Junkers Ju 88 Mistel
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The Junkers Ju 88 is a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' twin-engined
multirole combat aircraft A multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) is a combat aircraft intended to perform different roles in combat. These roles can include air to air combat, air support, aerial bombing, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and suppression of air defens ...
. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''
Schnellbomber A ''Schnellbomber'' (German; literally "fast bomber") is a bomber that relies upon speed to avoid enemy fighters, rather than relying on defensive armament and armor. Concept The concept developed in the 1930s when it was believed that a ver ...
'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Like a number of other ''Luftwaffe'' bombers, it served as a
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
,
dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
,
night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
,
torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...
,
reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...
,
heavy fighter A heavy fighter is a historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons, and/or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-eng ...
and at the end of the war, as a
flying bomb A flying bomb is a manned or unmanned aerial vehicle or aircraft carrying a large explosive warhead, a precursor to contemporary cruise missiles. In contrast to a bomber aircraft, which is intended to release bombs and then return to its base for ...
. Despite a protracted development, it became one of the ''Luftwaffe''s most important aircraft. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945 and more than 15,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout production the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978 p. 118.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, pp. 118–119.


Design and development

In August 1935, the German Ministry of Aviation submitted its requirements for an unarmed, three-seat, high-speed bomber with a payload of .Dressel and Griehl 1994, p. 71. Design of the Ju-88 began with a study (EF59) which evolved into two parallel designs, Ju-85 and Ju-88. The Ju 85 was a twin-engined bomber aircraft prototype, designed by Junkers in 1935. The Ministry of Aviation requested the aircraft, which differed from the Ju 88 due to the use of a twin fin tail unit. The aircraft was never put into service. Design was initiated by Junkers Chief Designer Ernst Zindel. He was assisted by Wilhelm Heinrich Evers and American engineer Alfred Gassner. Evers and Gassner had worked together at
Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, also known as Fokker-America and Atlantic-Fokker, was a US subsidiary of the Dutch Fokker company, responsible for sales and information about Fokker imports, and eventually constructing various Fokker designs."The ...
where Gassner had been Chief Engineer. Junkers presented their initial design in June 1936, and were given clearance to build two
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
s (Werknummer 4941 and 4942). The first two aircraft were to have a range of and were to be powered by two DB 600s. Three further aircraft, Werknummer ''4943'', ''4944'' and ''4945'', were to be powered by
Jumo 211 The Jumo 211 was a German inverted V-12 aircraft engine, Junkers Motoren's primary aircraft engine of World War II. It was the direct competitor to the Daimler-Benz DB 601 and closely paralleled its development. While the Daimler-Benz engine ...
engines. The first two prototypes, Ju 88 V1 and V2, differed from the V3, V4 and V5 in that the latter three models were equipped with three defensive armament positions to the rear of the
cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...
, and were able to carry two bombs, one under each inner wing panel. The aircraft's first flight was made by the prototype Ju 88 V1, which bore the civil registration D-AQEN, on 21 December 1936. When it first flew, it managed about and
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
, head of the Luftwaffe was ecstatic. It was an aircraft that could finally fulfill the promise of the ''
Schnellbomber A ''Schnellbomber'' (German; literally "fast bomber") is a bomber that relies upon speed to avoid enemy fighters, rather than relying on defensive armament and armor. Concept The concept developed in the 1930s when it was believed that a ver ...
