Special Purpose Junkers Aircraft – Big, High, Fast and Secret

This book is about a number of very disparate Junkers aircraft types. The K 37 and K 39 represent an attempt to design a new category of military aircraft, primarily for the Soviet Union and Turkey. One was modified for clandestine photo reconnaissance. The JG 1 was a very big passenger transport and when the G 38 first flew in 1929 it was even larger – with a wingspan and wing area comparable to a Douglas DC-10. It was the world’s largest land aircraft and the pride of Lufthansa. In addition, a military bomber version was built in Japan.

The Ju 49 was a high-altitude research aircraft with pressurised cabin. The single-engine Ju 60 airliner competed with the very fast American types that emerged on the market in the early 1930s. The only way to achieve desired speeds was to improve streamlining and develop a retractable undercarriage. The Ju 60 was developed into the improved Ju 160, which was put in series production for Lufthansa. Examples were exported and there was a military version as well.