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Parade of Junkers Ju 52 Transports at Fassberg in the Luftwaffe days.   Anyone able to date it?    (Thanks to Mike Wraight.)
Junkers Ju 52/3M
In 1934 a military version of the Ju-52/3m civil airliner was produced for use by the still-secret Luftwaffe.   Designated Ju-52/3mg3e, the aircraft was designed as a heavy bomber with a crew of four and armed with two G 15 machine guns, one mounted in the dorsal position and the other in a retractable 'dustbin' suspended under the fuselage.   In 1934-35 no fewer than 450 Ju 52/3ms were delivered to the Luftwaffe, the type entering service with KG 152 Hindenburg.   In August 1936 20 aircraft were sent to Spain, where, flown by German volunteers, their first task was to transport 10,000 troops from Spanish Morrocco.   In the following November, about 50 Ju 52/3mg4e bombers were included in the equipment of the German Condor Legion deployed to Spain in support of Franco's Nationalist forces.   Operations included the bombing of Republican-held Mediterranean ports and the support of the land battle around Guernica, the destruction of which town brought the German bombers noteriety.   In Luftwaffe service the Ju 52 bomber was soon replaced by types such as the Ju 86 and Do 17, and from then on it operated purely as a military transport.   In April 1940 the Ju 52 was in the forefront of the invasion of Denmark and Norway, 160 transports dropping paratroopers to capture key airfields while a further 340 aircraft flew in supplies and reinforcements.   About 475 Ju 52s were available for the invasion of the Netherlands and suffered serious losses (167 aircraft) in the opening stages of the operation.

The next large-scale airborne operations, the invasion of Crete in April/May 1941, was the last of its kind undertaken by the Luftwaffe.   The force committed included 493 Ju 52s and over 80 DFS 230 glidders.   The invasion - Operation Merkur - cost the Germans 7,000 men killed or wounded (including 25 per cent of the paratroopers dropped) and 271 Ju 52s.   When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, their offensive was supported by six Ju 52 transport Gruppen.   Later, 266 Ju 52s were lost in attempts to relieve the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.   Another 150 aircraft were assigned to support Rommel's offensives in North Africa, and by the end of the year around 300 Ju 52s were operating in the Mediterranean theatre.    In July, August and September 1942, Ju 52s and other transport aircraft ferried 46,000 men and 4,000 tons of equipment to North Africa; but after the Battle of Alamein in October, severe losses were inflicted on the Ju 52s by the Desert Air Force fighters, 70 aircraft being destroyed between 25 October and 1 December.   The real martyrdom of the Ju 52 Gruppen in the Mediterranean , however, came early in 1943, when the Germans and Italians made frantic efforts to resupply the Axis forces in Tunisia.   On one day alone - 7 April 1943 - American and British fighters destroyed 52 out of 77 Ju 52s near Cap Bon, most of the petrol-laden transports exploding in spectacular fashion.   Between 2 and 22 April, no fewer than 432 German transport aircarft, mostly Ju 52s, were destroyed for the loss of 35 Allied fighters.

Total production of the Ju 52/3m between 1939 and 1944, including civilian models, was 4,845 aircraft.

Specifications: Type: Bomber/Transport; Crew: 2/3, plus 18 troops or 12 stretcher cases; Powerplant: three 730 hp BMW 132T-2 9-cylinder radial engines; Max speed: 286 kph (178 mph); Service ceiling: 5,900 mtrs ( 19, 360 ft); Max range: 1,305 km ( 811 miles); Wing span: 29.20 mtrs ( 95ft 10 in); Length: 19.90 mtrs (62 ft); Height: 4.52 mtrs ( 14 ft 10 in); Weights: 11,030 kgs (24,317 lbs) loaded; Armament: four 7.92 mm (0.31 in) machime guns, one each in forward and rear dorsal positions and one in each beam position.   (Thanks to Robert Jackson's Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft produced by Paragon Books.)
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