'', a high-speed bomber. The streamlined fuselage was modeled after its contemporary, the
Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...
, but with fewer defensive guns because the belief still held that it could outrun late 1930s-era fighters. The fifth prototype set a closed-circuit record in March 1939, carrying a payload at a speed of . The first five prototypes had conventionally-operating dual-strut leg rearwards-retracting main gear, but starting with the V6 prototype, a main gear design debuted that twisted the new, single-leg main gear strut through 90° during the retraction sequence, much like that of the American
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time an ...
fighter. This feature allowed the main wheels to end up above the lower end of the strut when fully retracted and was adopted as standard for all future production Ju 88s, and only minimally modified for the later Ju 188 and 388 developments of it. These single-leg landing gear struts also made use of stacks of conical
Belleville washer A Belleville washer, also known as a coned-disc spring, conical spring washer, disc spring, Belleville spring or cupped spring washer, is a conical shell which can be loaded along its axis either statically or dynamically. A Belleville washer is ...
s inside them as their main form of suspension for takeoffs and landings. By 1938, radical modifications from the first prototype began to produce a "heavy" dive bomber. The wings were strengthened, dive brakes were added, the
fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
was extended and the number of crewmen was increased to four. Due to these advances, the Ju 88 was to enter the war as a
medium bomber A medium bomber is a military bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft designed to operate with medium-sized Aerial bomb, bombloads over medium Range (aeronautics), range distances; the name serves to distinguish this type from larger heavy bombe ...
. The choice of annular
radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...
s for engine cooling on the Ju 88, which placed these radiators immediately forward of each engine and directly behind each propeller, allowed the cooling lines for the engine coolant and
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
-cooling radiators (integrated within the annular design) to be as short as possible, with integral port and starboard air intakes for cooling the exhaust headers, the starboard inlet also supplying the inlet air for the supercharger. As the outbreak of WW II in Europe approached, by the time Luftwaffe planners like
Ernst Udet Ernst Udet (26 April 1896 – 17 November 1941) was a German pilot during World War I and a ''Luftwaffe'' Colonel-General (''Generaloberst'') during World War II. Udet joined the Imperial German Air Service at the age of 19, and eventually ...
had their opportunities to have their own "pet" features added (including dive-bombing by Udet), the Ju 88's top speed had dropped to around . The Ju 88 V7 was fitted with cable-cutting equipment to combat the potential threat of British
barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe collision risk to aircraft, making the attacker's approach more difficult. Early barra ...
s, and was successfully tested in this role. The V7 then had the Ju 88 A-1 "beetle's eye" faceted nose glazing installed, complete with the ''Bola'' undernose ventral defensive
machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
emplacement, and was put through a series of dive-bombing tests with bombs, and in early 1940, with bombs. The Ju 88 V8 (''Stammkennzeichen'' of DG+BF, Wrk Nr 4948) flew on October 3, 1938. The A-0 series was developed through the V9 and V10 prototypes. The A-1 series prototypes were Wrk Nrs 0003, 0004 and 0005. The A-1s were given the Jumo 211B-1 or G powerplants. Dr. Heinrich Koppenberg (managing director of Jumo) assured Göring in the autumn of 1938 that 300 Ju 88s per month was definitely possible. Göring was in favour of the A-1 variant for mass production. Production was delayed drastically by developmental problems. Although planned for a service introduction in 1938, the Ju 88 finally entered squadron service (with only 12 aircraft) on the first day of the
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
in 1939. Production was painfully slow, with only one Ju 88 manufactured per week, as problems continually kept cropping up. The Ju 88C series of heavy fighter was also designed very early in 1940, but kept secret from Göring, as he only wanted bombers.


