Germany: Luftwaffe Warplanes, 1939-1945: Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber, coded S7+EP, captured in North Africa, 1943.  (USAAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka factory.  (Luftwaffe Photo)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, with BK-3.7 cannon pods.  (Luftwaffe Photo)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, with BK-3.7 cannon pods.  (Luftwaffe Photo)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, (Wk. Nr. 494083) painted as W8+A, on display in the RAF Museum, Cosford in 1970.  This aircraft was captured at Eggebek in Schleswig-Hostein, Germany in May 1945.  No Air Ministry number was allocated.   (RuthAS Photo)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, (Wk. Nr. 494083) on display in the RAF Museum, Cosford, painted as +JK.  This aircraft was captured at Eggebek in Schleswig-Hostein, Germany in May 1945.  No Air Ministry number was allocated.  (Kogo Photos)

The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, dive-bomber displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum was captured by British troops in Germany in 1945  It is thought to have been built in 1943–1944 as a D-5 before being rebuilt as a G-2 variant, possibly by fitting G-2 outer wings to a D-5 airframe.  After the war, it was one of 12 captured German aircraft selected by the British for museum preservation.  In 1967, permission was given to use the aircraft in the film Battle of Britain and it was repainted and modified to resemble a 1940 variant of the Ju 87.  The engine was found to be in excellent condition and there was little difficulty in starting it, but returning the aircraft to airworthiness was considered too costly for the filmmakers, and ultimately, models were used in the film to represent Stukas.  In 1998, the film modifications were removed, and the aircraft returned to the original G-2 configuration.  This aircraft has also been reported as Junkers Ju 87B, (Wk. Nr. 5763), RAF HK827.  Junkers Ju 87B-1, (Wk. Nr. 087/5600), S2+LM from II./StG77 was reported as being on the scrap area at Farnborough in Dec 1946.

Captured Junkers Ju 87G with flame concealing exhaust, 3.7mm cannon, Salzburg, Austria, 1945.  (USAAF Photo)

(ox6adb015 Photo)

Junkers Ju 87R2/Trop Stuka, dive-bomber, (Wk. Nr. 5954), on display in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Illinois.  This aircraft was abandoned in North Africa and found by British forces in 1941.  The Ju 87 was donated by the British government and sent to Canada and then the USA during the war.  It was fully restored in 1974 by the EAA of Wisconsin.

Junkers Ju 87D-5 (Wk. Nr. 131587), coded Q9+CH, restoration project with the Hudson, Massachusetts-based American Heritage Museum. Flying with Luftflotte 5, 1 Staffel, Schlachtgeschwader 5, this Stuka ran short of fuel and landed on a frozen lake near Kemjarvi, Finalnd on 4 April 1944. The aircrew detonated a grenade in the cockpit to disable the aircraft, which later sank through the ice. It was recovered in 2021.

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