Junkers ju-87 stuka dive bomber
Some classic airplanes -- like the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka -- simply
look their part. This large, angular monoplane seemed absolutely ominous in
flight or at rest. Of all the many attack planes of World War II, none so captured the terror of
dive-bombing as did the dreaded Stuka.
The Stuka name derived from Sturzkampfflugzeug, the generic
German word for dive-bomber. So famous was the Junkers Ju 87 that the term
Stuka came to be identified with it in Western eyes.
The Stuka's first advocate was pilot Ernest Udet, who, with 62
victories in World War I, was the highest-scoring German ace to survive, and a
national hero. Udet was a formidable aerobatic pilot (albeit a terrible
technician) who pressed the Luftwaffe to adopt dive-bombing as a
principal means of attack.
Skilled pilots helped the slow Junkers Ju 87
Stuka excel as a tank killer.
The first Junkers Ju 87 Stuka flew in the spring of 1935, and by 1939 many were ready to wreak havoc in Poland.
There, the Stuka's horrific noise (given a special edge with screaming
sirens) and terrifying accuracy exemplified the German Blitzkrieg.
The Stuka was equally effective in the Western campaigns, where it
served as mobile artillery, moving through France in close coordination with the
Panzer columns. An all-metal, gull-wing aircraft with fixed gear and
lots of drag, the Stuka proved too slow and too ill-armed to fight over
England and was withdrawn from service there.
The Stuka was very effective in the early years of the African
campaigns, however, and through nearly all of the fighting with the Soviet Union
in the East.
The Stuka was perfectly suited to the opening days of the war, when the Germans had air superiority. What is surprising, and in its way, noble, was that the Ju 87s and their crews fought on bravely when the tide of war had turned against them.
SOURCE: http://www.howstuffworks.com/junkers-ju-87-stuka.htm
look their part. This large, angular monoplane seemed absolutely ominous in
flight or at rest. Of all the many attack planes of World War II, none so captured the terror of
dive-bombing as did the dreaded Stuka.
The Stuka name derived from Sturzkampfflugzeug, the generic
German word for dive-bomber. So famous was the Junkers Ju 87 that the term
Stuka came to be identified with it in Western eyes.
The Stuka's first advocate was pilot Ernest Udet, who, with 62
victories in World War I, was the highest-scoring German ace to survive, and a
national hero. Udet was a formidable aerobatic pilot (albeit a terrible
technician) who pressed the Luftwaffe to adopt dive-bombing as a
principal means of attack.
Skilled pilots helped the slow Junkers Ju 87
Stuka excel as a tank killer.
The first Junkers Ju 87 Stuka flew in the spring of 1935, and by 1939 many were ready to wreak havoc in Poland.
There, the Stuka's horrific noise (given a special edge with screaming
sirens) and terrifying accuracy exemplified the German Blitzkrieg.
The Stuka was equally effective in the Western campaigns, where it
served as mobile artillery, moving through France in close coordination with the
Panzer columns. An all-metal, gull-wing aircraft with fixed gear and
lots of drag, the Stuka proved too slow and too ill-armed to fight over
England and was withdrawn from service there.
The Stuka was very effective in the early years of the African
campaigns, however, and through nearly all of the fighting with the Soviet Union
in the East.
The Stuka was perfectly suited to the opening days of the war, when the Germans had air superiority. What is surprising, and in its way, noble, was that the Ju 87s and their crews fought on bravely when the tide of war had turned against them.
SOURCE: http://www.howstuffworks.com/junkers-ju-87-stuka.htm