Dive bomber

In October 1937 ''Generalluftzeugmeister''
Ernst Udet Ernst Udet (26 April 1896 – 17 November 1941) was a German pilot during World War I and a ''Luftwaffe'' Colonel-General (''Generaloberst'') during World War II. Udet joined the Imperial German Air Service at the age of 19, and eventually ...
had ordered the development of the Ju 88 as a heavy
dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
. This decision was influenced by the success of the
Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Cond ...
''Stuka'' in this role. The Junkers development center at
Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
gave priority to the study of pull-out systems and
dive brake Dive brakes or dive flaps are deployed to slow down an aircraft when in a dive. They often consist of a metal flap that is lowered against the air flow, thus creating drag and reducing dive speed.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, ...
s.Dressel and Griehl 1994, p. 74. The first prototype to be tested as a dive bomber was the Ju 88 V4 followed by the V5 and V6. These models became the planned prototype for the A-1 series. The V5 made its maiden flight on 13 April 1938, and the V6 on 28 June 1938. Both the V5 and V6 were fitted with four-blade propellers, an extra bomb bay and a central "control system". As a dive bomber, the Ju 88 was capable of pinpoint deliveries of heavy loads; however, despite all the modifications, dive bombing still proved too stressful for the airframe, and in 1943, tactics were changed so that bombs were delivered from a shallower, 45° diving angle. Aircraft and bomb sights were accordingly modified and dive brakes were removed. With an advanced ''Stuvi'' dive-
bombsight A bombsight is a device used by military aircraft to drop bombs accurately. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since World War I, were first found on purpose-designed bomber aircraft and then moved to fighter-bombers and modern tactical ...
, accuracy remained very good for its time. Maximum bomb load of the A-4 was , but in practice, standard bomb load was . Junkers later used the A-4
airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...
for the A-17 torpedo carrier, which did not have the undernose ''Bola''
gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...
for a ventral gun position.


Fighter-bomber

The Ju 88C series of standard fighter-bomber versions from the C-2 onwards culminated in the Ju 88 C-6, applying experience acquired with the A-4 bomber, equipped with the same Jumo 211J engines but replacing the "beetle's eye" nose glazing with a smoothly curved all-metal nose, pierced only by the barrels of its forward-firing offensive armament. The C-6 was used mostly as
fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...
and therefore assigned to bomber units. As a reaction to the increasing number of attacks on German shipping, especially on U-boats in the
Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
, from July 1942 it started flying anti-shipping patrols and escort missions from bases in France.Goss 1997, p. 10. ''V./
Kampfgeschwader 40 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 40 (KG 40) was a Luftwaffe medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II, and the primary maritime patrol unit of any size within the World War II Luftwaffe. It is best remembered as the unit operating a majority of the four-eng ...
'' being formed to operate the C-6. The aircraft of V./KG 40 (which was redesignated I./ ''Zerstörergeschwader'' 1 in 1943Goss 1997, p. 121.) were a significant threat to antisubmarine aircraft and operated as escort fighters for the more vulnerable
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'', also known as ''Kurier'' to the Allies (English: Courier), was a German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese request for a long-range maritime p ...
maritime patrol bombers. Between July 1942 and July 1944, the Ju 88s of KG 40 and ZG 1 were credited with 109 confirmed air-to-air victories,Goss 1997, p. 222. at a cost of 117 losses.Goss 1997, p. 242. They were finally deployed against the Allied
Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
in June 1944, incurring heavy losses for little effect before being disbanded on 5 August 1944.Goss 1997, p. 174.


