THE 456th FIGHTER INTERCEPTOR SQUADRON

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Junkers Ju 90 & Ju 290 Reconnaissance

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 Junkers Ju 90

 

Ju 90

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Junkers Ju 90 under construction at Junkers-Werke Dessau
Role Airliner, Transport
Manufacturer Junkers
Designed by Ernst Zindel then Herbert Wagner
First flight 28 August 1937
Introduced 1938
Primary users Lufthansa
Luftwaffe
Number built 18
Developed from Junkers Ju 89
Variants Junkers Ju 290

Click on Picture to enlarge

The Ju 89 was developed as part of General Walther Wever's Ural bomber program, the Ju 89 proved to be far more capable than it's primary competitor the Do 19. Though this aircraft had impressive potential, support for the long range heavy bomber program died with Gen. Wever. The Ju 89 prototypes were eventually used as test beds and to set records but the development program was terminated on April 29, 1937.

The Junkers Ju 90 was a 40-seat, four-engine airliner developed for and used by Lufthansa shortly before World War II. It was based on the rejected Ju 89 bomber. During the war, the Luftwaffe impressed them as military transports. Design and development

The Junkers Ju 90 airliner and transport series descended directly from the Ju 89, a contender in the Ural bomber programme aimed at producing a long-range strategic bomber. This concept was abandoned by the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium, Reich Aviation Ministry) in April 1937 in favour of smaller, faster bombers.

 

Civil Development of The Ju 90

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (later Lufthansa) put a request for a long-distance commercial aircraft as early as 1933. When the Ju 89 program was abandoned, the third prototype was partially completed and at the request of Lufthansa, it was rebuilt as an airliner, retaining the wings and tail of the original design but incorporating a new, wider passenger-carrying fuselage. The new design was designated the Ju 90.[1][2][3][4]

The Junkers Ju 90[1][5][6] was a four-engine all-metal, low-wing aircraft fitted with twin end-plate vertical stabilizers. The wings were built around five tubular girder spars covered with a smooth stressed skin. The leading edge was quite markedly swept, the trailing edge almost straight. The Junkers "double wing", a full-span movable flap/aileron combination was fitted. The tail unit used the traditional Junkers corrugated skin, the only part of the aircraft to do so. The fins and rudders, the latter with prominent horn balances assemblies were placed at the end of the tailplane; this latter carried the elevators separated by a gap, forming another double wing. These components were as used in the Ju 89.

The new fuselage was of oval cross section, covered by stressed smooth duralumin skin. On the first four Ju 90As, there were five pairs of rectangular windows on each side, each double pair lighting a divided-off section of the cabin containing eight seats in facing pairs on either side of a central aisle. The Ju 90B (from prototype Ju 90V5 to Ju 90V10 aircraft) adopted round fuselage portholes. The Ju 90V11 became the definitive Ju 290 prototype with smaller rectangular fuselage windows.

The Ju 90B series were visually distinctive because of their oval tail fins. Ju 90V-6 was withdrawn and rebuilt as the Ju 390V1 prototype. The Ju 90V9 was also withdrawn and rebuilt as the Ju 390V2, later redesignated in October 1944 as the Ju 390A1. Ju 90V10 was rebuilt as the Ju 390V3 bomber prototype, but was scrapped at the factory in June 1944. Junkers were paid compensation for seven Ju 390 under construction when Ju 390 orders were cancelled.

There were four or five divided fuselage sections, the latter holding the maximum of 40 passengers. There were toilets, a cloakroom and a mail store aft, and a baggage hold forward of the passenger space. The fuselage was generous by the standards of the time with an internal width of 2.83 m (9 ft 3½ in).

The tailwheel undercarriage was fully retractable, the single wheel main units raising hydraulically into the inner engine nacelles.

The first prototype, the Ju 90V1 was powered by four Daimler-Benz DB 600C liquid-cooled inverted V engines delivering 820 kW (1,100 hp) each. These were more powerful than both those of its Ju 89 predecessor and of production commercial Ju 90s. Named Der Grosse Dessauer, its maiden flight took place on 28 August 1937. Deutsche Lufthansa carried out the long-distance testing. After eight months of flight tests, this prototype broke up on 6 February 1938 during over-speed tests[1].

A second prototype (V2) was delivered to Lufthansa in May 1938 for testing. Like all the production commercial Ju 90s, this was powered by four BMW 132 radial engines delivering 620 kW (830 hp). The move to lower power was probably necessitated by the demands on Daimler Benz to produce engines for strategically important, front line aircraft[3]. They named this aircraft Preussen. It crashed fatally during tropical flight tests on takeoff in November 1938 at Bathurst, Gambia, probably because of engine failure.

Despite these setbacks, Lufthansa ordered eight of the production type A-1. They also used the next two prototypes, starting with V3 Bayern which flew on the Berlin-Vienna route from July 1938. It is said that this aircraft flew a total of 62,572 km ( mi) in 1938[3]. Only seven of the A-1s were delivered to Lufthansa, the last in April 1940, one going directly to the Luftwaffe[6].

South African Airways also ordered two A-1s with Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines delivering 670 kW (900 hp). These were known by the alternative designation Z-3 to distinguish them from the BMW-powered Z-2. Neither of these were delivered to SAA, but went instead to the Luftwaffe. As the war progressed, the surviving six Lufthansa machines were also impressed in to Luftwaffe service, though two were returned to Lufthansa later. Four of the ex-Lufthansa machines took part in the invasion of Norway[7].

