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In the 1930s, Germany began to secretly rebuild its military forces, which had been banned after the end of World War I.  Bolstered by the success of ground attack aircraft in that conflict, a dive bomber development program was initiated in 1933. WWI ace Ernst Udet had seen US Navy demonstrations of precision dive bombing and he became an outspoken supporter of this new aerial tactic. Junkers Flugzeugwerke began design work that would ultimately lead to the JU-87 Stuka. At the time, the Stuka featured many cutting edge technologies. It was an unbraced monoplane with enclosed cockpit, completely cowled engine and dive brakes. It also carried vestiges of the previous generations, namely the fixed and spatted landing gear, which hampered performance and would lead to severe losses in later years. The Stuka was far from beautiful, but its shape was distinctive, making it one of the most easily recognizable aircraft of all time. The dive bombing program was controversial and was nearly cancelled, but design work continued, and on September 17, 1935, the prototype Stuka completed its maiden flight. Powered by a British Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine, the twin tailed V1 crashed in a test dive, killing the crew. On the second prototype, airbrakes, a German Junkers Jumo 210 engine, and a single tail were fitted and flight testing resumed. Many refinements were incorporated as testing progressed. Most impressive of these was an automatic dive bombing system that released the bomb and pulled the aircraft out of its dive at a preset altitude, as the high G-forces involved sometimes led to pilots blacking out and not pulling out in time. The fuselage mounted main bomb was mounted on a crutch that swung down to clear the bomb of the airplane, so that it would not hit the Stuka upon release.

In early 1937 the Ju-87A entered production.  It was soon to see its first action in the Spanish Civil War, where it proved to be a terrifying psychological as well as military weapon. The Ju-87B followed shortly after wards, and was fitted with the much more powerful fuel-injected Jumo 211 engine. The cowling, tail, and landing gear fairings were refined, resulting in load carrying and performance improvements. A pair of sirens could be fitted to the gear legs, which produced a frightening wail when the Stuka dived on its target. In the early days of World War II, the Stuka was used to great effect, and it acquired a reputation as an unstoppable war machine. With the beginning of the Battle of Britain, this was to change. By 1940, the Ju-87’s performance was sadly lacking, and the Stuka squadrons were decimated in their first encounters with British Hurricanes and Spitfires. It became apparent that the Stukas would require heavy fighter support and even then would be vulnerable due to its slow speed. They Ju-87s were withdrawn from combat use over England, but soon found new life in missions over the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Russia. With the additions of two 300 liter drop tanks, the R model Stuka had sufficient range to be useful in the anti-shipping role.

The Ju-87B had a wingspan of just over 45 feet 3 inches and a length of 36 feet 3 inches. Its liquid cooled 1200 hp Jumo 211 gave it a top speed of 240 mph, compared to 355 mph for the Spitfire Mk I. The Stuka had a crew of two; one pilot and a radio operator/gunner. It was capable of carrying up to 2,205 lbs of bombs, and had two fixed 7.92 Mg 17 machine guns in the wings and a rearward firing 7.92mm Mg 15 machine gun in a ball mount in the rear cockpit. The maximum range was about 370 miles, but could be extended to 780 miles with the fitting of two long range drop tanks. The name Stuka is a shortened version of Sturzkampfflugzeug, which literally translates to “dive bomber airplane”. Although this name applied to any dive bomber, it became synonymous with the Ju-87. The image of the Stuka screaming earthward in a near vertical dive with bombs falling away has become an iconic image of WWII. The Stuka, despite many improvements and modifications, remained hopelessly obsolete and outclassed. Yet the Ju-87 remained highly effective and served with distinction until the final days of WWII. It is one of the true classic combat aircraft in aviation history.