Attack bomber

The Ju 88P was a specialized variant for ground attack and to function as a
bomber destroyer Bomber destroyers were World War II interceptor aircraft intended to destroy enemy bomber aircraft. Bomber destroyers were typically larger and heavier than general interceptors, designed to mount more powerful armament, and often having twin en ...
, designed starting from 1942''War Machine'', Aerospace Publishing, 1983, p. 2374 (from the Italian version, De Agostini,
Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...
, 1986).
and produced in small numbers, using examples of the ''
Bordkanone During World War II, the Luftwaffe (German air force) equipped their aircraft with the most modern weaponry available until resources grew scarce later in the war. Machine guns (Maschinengewehr) * MG 15 * MG 17 * MG 81 & 81Z * MG 131 Autocann ...
'' heavy calibre aviation autocannon series, which required the omission of the ''Bola'' undernose gondola for clearance. The prototype, derived from a standard Ju 88 A-4, was armed with a anti-tank gun derived from the
7.5 cm PaK 40 The 7.5 cm Pak 40 (''7,5 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40 -'' "7.5cm armour defence cannon 90") was a German 75 millimetre anti-tank gun of the Second World War. The gun was developed in 1939–1941 and entered service in 1942. With 23,303 ex ...
installed in a large conformal
gun pod A gun pod is a detachable pod or pack containing machine guns, autocannons, revolver cannons, or rotary cannons and ancillaries, mounted externally on a vehicle such as a military aircraft which may or may not also have its own guns. Description ...
under the fuselage. This was followed by a small batch of Ju 88 P-1, which standardized the solid sheet metal nose of the C version for all known examples of the P-series, and used the new 7.5 cm PaK 40L semi-automatic gun, also known as the ''Bordkanone'' BK 7,5, which was also meant for use in both the later Henschel Hs 129B-3 dedicated anti-armor aircraft, and a never-achieved production version of the He 177A-3/R5 ground-attack ''Flak''-suppression ''Stalingradtyp'' field-improvised version. The Ju 88P-1 was produced in some 40 units, but with the massive cannon installation resulting in a slow and vulnerable aircraft, it was soon replaced by the Ju 88 P-2, featuring two ''Bordkanone''
BK 3,7 The Bordkanone 3,7 (BK 3,7) ("on-board cannon 3.7") was a German anti-tank/bomber autocannon of World War II and based on the earlier 3.7 cm Flak 18 made by Rheinmetall. It was mounted on Luftwaffe aircraft such as the Junkers Ju 87 G-1 ...
guns, whose higher muzzle velocity proved useful against the Russian tanks in the Eastern Front. This aircraft was used by ''
Erprobungskommando An ''Erprobungskommando'' (EKdo) ("Testing-command") was a variety of Luftwaffe special-purpose unit tasked with the testing of new aircraft and weaponry under operational conditions. Similarly-named ''Erprobungs-''prefixed squadron ''(staffel)'' ...
'' 25. The Ju 88 P-3 also used the twin BK 3,7 guns, and added further armor for the crew, and was delivered at one '' Staffel'' of the ''Nachtschlachtgruppen'' 1, 2, 4, 8 and 9 for night attacks in the Eastern Front, in northern Norway (NSGr 8) and Italy (NSGr 9). Finally, the Ju 88 P-4 mounted a smaller-volume ventral gun pod housing a auto-loading ''Bordkanone''
BK 5 cannon The Rheinmetall ''Bordkanone'' 5, or BK-5, was a WWII-era German 50 mm autocannon primarily intended for use against Allied heavy bombers, such as the United States Army Air Forces's (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The shells had a hi ...
(the same ordnance used for the field-improvised handful of ''Stalingradtyp'' He 177As created) and, in some cases, solid propellant rockets.


