The Junkers JU-87 Stuka again fell victim to more advanced, manoeuvrable and faster fighter planes. It was a repeat of the Battle of Britain. By 1943 the Russian Airforce had been re-equipped with advanced fighters like the Stormaviks British Hawker hurricanes sent out in Arctic convoys. For a short period of time in these favourable air supremacy situation, the Stuka proved a very successful tank buster on the Russian Eastern Front. At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on Russia the Luftwaffe outclassed the Red Airforce. A limited numbers of Stukas served in North Africa and the Italian campaign. New variants were produced and the Ju87 Stuka saw service in Europe and the Mediterranean. The losses could not be maintained so the German high command with drew them from campaigns in Western Europe for the rest of the war. The slow top speed of the aircraft and the poor rate of climb that was to be the downfall of the Ju87. They could not compete against the superior RAF fighters like the Hurricane and Spitfire. The Junkers Ju87 Stuka meet their match over the English Channel during the Battle of Britain. The Ju87 Stukas made an impact on the Radar bases but they were soon rebuilt. During the initial period of the Battle of the Britain German tactic were to knock out the British Radar sites on the south coast and then bomb the RAF air fields. The Ju87 went on to sink more ships than any other aircraft in history. These French fighters made short work of the lumbering and unmanoeuvrable Stukas.Īfter the fall of France it was at used to attack shipping in the Channel. they had a 100 mph speed advantage and were armed with 20-mm cannon. One flight (staffel) was shoot down by five French fighters on. But over France, there were a number of disasters. They attacked Allied divisions behind the front catching French heavy tanks still on their railway cars. The Ju87 Stukas were like flying artillery, but with far greater range and flexibility. The Luftwaffe achieved air superiority during the invasion of Belgium, France and There were over 300 Stukas in service by the invasion of Poland. With little aerial opposition it was able to attack targets with great accuracy. In an air superiority situations that existed in the campaigns in Spain (1936 to 1939), Poland and the Low Countries, Junkers Ju87 Stuka were devastating. They were designed to fly directly overhead their target, then dive bombing at an angle of almost 90 degrees. It had a range of only 199 miles (320 kms). It had a slow maximum speed of 195 mph (314 kph) with a cruising speed of 118 mph (190 kph). It could also carry four 50kg bombs under the wings. The Junkers Ju87 Stuka normally carried one 250 kg bomb, increased later to a 500 kg bomb, under the fuselage. These inverted gull wings limited the speed of the aircraft to about 255 mph (410 km/h) in normal flight. Straight wings would have been ripped off by the amount of stress put on them. The Junkers JU87 Stuka Dive Bomber had distinctive gull-wings to allow it to dive directly onto its target at a steep angle to obtain high hit rates. The famous scream of its 'Trumpets of Jericho' sirens that activated as it dived helped to spread terror amongst both soldiers and civilians. The Junkers Ju87 known as the dive bomber ‘Sturzkampfbomber’ to the Germans and better known to the English as the ‘Stuka’ dive-bomber was responsible for the sinking of many ships and the destruction of thousands of tanks during the second world war. He also committed several acts of great bravery, including landings in enemy territory and in the battlefield to rescue downed comrades by taking them back in the small cockpit of the Stuka. He had flown 2,530 operational flights and had destroyed over 500 Russian tanks and a Russian battleship. The WW2 German Lufftwaffe Junkers JU87 Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the only pilot in WW2 ever to be awarded the German Knights Cross to the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. The necessary skills would be to build and fly a Stuka to make history come back A next great project for someone with the money, time and New ME262s haveīeen built and are flying. I really wish to see a JU87 Stuka flying again at an airshow. German Luftwaffe Junkers JU87 Stuka Dive Bomber
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