Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlierJCO orJKO inWorld War I,English:Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonlyJunkers[ˈjʊŋkɐs], was a major Germanaircraft andaircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded inDessau, Germany, in 1895 byHugo Junkers, initially manufacturingboilers andradiators. DuringWorld War I and following the war, the company became famous for its pioneering all-metal aircraft. DuringWorld War II the company produced theGerman air force's planes, as well aspiston andjet aircraft engines, albeit in the absence of its founder who had been removed by theNazis in 1934.
In the immediate post-war era, Junkers used their J8 layout as the basis for the F-13, first flown on 25 June 1919 and certified airworthy in July of the same year. This four passenger monoplane was the world's first all-metal airliner. Of note, in addition to significant European sales, some twenty-five of these airplanes were delivered to North American customers under the Junkers-Larsen affiliate and were used primarily as airmail planes.
TheTreaty of Versailles, signed only days after theF-13 flew, initially forbade any aircraft construction in Germany for several months. After that span of time, only the design of civilian aircraft was permitted to Germany. With a partial relocation of the Junkers firm to theFili western suburb ofMoscow, the Junkers firm was able to restart its aircraft manufacturing concern within the borders of theSoviet Union in 1922,[1] the partly revitalized Junkers firm developed a series of progressively larger civil aircraft including the single-enginedG.24 and three-engineG.31. Neither aircraft was a commercial success. With the expiration of treaty restrictions in 1926, Junkers introduced theJunkers W33 andJunkers W34 series, which did find significant commercial success via large production orders in passenger, freight hauling, and, somewhat later, military configurations. The W-33/W-34 series also set multiple aviation "firsts" including records for flight duration, flight distance, altitude, rocket-assisted take-off and inflight refueling between 1926 and 1930.[citation needed]
After previous study work, Junkers set up theJunkers Luftbild-Zentrale inDessau in 1924 to produceaerial photographs for various purposes.[2] Eight years later, due to the financial difficulties of the parent company, this branch was separated and continued to operate asBild-Flug for a year until it was taken over by its main competitor,Hansa Luftbild.[citation needed]
Junkers' produced a design study in 1924 for a visit to the United States. The study outlined a four-engined 80-passenger plane, incorporating a forward canard wing, as well as a main wing, both of which were fitted above twin pylons. Called theJunkers J.1000 Super Duck passenger seating was to be provided both in the main wing and the hull sections of the craft. This Junkers design, including a scale model, was intended to illustrate an aircraft capable of trans-Atlantic operations of 8 to 10 hours and was completely revolutionary for its day.[3]
It was in 1922 that American engineerWilliam Bushnell Stout, and in 1924 that Soviet engineerAndrei Tupolev each adapted the Junkers corrugated duralumin airframe design technologies for their own initial examples of all-metal aircraft in their respective nations – for Stout, theStout ST twin-engined naval torpedo bomber prototype aircraft, and for Tupolev, theTupolev ANT-2 small passenger aircraft, who had the assistance of the Soviet government'sTsAGI research center in achieving success with light-weight metal airframes.
The basic principles outlined in this design were later introduced in theJunkers G.38, which was introduced and put into regular service byDeutsche Luft Hansa. At the time of its introduction, this four-engined transport was the largest landplane in the world carrying thirty-four passengers and seven crew members. The G.38 sat some of its passengers in the wing area outboard of the fuselage, the front of which was covered with windows.
Also, in 1932, Junkers joint project withMaybach designed and built an aerodynamic car but found due to the depression that the market for high end luxury cars was saturated.[4]
Around 1931 the company suffered from a series of financial difficulties that led to the collapse of the group of companies. The existing shareholders pressured Hugo to leave the company. Hugo, however, was thepatent holder on a wide variety of the technologies used in most of the existing Junkers designs, including many of their engines.
A plan was started to solve both problems by "buying out" Hugo's engine patent portfolio and placing it into the hands of a new company, theJunkers Motoren-Patentstelle GmbH, which was eventually formed in November 1932.[5] The new company would then license the technologies back to the various companies, most notably what was then Junkers Motorenbau (one of many "Jumo" companies). However, before Junkers actually transferred his patents to the Patentstelle, the collapse of the Junkers consortium was solved by the sale of Junkers Thermo Technik GmbH toRobert Bosch GmbH, whose company still uses the brand name.Adolf Dethmann, a Communist activist and friend of Hugo, was appointed managing director.[6]
Share of the Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG, issued October 1937
The Junkers company survived theSecond World War and the formation ofEast Germany, and was reconstituted as Junkers GmbH and eventually merged into theMBB consortium (via joint venture Flugzeug-Union-Süd betweenHeinkel andMesserschmitt in 1958).[7]Messerschmitt ended the joint venture in 1965 by acquiring control of JFM AG and absorbing it withinMesserschmitt in 1967.[7] WithinWest Germany, Junkers GmbH was engaged in research on the future of aerospace transportation during the fifties and early-1960s. During this period, Junkers employed the famous Austrian engineer and space travel theorist,Eugen Sänger, who in 1961 completed work for the design ofan advanced orbital spacecraft at Junkers. Junkers GmbH was absorbed withinMBB and the Junkers name disappeared in 1969.[8]
The Junkers firm's early aircraft were identified by the letter J for Junkers followed by an Arabic type number. From 1919 they introduced an additional sales designation using the same number but prefixed by a letter indicating the role of the aircraft:[9]
A = Austauschflugzeug (suitable for either civil or military use)
Just once, the same number was used to identify two different completed types. This pair was the T 23 and G23, both also known as J 23.
DuringWorld War I, machines in service used the regularIdflieg aircraft designation system to specify their design's purpose, also promoted by the Flugzeugmeisterei (Air Ministry), again a letter number system indicating role:[9]
CL = two-seat ground attack
D = single-seat biplane scout, by 1918 used for all single seat scouts.
E = single-seat monoplane scout
J = two-seat armoured close support biplane.
The best known and most confusing example is the Junkers J 4 armored-fuselage, all-metalsesquiplane, known to the military as the Junkers J.I.
The single letter company prefix was not replaced by the twin-letterJu prefix until 1933. ThisRLM system – from the Third Reich's air ministry – applied to all German manufacturers; the first Junkers aircraft to receive a Ju number was the W 33, so retrospectively it became the Ju 33.[10] However, earlier aircraft built in Moscow like the H 21 were often described by a Ju number, e.g. Ju 21.[11]
All Junkers diesel engines weretwo stroke,opposed piston designs, an arrangement he invented in the early 1890s. It was intended to provide an alternative toNicholaus Otto's patented four stroke which would run on low grade fuels such as blast furnace waste gases. By 1896 Junkers engines were generating electrical power in steelworks.[12]
^Rasch, Marco (2021).Das Luftbild in Deutschland von den Anfängen bis zu Albert Speer. Geschichte und Rezeption des zivilen "Stiefkindes der Luftfahrt". Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink. p. 144-161.ISBN978-3-7705-6602-0.
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