Heavy fighter and night fighter


Ju 88C

The Ju 88C was originally intended as a fighter-bomber and heavy fighter by adding fixed, forward-firing guns to the nose while retaining some bomb carrying ability of the A-series bomber. The C-series had a solid metal nose, typically housing one
MG FF cannon The MG FF was a drum-fed, blowback-operated, 20 mm aircraft autocannon, developed in 1936 by Ikaria Werke Berlin of Germany. It was a derivative of the Swiss Oerlikon FF F cannon (its ''FF'' suffix indicating ''Flügel Fest'', for a fixed- ...
and three
MG 17 machine gun The MG 17 was a 7.92 mm machine gun produced by Rheinmetall-Borsig for use at fixed mountings in many World War II Luftwaffe aircraft, typically as forward-firing offensive armament. The MG 17 was based on the older MG 30 light machine gun, ...
s. The aircraft retained the ventral ''Bola'' gondola under the crew compartment though individual units sometimes removed this to reduce weight and drag to enhance performance. The Ju-88C was later used as a
night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...
, and this became its main role. The first version of the Ju 88C was the C-1 with 20 aircraft converted from A-1 airframes. Some of them entered service in the ''Zerstörerstaffel'' of KG 30 which became part of II./NJG 1 in July 1940. The C-1 was followed by the C-2 of which 20 aircraft were converted from A-5 airframes with enlarged wingspan. The C-4 became the first production version with 60 produced and 60 converted from A-5 airframes. The C-6, of which 900 aircraft were produced, was based on the A-4 airframe with more powerful engines and stronger defensive armament (single- or dual-mount belt-fed
MG 81 The MG 81 was a German belt fed 7.92×57mm Mauser machine gun which was used in flexible installations in World War II Luftwaffe aircraft, in which capacity it replaced the older drum magazine-fed MG 15. The MG 81 was developed by Mauser as a d ...
or
MG 131 The MG 131 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr'' 131, or "Machine gun 131") was a German 13 mm caliber machine gun developed in 1938 by Rheinmetall-Borsig and produced from 1940 to 1945. The MG 131 was designed for use at fixed, flexible ...
instead of drum-fed MG 15 machine guns). The C-6 as night fighter was typically equipped with FuG 202 ''Lichtenstein'' BC low-
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
band airborne intercept
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, using the complex 32-dipole ''Matratze'' antennas. The first four C-6 night fighters were tested in early 1942 by
NJG 2 ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 2 (NJG 2) was a German Luftwaffe night fighter and night intruder wing during World War II. Background Night fighter operations did form part of Wehrmacht war games during 1935 and 1936. Luftwaffe Service Regulation No. 1 ...
. The trials were successful and the aircraft was ordered into production. In October 1943, many C-6s were upgraded with new radar systems. The first new radar equipment was the FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1. After the UHF-band Lichtenstein radars had been compromised to the Allies in the late spring of 1943, the next development in German AI radar was the
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
-band FuG 220 ''Lichtenstein'' SN-2, discarding the 32-dipole ''Matratze'' antennae for the much larger eight-dipole ''Hirschgeweih'' (stag's antlers) aerials, required for the longer wavelength SN-2 system. Many Ju-88C's had their Bola gondolas modified to hold up to two forward firing cannons. Several C-6 night fighters were equipped with two "Schräge-Musik" upward-firing 20 mm cannons in trial fittings, and from mid 1943 onward, there was an official field modification kit available for this arrangement. A small number of the C-series day fighters had their new solid-metal noses specially painted to resemble the bomber A-series' "beetle's eye" faceted clear view nose glazing, in an attempt to deceive Allied pilots into thinking the fighters were actually bombers; the unusual "camouflage" attempt did result initially in a number of Allied aerial losses.


Ju 88R

The Ju 88R series night fighters were basically versions of the Ju 88 C-6, powered by unitized
BMW 801 The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled 14-cylinder-radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II. Production versions of the twin-row engine generated between 1,560 and 2,000 PS ( ...
radial engines. The R-1 had BMW 801L engines and the R-2 had BMW 801 G-2 engines. One of the first aircraft from the R-1 series that went into service (''Werknummer'' 360 043) was involved in one of the most significant defections from the Luftwaffe. On 9 May 1943, this night fighter (D5+EV), which was stationed with 10./
NJG 3 ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 3 (NJG 3) was a Luftwaffe night fighter-wing of World War II. NJG 3 was formed on 29 September 1941 in Stade from Stab./Zerstörergeschwader 26. Commanding officers ''Geschwaderkommodore'' *Major Johann Schalk, 29 March ...
in Aalborg Denmark, flew to the RAF Station at Dyce (now
Aberdeen Airport Aberdeen International Airport ( gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Obar Dheathain) is an international airport, located in the Dyce suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, approximately northwest of Aberdeen city centre. A total of just under 3.1  ...
) with its entire crew and complete electronic equipment on board. The fact that Spitfire Vb fighters No.165 (Ceylon) Squadron escorted it towards the end of its flight could indicate that its arrival had been expected. It was immediately transferred to
Farnborough Airfield Farnborough Airport (previously called: TAG Farnborough Airport, RAE Farnborough, ICAO Code EGLF) is an operational business/executive general aviation airport in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England. The airport covers about 8% of Rush ...
, received RAF markings and serial number PJ876, and was tested in great detail. The preserved aircraft is on exhibit at the
RAF Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is a registered charity. The museum is split into two separate sites: * R ...
, as one of the first two intact Ju 88s in aviation museums. The Luftwaffe only learned of this defection the following month when members of the crew, pilot ''Oberleutnant'' Heinrich Schmitt (son of the former secretary to the ministry for foreign affairs (1923–1929) Gustav Stresemann) and ''Oberfeldwebel'' Paul Rosenberger made broadcasts on British radio. The third crew-member, Erich Kantwill, refused to co-operate with the British and was treated as a normal prisoner-of-war.


