Junkers was a German aircraft and engine manufacturing enterprise associated with Hugo Junkers and the industrial city of Dessau. It helped establish all-metal aircraft construction and became a major supplier of commercial transports before its businesses were taken over by the Nazi state and expanded for military production.[1][2]
Metal aircraft and commercial transport
The Junkers J 1 of 1915 demonstrated metal aircraft construction at a time when wood and fabric predominated. The F 13, which first flew in June 1919, applied all-metal construction to a purpose-designed passenger aeroplane. Its enclosed cabin carried four passengers, and aircraft equipped with floats or skis served routes beyond conventional airfields. The later Ju 52 became a familiar passenger and cargo transport during the 1930s. Its corrugated metal covering reflected the construction approach associated with earlier Junkers designs, although its airline operation also formed part of preparations for military expansion.[1][2]
Corporate control and engine manufacture
Financial difficulties during the early 1930s led Hugo Junkers to sell the gas-appliance business to Bosch in 1932. In 1933 he was compelled to transfer patents and surrender a controlling shareholding without compensation, and was excluded from his factories. Following his death in 1935, the remaining shares also passed out of family ownership. Junkers Motorenbau and Junkers Flugzeugwerk merged on 5 July 1936 as Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke. The wartime company consequently operated under a fundamentally different ownership and political framework from the founder's independent enterprise.[1]
Military aircraft
The Ju 88 illustrates the breadth of the company's later combat-aircraft work. Originally designed as a medium bomber, it was adapted for reconnaissance, anti-shipping operations, intrusion and night fighting. Such variants used the same basic aircraft family to meet substantially different requirements. The RAF Museum's preserved Ju 88 R-1 is a radar-equipped night fighter flown to Scotland by a defecting crew in 1943; examination of its equipment provided intelligence about German airborne interception systems.[3]