750 2900
Maximum takeoff weight 3400 4250 4250 4510
Powerplant
PE Jumo 210D Jumo 211A-1 Jumo 211Da Jumo 211Da
Power, hp/kW 680/500 1000/736 1200/883 1200/883
Performance
Maximum speed km/h 320 383 380 380
at altitude, m 4000 4090 4090 4090
Time to altitude min 23 12 12 13,4
m 3000 4000 4000 3000
Service ceiling, m 7000 8000 8000 8000
Service range, km 1000 790 790 1160
Armament
Machine-guns 2 3 3 3
External bomb load, kg 500 700 700 700
Photo Description
Drawing Ju 87 A-2

Drawing Ju 87 A-2

Ju-87A-1

Ju-87A-1, (registration code "E-IEAU").

Bibliography

  • "Aviation of Luftwaffe" /Viktor Shunkov/
  • "Encyclopedia of military engineering" /Aerospace Publising/
  • "Junkers-87B/R Stuka" /Avia-Archive/