Ju 88G

All previous night fighter versions of the Ju 88 used a modified A-series fuselage. The ''G-series'' fuselage was purpose-built for the special needs of a night fighter, with the A-series' ''Bola'' ventral under-nose defensive gun position omitted for lower aerodynamic drag and less weight, and adding the enlarged squared-off vertical fin/
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...
tail unit of the Ju 188. G-1 aircraft possessed more powerful armament and like the earlier R-1, used a pair of
BMW 801 The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled 14-cylinder-radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II. Production versions of the twin-row engine generated between 1,560 and 2,000 PS ( ...
radial engines, the G-1 using the later BMW 801G-2 version. Electronic equipment consisted of the then-standard FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 90 MHz VHF radar using eight-dipole ''Hirschgeweih'' antennas, which could include fitment of the borderline- SHF-band ''FuG 350''
Naxos radar detector The Naxos radar warning receiver was a World War II German countermeasure to S band microwave radar produced by a cavity magnetron. Introduced in September 1943, it replaced Metox, which was incapable of detecting centimetric radar. Two versions ...
with its receiving antenna housed in a teardrop-shaped streamlined fairing above the canopy, or FuG 227 ''Flensburg'' radar detector homing devices that had their own trio of twin-dipole antennae: one on each wing leading edge and one under the tail. One Ju 88G-1 of 7. ''Staffel''/
NJG 2 ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 2 (NJG 2) was a German Luftwaffe night fighter and night intruder wing during World War II. Background Night fighter operations did form part of Wehrmacht war games during 1935 and 1936. Luftwaffe Service Regulation No. 1 ...
was flown by mistake to
RAF Woodbridge Royal Air Force Woodbridge or RAF Woodbridge, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Woodbridge in the county of Suffolk, England. Constructed in 1943 as a Royal Air Force (RAF) military airfield during the Second World War to ass ...
in July 1944, giving the Royal Air Force its first chance to check out the VHF-band Lichtenstein SN-2 radar and Flensburg radar detector gear. G-6 versions were equipped with Jumo 213A inverted V-12 engines (using the same redesigned annular radiator cores as the Ju 188s powered by them), enlarged fuel tanks and often one or two 20 mm
MG 151/20 cannon The MG 151 (MG 151/15) was a German 15 mm aircraft-mounted autocannon produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser during World War II. Its 20mm variant, the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon, was widely used on German Luftwaffe fighters, night fighters, figh ...
s in a ''
Schräge Musik ''Schräge Musik'', which may also be spelled ''Schraege Musik'', was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun, to an interceptor aircraft, interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter. The term was introduce ...
'' ("Jazz Music", i.e. slanted) installation. These guns were pointed obliquely upwards and forwards from the upper fuselage – usually at an angle of 70°. Some of the final G-series models received updates to the engines, using a pair of high-altitude Jumo 213E inverted V-12s with the same revised annular radiator design as the 213As already used, or to the radar, using the mid-VHF band FuG 218 Neptun AI radar with either the standardized ''Hirschgeweih'' aerials with shorter dipoles to suit the higher frequencies used, or more rarely the advanced ''Morgenstern'' 90° crossed-element, six-dipole Yagi-form antenna. Only a very few Ju 88G-6 night fighters were ever fitted with the semi-experimental
FuG 240 Berlin The FuG 240 "Berlin" was an airborne interception radar system operating at the "lowest end" of the SHF radio band (at about 3.3 GHz/9.1 cm wavelength), which the German Luftwaffe introduced at the very end of World War II. It was the first G ...
N-1
cavity magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field while ...
based, 3 
GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
-band (centimetric) radar, whose
dish antenna A parabolic antenna is an antenna that uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form is shaped like a dish and is popularly called a dish antenna or par ...
was housed in a smoothly contoured
radome A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna (radio), antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and ...
on the G-6's nose. Only about 15 of the Berlin systems were completed before
V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...
. Many Luftwaffe night fighter aces, such as
Helmut Lent Helmut Lent (13 June 1918 – 7 October 1944) was a German night-fighter ace in World War II. Lent shot down 110 aircraft, 102 of them at night.For a list of Luftwaffe night fighter aces see ''List of German World War II night fi ...
(110 victories) and
Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...
(87 victories) flew Ju 88s during their careers.