The fourth prototype V4 went into Luftwaffe service in July 941 fitted with 980 kW (1,320 hp) Jumo 211F/L engines.

 

The Military Development of The Junkers Ju 90

In April 1939, the RLM asked Junkers for a further development of the Ju 90 for military transport purposes[1][6]. The Ju 90V5 and V6 were the prototypes of this military design. They got a new wing with a straight inner section leading edge, of greater span (19%) and area (11%). The landing gear was strengthened with twin main-wheels and the fins were more rounded, lacking the characteristic horn balance nick of the earlier models. The windows were replaced by 10 small portholes a side. The Ju 90 V5 flew first on 5 December 1939. A special feature of both the V5 and V6 was a boarding ramp in the floor of the fuselage for loading cars and larger cargo freight[8][5]. This ramp, when lowered raised the fuselage to the horizontal flying position. Both aircraft were retrospectively fitted with the much more powerful 1,200 kW (1,600 hp) BMW 801MA radials.

Click on Picture to enlarge

Ju 90 (probably V8) in Grosseto, 1943

The two last prototypes - the V7 and V8 - fed directly into the Ju 290 development programme. The former had a fuselage extension of 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) and the addition of dihedral to the tailplane to solve a yaw instability. A reconnaissance prototype aerodynamically similar to the V7, the V8 was armed, however, with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons and up to nine 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine guns in two dorsal, one ventral and one tail position.

Ju 290 / 390 development

Some of the Ju 90s were converted into prototypes of the bigger Ju 290 transport and reconnaissance aircraft. The more powerful engines and other modifications to the Ju 90V5 and V7 were steps in this direction and the latter was converted into the Ju 290V3. The Ju 290V8 became the second prototype Ju 290V2 [9]. An uncompleted 11th A-series machine was turned into the Ju 290 V1.[6] The Ju 90V6 airframe was used in the construction of the Junkers Ju 390 V1.

Numbers and survivors

In the end, only 18 Ju 90s of all versions were completed. Just two survived the war to fall into Allied hands, but both were scrapped soon afterwards.[1][2]

 

Specifications Of The Ju 90A1 aka Ju 90 Z2

Data from [6]

General characteristics

 Junkers Ju 90

Performance

References

  1.  Turner, P. St.J. and Nowarra, H.Junkers: an aircraft album no.3. (1971) New York: Arco Publishing Inc ISBN 0-668-02506-9
  2.  http://www.hugojunkers.pytalhost.com/ju_ju90_a1.htm
  3.  http://www.eads.net/1024/en/eads/history/airhist/1930_1939/Junkers_Ju_90.html.
  4.  http://www.eads.net/1024/en/eads/history/airhist/1930_1939/Junkers_Ju_90.html.
  5.  Bridgeman, L. Jane's All the World's Aircraft. (1942) London: Sampson, Low, Marston & Co. Ltd.
  6.  Kay, Anthony L. Junkers Aircraft and engines 1913-1945 (2004). London: Putnam Aeronautical Books ISBN 0 85177 985 9
  7.  http://www.hugojunkers.pytalhost.com/ju_ju90_a1.htm (Serials)
  8.  Turner, P. St.J. and Nowarra, H. Ju 290 section
  9.  http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net

Wikipedia

 

 

Germany's Junkers Ju 90 & Junkers Ju 290 Reconnaissance1

 

Click on Picture to enlarge

Junkers Ju 290 reconnaissance:
Junkers Ju 290A-5 reconnaissance:
Junkers Ju 290B-1 reconnaissance, under attack:
 
Junkers Ju 290 reconnaissance, captured by the United States:
 

Design

 The Junkers Ju 90 was a transport plane that were to be used by Lufthansa and the South African Airways.1

The Junkers Ju 290 was basically an armed Ju 90 that was designed in 1940.1 The Ju 290 was also bigger than the Ju 90.1 The Ju 290 was touted as a replacement for the Fw 200 Condor.2 However it was never produced in enough quantities to replace the Condor.2

 

Fuselage

There was a gondola that contained a 20 mm MG 151 and 13 mm MG 131.1

There was a Trapoklappe, a hydraulically operated ramp, that was in the rear fuselage and could be opened in flight or if used on the ground could lift the plane for loading.1

 

Undercarriage

The Ju 290 had very sturdy undercarriage.1

The Ju 390 had two additional undercarriage units due to its size.1

 

Prototype

The Ju 290V1 prototype first flew in early 1939.2

The Ju 290A-0 pre production model first flew in 1941.2

 

Production

Approximately 40 Ju 290s were produced with half being built by Letov in Czechoslovakia.1

In late 1944 construction was terminated.2

 

Variants

 

Usage

Germany was the only country that used the Ju 290.2

Ex Airliner

Eleven of the Ju 90s that were in service with Luft Hansa were converted into military service at the start of World War II.2

Stalingrad

Two Ju 290A-0s and five Ju 290A-1s were used during the encirclement of Stalingrad.1

Atlantic

The 1./FAGr 5 was the first to use the Ju 290 over the Atlantic on October 15, 1943.1

Flying to Japan

Three Ju 290A-5s were stripped and used in transport missions to Japan.1

Escape to Spain

In April 1945 it is reported that a Ju 290A-6 flew some of the escaping German leadership and flew them to Spain.1,2 These were used by the Spanish air force until the 1950s.1,2

Sources:

  1. Aircraft of WWII, General Editor: Jim Winchester, 2004
  2. Aircraft of WWII, Stewart Wilson, 1998

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Last Updated

08/21/2010

 

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