Junkers
Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM),
more commonly
Junkers,
was a major German
aircraft
manufacturer. It produced some of
the world's most innovative and
best-known airplanes over the course
of its fifty-plus year history in
Dessau, Germany. It was founded
there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers,
initially manufacturing boilers and
radiators. During World War I, and
following the war, the company
became famous for its pioneering
all-metal aircraft. During World War
II the company produced some of the
most successful Luftwaffe planes, as
well as piston and jet aircraft
engines, albeit in the absence of
its founder, who by then had been
removed by the Nazis.
|
|
HISTORY
The
history of Junkers aircraft
production begins with the
Junkers J
1
mid-wing monoplane (not to be
confused with the later, all-metal
sesquiplane ground attack aircraft
J.I which had a factory designation
J4). Research for this aircraft
began in 1914 and was interrupted by
the start of the First World War.
The prototype aircraft, named the
Blechesel
(Tin Donkey), was completed in very
late 1915 after the outbreak of the
war. This aircraft is significant in
that it was the first flyable
aircraft to utilize an all-metal
"total structural" design.
Contemporary aircraft were built
around wooden frames constructed in
a rib-and-stringer fashion,
reinforced with wires, and covered
with a stretched fabric. The J 1 was
a semi-monocoque design, using steel
ribs and sheeting that formed both
the stringers and the skin. At the
time aluminium was still fairly
expensive and the desirable, newest
light duralumin alloy could not be
worked in sheet form without
damaging flaking occurring, so the J
1 was made of sheet electrical
steel. It was quite heavy as a
result, which translated into poor
climb and maneuverability, yet its
clean monoplane layout, which even
featured a ventral "belly" radiator
installation for its Mercedes D.II
inline-six cylinder engine, had very
low drag, and the J1 was one of the
fastest planes of its day, reaching
speeds of 170 km/h, with only a 120
hp engine for power.
Development continued during the
course of World War I, including a
growing (but troublesome)
partnership with Fokker, as the
Junkers-Fokker Aktiengesellschaft,
or "Junkers-Fokker Werke",
abbreviated "Jfa" by the German
government of the time and founded
on October 20, 1917. Several Junkers
designs were licensed to Fokker
during this period. The visual
similarity of Junkers and Fokker
aircraft during the next decade,
especially after Reinhold Platz
adapted some of the Junkers design
concepts, but mostly crafted in wood
for the Fokker designs' wing
structures instead of the all-metal
Junkers construction techniques, is
attributable to this early
affiliation. The Great War ended
with German Navy trials of model J11
which was an all metal floatplane
prototype.
The Nazi
party came to power in Germany in
1933, and all German aviation
development was shifted away from
long-range civil aircraft types.
Hugo Junkers himself was forced to
transfer all his patents to the
Nazis, who doubted that Junkers
would comply with their plans.
Shortly after, his holdings were
expropriated and he was placed under
house arrest. The company that had
pioneered commercial aviation
development for at least a decade
was relegated to relatively small
one- and two-engined military design
competitions issued by the
Reichsluftfahrtministerium
(RLM) the "Reich Aviation Ministry".
Two exceptions to this were the
legendary
Ju 52
and the
Ju 90.
Ju 52
development had started in 1928 as a
single-engined commercial transport
and evolved, initially to a
two-engined, later into the classic
"trimotor" design for which the
Tante Ju
became world famous. The
Ju 52 was a
bona fide commercial success, with
over 400 airplanes delivered to
various airlines around the world
prior to the outbreak of World War
II, including the countries of:
Finland, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico,
South Africa, Denmark, Norway,
Italy, UK, Belgium, Hungary,
Estonia, Greece, Spain, and of
course, Germany. As a consequence of
its rugged design, Spain and France
resumed
Ju 52 production after
cessation of the Second World War.
With
the introduction of the Junkers
Ju
86 bomber of 1934, Junkers abandoned
the corrugated sheeting of his
earlier designs. The basic layout
was used in the four-engine Junkers
Ju 89 heavy
bomber, but this program ended with
the death of Walther Wever, and his
Ural bomber program along with him.
Junkers then adapted the
Ju 89 to
passenger use, introducing the
Junkers
Ju 90, one of the first
planes specifically designed for
scheduled trans-Atlantic flights to
the US. Developed in 1937, the
aircraft suffered multiple setbacks
with crashes of prototypes in 1937
and 1938. Further refinements
enabled certification in 1939 and
spurred South African Airways to
make an initial order for two
aircraft fitted with US-built Pratt
& Whitney engines. Just as the
aircraft was being readied for its
first commercial flights, World War
II began. With the outbreak of
hostilities, all models were
requisitioned by the Luftwaffe for
military air-transport roles, and
later, long-range maritime patrol.
The Junkers
company survived the Second World
War and was reconstituted as Junkers
GmbH and eventually merged into the
MBB consortium (via joint venture
Flugzeug-Union-Sued between Heinkel
and Messerschmitt in 1958).
Messerschmitt ended the joint
venture in 1965 by acquiring control
of JFM AG and absorbed within
Messerschmitt in 1967. Within
West Germany, Junkers GmbH was
engaged in research on the future of
aerospace transportation during the
fifties and early-1960s. During this
period, Junkers employed the famous
Austrian engineer and space travel
theorist, Eugen Sänger, who in 1961
completed work for the design of an
advanced orbital spacecraft at
Junkers. Junkers GmbH was absorbed
within MBB and the Junkers name
disappeared in 1969.
Source:
Wikipedia
|