Operational history


Invasion of Poland

Only 12 Ju 88s saw action during the
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
. The unit ''Erprobungskommando'' 88 (Ekdo 88) was responsible for testing new bomber designs and their crews under hostile conditions. They selected 12 aircraft and their crews and attached them to 1./ ''Kampfgeschwader'' 25. As a result of its small operational numbers, the type made no impact.


Battle of Norway

The Luftwaffe committed II./ ''Kampfgeschwader'' 30 to the campaign under X. ''Fliegerkorps'' for
Operation Weserübung Operation Weserübung (german: Unternehmen Weserübung , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. In the early morning of 9 Ap ...
. The unit was equipped with Ju 88s and engaged Allied shipping as its main target. On 9 April 1940, Ju 88s of KG 30 dive-bombed, in cooperation with high-level bombing
Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". Due to restrictions placed on Germany after th ...
s of KG 26, and helped damage the
battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
and sink the
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
. However, the unit lost four Ju 88s in the action, the highest single loss of the aircraft in combat throughout the campaign.


Battle of France

The Luftwaffe's order of battle for the French campaign reveals all but one of the Luftwaffe's ''Fliegerkorps'' ( I. ''Fliegerkorps'') contained Ju 88s in the combat role. The mixed bomber units, including the Ju 88, of ''Kampfgeschwader'' 51 (under the command of ''Luftflotte'' 3) helped claim between 233 and 248 Allied aircraft on the ground between 10 and 13 May 1940. The Ju 88 was particularly effective at dive-bombing. Between 13 and 24 May, I. and II./KG 54 flew 174 attack against rail systems, paralysing French logistics and mobility. On 17 June 1940, Junkers Ju 88s (mainly from ''Kampfgeschwader'' 30) destroyed a "10,000 tonne ship", the 16,243 grt
ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...
, off
Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...
, killing some 5,800 Allied personnel. Some 133 Ju 88s were pressed into the ''
Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg ( , ; from 'lightning' + 'war') is a word used to describe a surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with close air su ...
'', but very high combat losses and accidents forced a quick withdrawal from action to re-train crews to fly this very high-performance aircraft. Some crews were reported to be more scared of the Ju 88 than the enemy, and requested a transfer to an He 111 unit. By this time, major performance deficiencies in the A-1 led to an all-out effort in a major design rework. The outcome was a longer,
wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
, from extended rounded
wing tip A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...
s that had already been standardised on the A-4 version, that was deemed needed for all A-1s; thus the A-5 was born. Surviving A-1s were modified as quickly as possible, with new wings to A-5 specifications.


