The Junkers Ju-87 Stuka topic.

World War II German Military
#61

…Poor vessel was so badly damaged that she just managed to stay afloat. On the 27th of September 1941 the battleship was punched again and once again knocked by bombing, and as a result half of her main armament was completely destroyed. She was repaired, but magnitude of those damages has prolonged her restoration until November 1942. The repairs did not include all her main armament and it was not until 1944 that she had a full main armament operational.

Yes I know – those ships were motionless. But JU 87 Stuka was capable to prove that even a moving target like a ship at sea is not completely safe. I’m sure you remember those immortal words of late Secretary of the US Navy Josephus Daniels: “I’m so confident that neither Army nor Navy aviators can hit the Iowa when she is under way that I would be perfectly willing to be on board her when they bomb her!”

Well, what a pity that he was not able to see this snapshot:

Aerial attack of a Ju 87 Stuka bombers on HMS Gloucester, May 22, 1941

Two scored direct hits and 7 close hits were enough for the ship’s hull plates to rip open from the force of the explosion, and to sink this unfortunate British cruiser.

And here you have another illustration of Ju 87 accuracy. No further comment is needed.

Precise devastation of an important railway connection carried out by Ju 87 Stuka. Vicinity of Harkov, 1941

As we all know, bridge-bombing is a highly demanding operative assignment. Whenever air superiority was assured Ju 87 was completely capable to accurately and economically fulfill these tasks.

Ju 87 attack on Soviet railroad bridge, Ukraine, July 1941

Soviet railway stations were high-priority targets in the beginning of the Soviet campaign. Here is another snapshots concerning this issue. Do you rememeber that previously presented low-level attack ona a Soviet train? Well, attack was initially cunducted by high-speed diving, and after elimination of a Soviet AAA continued with a combination of in-dive and low-level attacks.

Initial Ju 87 diving attack on a Soviet railway station, Pervomaysk, August 1941

To be continued…

#62

Part III - sorry gentlemen, but it is the only solution…

Final results of previously presented attacks on Soviet railway composition in vicinity of Pervomaysk, august 1941

Perhaps the most appalling presentations of a Ju 87 destruction capability are the following snapshots. Their distinctiveness is contained in fact that they are evenly covering one single action of the Ju 87 bombers, but from completely different angles.

Aerial massacre of Soviet troops conducted by JU 87 Stuka bombers, vicinity of Smolensk, August 4 1941. Picture taken by colonel Hans Ruef, Stabial LFL 2

Destroyed Soviet vehicles, vicinity of Smolensk, August 10, 1941. Picture taken by unknown German soldier.

The plane had no facility to gauge whether or not the pilot had blacked out.

Absolutely correct and truly matter-oriented observation, my dear Mr. 1000dstare. However, this problem was not principally irresolvable, at least not in theory. Some kind of an onboard “unconscious man” surveillance system actually was available back there in late thirties, and – believe it or not - those solutions actually were loanable from railcar and tram industry.

If I remembered that well, numerous countries actually have had legally stipulated that if a tram or a railcar has being driven by a single conductor, it was obliged to be equipped with a special device of a approved type, capable of stopping the vehicle if the conductor was incapacitated. System was designed in a manner that the special control button was to be pressed by driver at every 15 seconds or to be released at every 40 seconds, thus preventing activation of the emergency braking. Of course, in this specific case such a device could be developed in a manner that within occurrence of high G-force caused absence of retracting human-generated signal, our apparatus automatically turns on auto-pilot, with subsequent activation of electro-mechanically programmed and performed compass-guided reciprocal base airdrome heading course. Unsurprisingly, successful landing is still a problem for our potentially unconscious pilot, but survival chances of the crew in this case are surely enhanced.

As always – all the best!

#63

Librarian

They were called dead man switches/handles mate, and were fitted to many devices as far back as the 1800’s. Although in some cases they were more to indicate that the operator was happy for the machine to operate. (ie modern steal presses.)

They were universally fitted to street cars in America in December 1918, after a spectacular crash on the Brooklyn Transit system.

In the Ju-87, it could have been possible to fit such a device. But that would have added to the pilots workload, at the decisive moment. Obviously there were no medical methods available such as BP or Heart rate measuring.

The easiest way would have been to put a grip switch on the yoke, gripped by the palm. Put then the pilot would have had to have gripped it the whole time he was flying (gripping or pushing every so often wouldn’t have been practical).

A Mercury switch could have been fitted to activate the switch in a dive, but then this could affect the plane during dog fighting also. A system could have been rigged so that when the plane was rigged for a dive, or a button was pushed to indicate the commencement of a dive, but this system would have been too complex or plainly ignored by young pilots disdainful of the “nanny system”.

A case in point would be the RAF display team (prior to their naming the Red Arrows). It was discovered that their planes (forget which type) during hte 1950/60s were much more agile if a certain fuse was removed. Thus they removed the fuses. When told to fit this saftey fuse again, they did so… but on the grounds they hadn’t been told to fit a WORKING fuse, they refitted BLOWN fuses.

