Junkers Ju 252

Ju 252

Role	Transport
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Junkers
First flight	1 August 1942
Introduction	January 1943
Primary user	Luftwaffe
Number built	15
Variants	Junkers Ju 352

The Junkers Ju 252 was a cargo aircraft that made its first flight in late October 1941. The aircraft was planned as a replacement for the Junkers Ju 52/3m in commercial airline service, but only a small number were built as cargo aircraft for the Luftwaffe.

Design and development

The original Ju 252 came about after talks between Junkers and Deutsche Lufthansa in December 1938. Lufthansa requested a new design that would replace the Ju 52, but offer much greater loads, seating, range and performance. Junkers responded with the EF.77 design with a pressurized fuselage with seating for up to 35, making it one of the larger airliners in the world at that time. It was powered by three Junkers Jumo 211F engines, in nacelles almost identical in appearance, each complete with annular radiator and possibly as Kraftei unitized "power-egg" modular engine installations, to those on Jumo 211-powered versions of the Junkers Ju 88, replacing the BMW 132 of the Ju 52, which dramatically improved performance. Compared to the Ju 52, the Ju 252 was twice as heavy (13,100 kg vs. 5,600), was over 100 km/h faster (440 km/h vs. 305), and had dramatically improved range (3980 km vs. 1300) when fully loaded. Design was headed by Konrad Eicholtz.^[1]

By the time the prototype was ready to fly in October 1941, the war was already in progress and the Luftwaffe took over development. Like earlier tail-dragger designs, the Ju 252 would normally be difficult to load when parked, owing to the sloping floor. Junkers had already pioneered - with the earlier Junkers Ju 90's fifth and sixth prototype airframes during 1939 - a unique solution to this problem, the Trapoklappe, a hydraulically powered ventral rear loading ramp that possessed powerful enough operating mechanisms to lift the plane off its tailwheel, leveling the floor and allowing oversized cargo to be loaded directly forward into the fuselage. Even as cargo aircraft of all nations since World War II have used nosewheel landing gear undercarriage designs, the Trapoklappe concept of a rear loading ramp, that forms the opening rear ventral panel of the fuselage of a cargo aircraft, is a ubiquitous feature of most military airlift cargo aircraft to the present day.

Although the Ju 252 was a vast improvement over the Junkers Ju 52/3m, the situation at that time did not permit any disruption of the existing production lines, and the Reich Air Ministry (RLM) was of the opinion that any replacement for the Junkers Ju 52/3m must make minimum demands on supplies of strategic materials and use power plants not required by combat aircraft. Junkers was then instructed to investigate the possibility of redesigning the Ju 252 in order that a considerable portion of wood could be included in its structure, simultaneously replacing the Junkers Jumo 211F engine with the BMW Bramo 323R engine of which surplus stocks existed. The result was the Junkers Ju 352. Production of the Ju 252 was restricted to already completed prototypes plus those for which major assemblies had already been semi-completed, thus only fifteen transports of this type were completed before production was switched to the Junkers Ju 352.

Specifications (Ju 252A)

Data from Warplanes of the Third Reich^[2]

General characteristics

Crew: 3-4
Length: 25.11 m (82 ft 4¼ in)
Wingspan: 34.10 m (111 ft 10⅛ in)
Height: 5.75 m (18 ft 10⅓ in)
Wing area: 122.6 m² (1,320 ft²)
Empty weight: 13,127 kg (28,880 lb)
Loaded weight: 22,257 kg (49,560)
Max. takeoff weight: 24,050 kg (52,911 lb) (overload)
Powerplant: 3 × Junkers Jumo 211F liquid-cooled inverted V12 engines, 1,007 kW (1,350 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 438 km/h (237 knots, 272 mph) at 5,800 m (19,030 ft)
Cruise speed: 335 km/h (181 knots, 208 mph) (econ cruise)
Range: 3,981 km (2,150 nmi, 2,473 mi) with maximum payload, 6,600 km (3,565 nmi, 4,100 mi) with 2,000 kg (4,400 lb ) payload
Service ceiling: 6,300 m (20,670 ft)
Rate of climb: 12.5 m/s (748 ft/min)

Armament

Guns:
- 1 x 13 mm MG 131 machine gun in dorsal turret
- 2 x 7.92 mm MG 15 machine guns in side windows

References

↑ Zoeller, Horst. "Junkers – Who is Who? E". The Hugo Junkers Homepage. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009. Retrieved 2016-06-22. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
↑ Green 1972, p. 493.

Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York:Doubleday, 1972. ISBN 0-385-05782-2.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Junkers.

