| T 21 | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Reconnaissance aircraft |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Junkers |
| Designer | Ernst Zindel |
| Primary user | Soviet Air Force |
| Number built | 120 |
| History | |
| First flight | 12 June 1923 |
TheJunkers J 21 (manufacturer's sales designationsT 21 andH 21) was areconnaissance aircraft designed inGermany in the early 1920s and produced in theSoviet Union at the Junkers plant atFili for use by theSoviet Air Force.
The J 21 was an all-metal,parasol-wingmonoplane of conventional configuration and fixed,tailskid undercarriage. The pilot and observer sat in tandem, opencockpits. Twoprototypes were constructed at the Junkers factory inDessau, the second with a wing of reduced area. Despite the fact that the prototypes were unable to attain the performance that had been specified by the Soviets, series production commenced at Fili in August 1923 where it was known as the Ju 21 (Юнкерс Ю 21 in Cyrillic).
The production version differed from the prototypes in having aBMW IV engine in place of theBMW III originally fitted, and carriedmachine gun armament for both the pilot and observer. Sluggish performance led to a few examples being fitted withL2 andL5 engines, but these provided little improvement. With performance only marginally better than theWorld War I-vintagede Havilland DH-9A that it had been purchased to replace, the Ju 21 was itself soon replaced by newly built DH-9As built under license as thePolikarpov R-1.
The type was also evaluated by theReichswehr's clandestinetraining school atLipetsk, but it was rejected due to its poor performance and theHeinkel HD 17 purchased instead.
Data from Kay 2004 p.45
General characteristics
Performance
