Junkers Ju-87 is a dive bomber.

Story. Photo. Video.

Ju-87 - German dive bomber from World War II. He became one of the symbols of the German war machine and success of German troops in 1939-1942 years, partly because of his recognizable and unique appearance, thanks in part to the high combat effectiveness. Dive Bomber sounds like «Sturzkampfflugzeug» German as a shortened version of the word in the German troops caught the word «Stukas», well, in the Soviet - just a "thing". Why "Pieces" became a symbol of the German "blitzkrieg"?

Junkers Ju-87 photo

Ju-87 - dive bomber. 2

Development of the aircraft began in 1934 year, as part of the overall development of the German war machine and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) in particular. At that time, competitors "pieces" were machines from Arado, Heinkel and Blohm & Voss, but it was the Junkers machine that won the competition for the military order. The new aircraft was supposed to perform tasks of direct support of ground forces. By the way, it was for this purpose that a few years later the development of IL-2However, despite the similar tasks, these two aircraft have different methods for solving them.

As mentioned above, Ju-87 a dive bomber, ie He hits his target of a dive, even more accurately from the steep dive (from 60 90 degrees relative to the horizon), and this is subject to the entire structure of the aircraft, because of that he has become so recognizable. Why out of a dive? Such a method provides the highest precision bombing, which has become sufficient to defeat the purposes of the single, when bombarded with horizontal flight it was unattainable at that time.

Junkers Ju-87 photo

Ju-87 - dive bomber. 23

This type of attack has its advantages and disadvantages in comparison with the attack in level flight at a minimum height, or "gentle" dive (up to 45 degrees relative to the horizon). Namely, higher accuracy, less time spent by antiaircraft fire. However, this form of attack repeated attacks can not be made from a steep dive, due to lack of the required height, respectively, often after the first reset "pieces" just went home, leaving their troops on the ground.

Junkers Ju-87 scheme

Flying in steep dive and subsequent successful way out of it before the collision with the ground puts special demands on the design of the aircraft. First of all, you need a strong aerodynamic drag, because the force of gravity instantly disperse the aircraft weight in 5 tons to critical values. For this reason the "thing" has a rather nasty aerodynamics, fixed landing gear (for which the airplane has been nicknamed "laptezhnikom") and rejects the aerodynamic brakes under both wings.

Junkers Ju-87 modifications and characteristics

Ju 87A	Ju 87B	Ju 87D	Ju 87G

Produce	1936-1938	1938-1941	1941-1944	1941-1944
Class	dive-bomber	dive-bomber	dive-bomber	attack plane
Length	10,8 m	11,1 m	11,1 m	11,1 m
Wingspan	13,8 m	13,8 m	13,8 m	13,8 m
Height	3,9 m	3,9 m	3,9 m	3,9 m
wing area	31,90 m²	31,90 m²	31,90 m²	31,90 m²
Empty weight	2273 kg	2760 kg	2810 kg	3600 kg
Weight Limit	3324 kg	4400 kg	5720 kg	5100 kg

Engine	Junkers Jumo 210D	Junkers Jumo 211Da	Junkers Jumo 211J	Junkers Jumo 211J
Maximum power	720 hp	1200 hp	1410 hp	1410 hp
Maximum power	530 кВт	883 кВт	1037 кВт	1037 кВт
full speed	310 km / h	383 km / h	408 km / h	375 km / h
The maximum permissible speed	550 km / h	600 km / h	600 km / h
Range	800 km	600 km	1165 km	1000 km

Потолок	9430 m	8100 m	9000 m	7500 m
Rate of climb		3000 m in 8.8 min	3000 m in 14 min	3000 m in 13.6 min
Course weapons	1x × 7,92 mm MG 17	2 × 7,92 mm MG 17	2 × 7,92 mm MG 17 or 2 × 20 mm MG 151	2 × 7,92 mm MG 17 and 2 × 37 mm BK 37
Defensive weapons	1 × 7,92 mm MG 15	1 × 7,92 mm MG 15	1 × 7,92 mm MG 81Z (twin MG 81)	1 × 7,92 mm MG 81Z (paired MG 81)
The maximum bomb load	500 kg (without the arrow)	1000 kg (without the arrow)	1800 kg (without the arrow)	no
Standard bomb load	1 × 250 kg (under the fuselage)	1 × 250 / 500 kg (under the fuselage) + 4 × 50 kg (under the wing)	1 × 500 kg (under the fuselage) + 4 × 50 kg (under the wing) or 1 × 1000 kg (under the fuselage)	no

All this was enough to dive throughout the aircraft's speed does not exceed 400-500 km / h, though the horizontal speed of the aircraft was 300-350 km / h. This gave enough time to aim, resulting in greater accuracy. Further, the high strength of the airframe, because the impact of large aircraft congestion at the output of the PIkirovaniya. In order to increase the strength of the wings, they have the shape of an inverted "gull wing". Also, the success of the aircraft was due to a large number of innovations, such as automatic display of the dive, the siren to suppress the morale of enemy soldiers during the dive, etc.

Ju-87 video