Key facts
- Type
- Transport aircraft, medium bomber , airliner
- Manufacturer
- Junkers
- Designer
- Ernst Zindel
- Status
- In limited use
- Primary users
- Luftwaffe Luft Hansa , Spanish Air Force , French Air Force
- Number built
- 4,845
- Manufactured
- 1931–1945 (Germany), 1945–1947 (France), 1945–1952 (Spain)
- First flight
- 13 October 1930 (Ju 52/1m); 7 March 1932 (Ju 52/3m)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- bomber
- Has part
- Junkers Ju 52/3m
- Country
- Germany
- Operator
- Spanish Air and Space Force
- Country of origin
- German Reich
- Developer
- Ernst Zindel
- Manufacturer
- Junkers
- Image
- 100820 Speyer Museum (17).jpg
- Height
- 4.50
- Length
- 18.90
- Has use
- medium bomber
Show 11 more facts
- service entry
- 1932-00-00
- total produced
- 4845
- Commons category
- Junkers Ju 52
- Commons gallery
- Junkers Ju 52
- first flight
- 1932-03-07
- wingspan
- 29.25
- maximum operating altitude
- 5490
- native label
- Junkers Ju 52/3m
- subject has role
- medium bomber
- vehicle range
- 840
- wing area
- 110.5
Sources (8)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Junkers Ju 52, best known in its Ju 52/3m form (nicknamed Tante Ju ("Aunt Junkers") and Iron Annie) is a transport aircraft that was designed and manufactured by German aviation company Junkers. First introduced in 1930 as a civilian airliner, it was adapted into a military transport aircraft by Nazi Germany.
Development of the Ju 52 commenced in the late 1920s, headed by German aeronautical engineer Ernst Zindel. The aircraft's design incorporated a corrugated duralumin metal skin as a strengthening measure, which was a material design pioneered by Junkers and used on many of their aircraft, including the popular Junkers F 13 1920s, the record-setting Junkers W 33, and Junkers W34. The corrugation was both a strength and a weakness; it provided increased structural strength but also increased aerodynamic drag. But more importantly it allowed the practical use of aluminum before newer alloys were developed.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Junkers Ju 52” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.