![]() Introduction:- 1936 Retired:- 1945 (Luftwaffe) The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka in a nutshell National origin:- Germany Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87 Stuka ground attack aircraft Twin 7.9mm MG81Z machine guns with 2 optional 7.9mm MG17 machine gunsīomb load: Various, in place of the BK 37 underwing cannon (no underbelly sling) Technical specifications for the Junkers Ju 87 G-2 Stuka The figure for total production of Ju-87s, which is generally accepted by everybody as being correct, is more than 5700. Production of the Stuka finally ceased definitively in October 1944. In the autumn of 1944 only the unit commanded by Rudel (III./SG2) was still using Ju-87Ds and Gs in the Soviet Union, Some aircraft were transferred to the West at the end of the war. ![]() The G-1 sand G-2s continued to operate only by night. Their increased mass made them even slower and more vulnerable and they were noticeably less maneuverable.Īs with all the versions of the Ju-87, the Gustavs were progressively replaced by the Focke-Wulf Fw-190 for daylight missions. In their tank buster role, the Ju 87Gs turned out to be excellent, particularly in the summer of 1943, in the battle of the Kursk salient. The wing mounted guns were removed, but some pilots had them kept so as to fire tracer in order to aim better.ĭuring night operations, the ends of the long 37-mm cannon barrels were fitted with flame dampers. The underbelly sling was removed from the majority of the Gustavs and the dive brakes disappeared to. Then it was the D-5s which were in turn converted into Ju-87G-2s. The conclusive results gave rise to a new series of conversions: D-3s into G-1 s. The destructive capability of the new model so pleased everybody, that in February 1943, several Ju 870-3s were transformed into Ju-87G-1s and given to an experimental anti-tank unit, the PanzerJagdkommando Weiss, made up of very experienced Stuka pilots. Firing tests at Rechlin were so satisfactory that a Ju 870-3 was in turn modified and tested over Russia operationally by several pilots among which the famous Stuka ace, Hans Ulrich Rudel. Each canon weighed 598lb (272kg) with its container and ammunition. It was in 1942 that a Ju 870-1 was adapted in this way in order to serve as a prototype for the Gustav series. To do this it was equipped with two 37-mm Flak 18 cannon (or Bord Kanone 3.7) in underwing gondolas in place of the bomb racks (the cannon were detachable and could be replaced by bomb racks for the ground-attack role). It was only in 1943 that a really effective solution was found to try and halt the arrival of greater and greater numbers of Russian armor on all the different fronts in the East: the Ju-87 'Gustav' (the basic design was the Ju 87G-0) whose job it was to bust tanks. But very quickly things became very clear: the bomb loads carried by the Stukas were not effective against the Russians' wide range of armored vehicles. During the first phases of the attack in the East, the Luftwaffe destroyed hundreds of Russian planes and again the Ju-87s demonstrated how effective they could be destructively as well as psychologically. With the approaching invasion of Russia, the Ju 87s which were so vulnerable to attack by the RAF were transferred to the East in large numbers. The Junkers Ju 87G Stuka or GUSTAV Series
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