Junkers

Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke AG, or Junkers, was founded in 1895 by Hugo Junkers, who was manufacturing boilers and radiators.

Junkers J 1 was the first aircraft with all-metal "total structural" design. Made of steel, it was heavy but fastest aircraft of its day, reaching speeds of 170 km/h, with only a 120 hp engine for power. More "J" aircrafts followed and during World War I the company became famous for its pioneering all-metal aircrafts.

The Treaty of Versailles forbade aircraft construction in Germany for several months. After that only the design of civilian aircraft was permitted so Junkers relocated to the Soviet Union, the Fili suburb of Moscow, where it restarted its manufacturing in 1922. With the expiration of treaty restrictions in 1926, Junkers returned to Germany and introduced the Junkers W33 and Junkers W34 series which found commercial success and set multiple aviation records for flight duration, flight distance, altitude, rocket assisted take-off and inflight refueling.

The corrugated duralumin wing and fuselage "skin" introduced in the J-series became a trademark of Junkers aircraft. In 1922 American engineer William Bushnell Stout, and in 1924, Soviet engineer Andrei Tupolev each adapted the Junkers corrugated duralumin airframe design technologies for their own all-metal aircrafts, the Stout ST twin-engined naval torpedo bomber prototype, and the Tupolev ANT-2 small passenger aircraft.

Ju 52, initially to a two-engined, and later "trimotor", became world-famous commercial success, with over 400 airplanes delivered to various airlines around the world prior to the outbreak of World War II, including the countries of: Finland, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, South Africa, Denmark, Norway, Italy, UK, Belgium, Hungary, Estonia, Greece, Spain, and of course, Germany. As a consequence of its rugged design, Spain and France resumed Ju 52 production after cessation of the Second World War.

Around 1931 the company faced financial difficulties. In 1933, the Nazi forced Hugo Junkers to transfer all his patents, and shortly after, Junkers holdings were expropriated. Junkers himself was placed under house arrest and removed from the Company.

During World War II, Junker produced some of the most successful Luftwaffe planes, as well as piston and jet aircraft engines. Ju 90, was one of the first planes specifically designed for scheduled trans-Atlantic flights to the US. Just as the aircraft was being readied for its first commercial flights, World War II began. The most notable design was the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber used for precision tactical bombing and as "airborne artillery". It gained notoriety for its use at both Dunkirk and later Stalingrad, where it caused enormous destruction under Field Marshal Wolfram von Richthofen's VIII Air Corps. Perhaps even more successful was the Junkers Ju 88, the primary medium bomber of the German forces.

The Junkers company produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It survived the Second World War but Junkers name finally disappeared in 1969.