WRT the grip switch, it is also important to note, that in such diving operations, the plane could be unrecoverable by the time such a switch was realeased. It takes some time for a hand to realease when unconcisious and when you factor in desire to hit a target/addrenalin in the muscles.

Basically such a device would be impractical and ineffective. It took just under 30 seconds for the plane to descend from 15,000 ft (patrol/lurking height) to 1,500 ft (minimum bomb realease point) at speeds reaching 300 mph.

There are claims of such devices, but I can’t see how they could work. What is known is that the plane was under, almost, auto pilot. The plane self-leveled on bomb realease.

#64

Stuka tank killers in action in 1945, the english comentator made some good points in the last seconds of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QBCIAmo3FQ

#65

Some examples of mid and late war usage of the bomber variant of the Sturzkampflugzeug.

Stukas over Greece 1943.

Wochenschau-Archiv

Kuban bridgehead Ukraine 1943.

Wochenschau-Archiv

Eastern Front 1944.

Wochenschau-Archiv

Combat in Hungary 1945.

Wochenschau-Archiv

#66

Graphic design bombards us daily in a multitude of guises, honorable ladies and gentlemen, ranging in scale from advertising hoaring to record sleeve. We are nowadays surrounded by the largely ephemeral creations of the graphic artists whose work – two dimensional and usually prepared for print – is geared principally to the processes of commerce, with sales figures as the guiding light.

However, the commercial nature of the advertising work, serving to heighten the competitiveness of the given field, was observable even during the WW 2, and the basis of so much graphic design talents has been – as always – the need to catch the eye of the citizen, to make a vivid impression and convey desired information succinctly by force of graphic impact.

And believe it or not, honorable ladies and gentlemen, our dearly beloved, good old Junkers Ju 87 Stuka actually was an invigorating challenge for those governmentally supported efforts as well.

Unsere Stukas! (Ju 87 poster, 1940)

Die Junkers-Flugzeugwerke AG, Dessau - Arbeitsgesellschaft für Qualität (Ju 87 ad, 1941)

#67

That stuka in the dive actually i read dove to steeply and couldn’t pull out and crashed

#68

And believe it or not, honorable ladies and gentlemen, our dearly beloved, good old Junkers Ju 87 Stuka actually was an invigorating challenge for those governmentally supported efforts as well.

There was even a movie of the Ju-87 called ( unsunprisingly)Stukas !..released in 1941.

#69

The Ju 87 was steady and easy to control in a dive, it made the job easier for the pilot. There was no attempt to make it more manouvrable, but poured on more armour and gave the rear gunner the MG81Z.

I think they developed a defensive tactic consisting of flying very low and when a fighter was closing in, pulling up to give the rear gunner a better shot and then get back to treetop level again. (But I do NOT remember the source of this information)

The IL-2 formations went into Lufberry circles (I think that´s the name, sorry again, the source is long gone, but it means flying in a circle one aircraft after the other), for mutual protection if attacked by fighters. I don´t know if this was attempted by Ju 87 pilots, but with the weaker forward armament of the 87 it probably had less appeal?

#70

Rare modification in a D-3, note the side mounted MG 81J in the rear gunner emplacement, one in port and other starboard :shock:

The aircraft belongs to pilot Uffz. Wolfinger (right) and Lt. Neumüller Bordfunker

#71

What a great collection of photos. The Stuka has always been one of my very favorite aircraft! :slight_smile:

#72

Well, if you feel some kind of affection for our good old Stuka, my dear Mr. Panther F, I think that some additional photos still are available:

Ju 87 D-3, Royal Hungarian Air Force - 1944

Please note that Ju 87’s spats were removed by Hungarian technicians, due to their known tendency to fill up with mud whenever the Stuka was obliged to use drenched, dirty airstrips to operate from. Their removal, however, didn’t produce a significant deterioration of the operational performance.

#73

The spats were the only ugly part of the Stuka anyway…

#74

nah… thaeyere their coolsest… :mrgreen:

#75


My favourite picture from the main site,beautiful planes

#76

Hi,
got you guys a colored drawing of a Ju 87 B-2 cockpit. I’d like to post more images but it just doesn’t work… why ever.

#77

Found a couple of interesting and rare photos to this issue in one of my books, lookie here:


Prague-Ruzyn 1945: Crash landing due to enemy fire of a JU87 D-7 of a Night-Stuka unit (did not know something like this existed until now…)


JU87 C meant for use on german aircraft carriers which never was finished


STRANGE BIRD!!! JU87 with top container which was used to drop own agents behind enemy lines or to transport wounded away from the front.

#78

[QUOTE=flamethrowerguy;128597]Found a couple of interesting and rare photos to this issue in one of my books, lookie here:


Prague-Ruzyn 1945: Crash landing due to enemy fire of a JU87 D-7 of a Night-Stuka unit (did not know something like this existed until now…)

Nice picture!

#79

flamethowerguy:the first picture is best

#80

The Ju-87 could attack with deadly accuracy. Swarming down on Poland, Norway, France, and the Low Countries, the ‘Stuka’ left a trail of devastation and struck terror in the hearts of seasoned troops. It was a good ground-attack aircraft but it was easy enemy fighter prey. It’s success relied on having air cover.