Junkers aircraft

Company	J 1 J 2 J 3 J 4 J 5 J 6 J 7 J 8 J 9 J 10 J 11 J 12 F 13 J 15 K 16 K 17 J 18 T 19 A 20 H 21 / J 21 / T 21 J 22 T 23 G 23 F 24 / G 24 A 25 T 26 T 27 J 28 T 29 K 30 G 31 A 32 W 33 W 34 A 35 S 36 K 37 G 38 K 39 K 47 A 48 A 50 K 51 K 53

Idflieg	CL.I D.I E.I J.I

RLM	Ju 46 Ju 49 Ju 52 Ju 60 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ju 160 Ju 187 Ju 188 Ju 248 Ju 252 Ju 268 Ju 287 Ju 288 Ju 290 Ju 322 Ju 352 Ju 388 Ju 390 Ju 488 Ju 635

"EF" (experimental)	EF 61 EF 126 EF 127 EF 128 EF 131 EF 132 EF 140 EF 150

Reich Air Ministry aircraft designations

1 to 100	B 9 Gö 9 Do 10 Do 11 Wn 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Wn 15 Do 16 Wn 16 Do 17 Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Kl 25 Do 26 Kl 26 M 27 Do 29 Kl 31 Kl 32 W 33 L 33 W 34 Kl 35 Kl 36 HD 37 HD 38 G 38 DFS 39 BV 40 DFS 40 A 40 Fw 42 He 42 Fw 43 HD 43 Fw 44 He 45 He 46 Ju 46 Fw 47 Ju 47 K 47 A 48 He 49 Ju 49 He 50 A 50 He 51 K 51 Ju 52 K 53 NR 54 Fw 55 NR 55 Fw 56 Fw 57 Fw 58 He 58 He 59 He 60 Ju 60 Fw 61 He 61 Fw 62 He 62 He 63 Ar 64 He 64 Ar 65 He 65 Ar 66 He 66 Ar 67 Ar 68 Ar 69 He 70 He 71 He 72 He 74 Ar 76 Ar 77 Ar 79 Ar 80 Ar 81 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ar 95 Ar 96 Fi 97 Fi 98 Fi 99 He 100

101 to 200	Al 101 Al 102 Al 103 Fi 103 Fh 104 Kl 105 Kl 106 Kl 107 Bf 108 Bf 109 Bf 110 He 111 He 112 He 113 He 114 He 115 He 116 Hs 117 He 118 He 119 He 120 Hs 121 Hs 122 Hs 123 Hs 124 Hs 125 Hs 126 Hs 127 Hs 128 Hs 129 Hs 130 Bü 131 Hs 132 Bü 133 Bü 134 Ha 135 Ha 136 Hü 136 Ha 137 BV 138 Ha 139 Ha 140 BV 141 BV 142 BV 143 BV 144 Go 145 Go 146 Go 147 Ju 147 Go 149 Go 150 Kl 151 Ta 152 Kl 152 Ta 153 Ta 154 BV 155 Fi 156 Fi 157 Fi 158 Fw 159 Ju 160 Bf 161 He 162 Bf 162 Bf 163 Me 163 Me 164 Fi 166 FK 166 Fi 167 Fi 168 He 170 He 172 He 176 He 177 He 178 Bü 180 Bü 181 Bü 182 Ta 183 Fl 184 Fl 185 Fw 186 Ju 186 Fw 187 Ju 187 Ju 188 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Ao 192 DFS 193 DFS 194 Ar 195 Ar 196 Ar 197 Ar 198 Ar 199 Fw 200

201 to 300	Si 201 Si 202 DFS 203 Si 204 Fw 206 Me 208 Me 209 Me 209 (1943) Me 210 Hü 211 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217 Hs 217 He 219 He 220 BV 222 Fa 223 Fa 224 Ao 225 Fa 225 BV 226 Ho 226 FGP 227 DFS 228 Ho 229 DFS 230 Ar 231 Ar 232 Ar 233 Ar 234 Do 235 BV 237 BV 238 Fw 238 Ar 239 Ar 240 Go 241 Go 242 Go 244 BV 246 Ju 248 BV 250 Fw 250 Ho 250 Ho 251 Ho 252 Ju 252 Fi 253 Ho 253 Ta 254 Ho 254 Fi 256 Sk 257 Fw 261 Me 261 Me 262 Me 263 Me 264 Fl 265 Me 265 Fa 266 Ho 267 Ju 268 Fa 269 He 270 We 271 Fw 272 He 274 He 275 He 277 He 278 He 280 Fl 282 Fa 283 Ta 283 Fa 284 Fl 285 Ju 286 Ju 287 Ju 288 Ju 290 Me 290 As 292 Hs 293 Hs 294 Hs 295 Ar 296 Hs 296 Hs 297 Hs 298 Fw 300

301-	Me 309 Me 310 Do 317 Do 318 He 319 Me 321 Ju 322 Me 323 Me 328 Me 329 Fa 330 DFS 331 DFS 332 Fi 333 Me 334 Do 335 Fa 336 Fl 339 E.340 WNF 342 He 343 Rk 344 So 344 Go 345 DFS 346 Rk 347 Ba 349 Ju 352 Me 362 Me 364 Ju 388 Ju 390 Fw 391 Ar 396 Ta 400 Me 409 Me 410 Do 417 He 419 ZMe 423 Ar 430 Ka 430 Ar 432 Do 435 Ar 440 Ju 452 Me 462 Ju 488 Fw 491 Me 509 Me 510 He 519 ZSO 523 Ar 532 Do 535 E.555 Me 609 Ar 632 Do 635

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Junkers Ju 252

Design and development

Specifications (Ju 252A)

See also

References

External links