Battle of Britain

By August 1940, A-1s and A-5s were reaching operational units just as the battle was intensifying. The
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
proved very costly. Its higher speed did not prevent Ju 88 losses from exceeding those of its
Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber produced by Dornier Flugzeugwerke for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. Designed in the early 1930s as a ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") intended to be fast enough to outrun opposing a ...
and Heinkel He 111 stablemates despite being deployed in smaller numbers than either. Ju 88 losses over Britain in 1940 totaled 303 aircraft between July and October 1940. Do 17 and He 111 losses for the same period were 132 and 252 machines destroyed respectively. Of all the losses suffered by the Ju 88 at that time, however, a number were due to the tricky behavior of the plane, especially when compared with the proven He 111, and to the crews' lack of experience on the type – many having converted to the Ju 88 only shortly before. Of the 39 losses recorded for July 1940, for example, only 20 were due to enemy action. The others being written off in training accidents, crashes, or malfunctions over mainland Europe. A series of field modifications were made to make the Ju 88 less vulnerable, including the replacement of the single MG 15 rear machine gun by a twin-barreled MG 81Z machine gun and the fitting of additional cockpit armour. One incident involved ground fighting between the crew of an A-1 and soldiers from the
London Irish Rifles The London Irish Rifles (LIR) was a reserve infantry regiment and then company of the British Army. The unit's final incarnation was as D (London Irish Rifles) Company, the London Regiment. On 1 April 2022 soldiers in the company transferred to ...
during the
Battle of Graveney Marsh The Battle of Graveney Marsh, on the night of 27 September 1940 in Kent, England, was the last ground engagement involving a foreign force to take place on the mainland of Great Britain until Operation Nimrod. The fighting took place between the ...
on 27 September 1940. It was the last action between British and foreign military forces on British mainland soil.Green, Ron and Mark Harrison
"Forgotten frontline exhibition tells how Luftwaffe fought with soldiers on Kent marshes."
''KentOnline'', 30 September 2009. Retrieved: 21 August 2010.
The flagship Ju 88 A-4 went into service during the closing days of the Battle of Britain. Although slower than the A-1, it solved nearly all of the troubles of the A-1. The A-4 actually saw additional improvements including more powerful engines but, unlike other aircraft in the Luftwaffe, did not see a model code change. The Ju 88 C-series also benefited from the A-4 changes.


The Balkans and Greece

The Ju 88 was used by VIII Fliegerkorps during the
German invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the ...
in April 1941. Ju 88s were also used during the
German invasion of Greece The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is usu ...
(Operation Marita) in April 1941 and during the German invasion of Crete in May 1941. Following the Italian surrender in 1943 Ju 88s were also used during the German invasion of the Italian-held Dodecanese Islands, which took place between September and November 1943.


Eastern Front

By the summer of 1941, most of the units equipped with the Dornier Do 17 were upgrading to the Ju 88. With a few exceptions, most of the German bomber units were now flying the He 111 and Ju 88. The Ju 88 was to prove a very capable and valuable asset to the Luftwaffe in the east. The Ju 88 units met with instant success, attacking enemy airfields and positions at low level and causing enormous losses for little damage in return. 3./ ''Kampfgeschwader'' 3 attacked
Pinsk Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk a ...
airfield in the morning of the 22 June 1941. It caught, and claimed destroyed, 60 Soviet bombers on the ground. The 39 SBAP Regiment of the 10 Division SAD actually lost 43
Tupolev SB The Tupolev ANT-40, also known by its service name Tupolev SB (russian: Скоростной бомбардировщик – ''Skorostnoi Bombardirovschik'' – high speed bomber) and development co-name TsAGI-40, was a high speed twin-engined ...
a and five
Petlyakov Pe-2 The Petlyakov Pe-2 (russian: Петляков Пе-2) was a Soviet twin-engine dive bomber used during World War II. One of the outstanding tactical attack aircraft of the war,Ethell 1996, p. 152. it also proved successful as a heavy fighter, as ...
s. Ju 88s from ''Kampfgeschwader 51'' destroyed over 100 aircraft after dispatching 80 Ju 88s to hit airfields. In general the Soviet aircraft were not dispersed and the Luftwaffe found them easy targets. A report from the Soviet 23rd Tank Division of the 12th Armoured Corps described a low-level attack by Ju 88s on 22 June, resulting in the loss of 40 tanks. However, the Ju 88s were to suffer steady attritional losses. At 0415 on 22 June 1941, III./KG 51 attacked the airfield at Kurovitsa. Despite destroying 34
Polikarpov I-153 The Polikarpov I-153 ''Chaika'' (Russian ''Чайка'', "Seagull") was a late 1930s Soviet biplane fighter. Developed as an advanced version of the I-15 with a retractable undercarriage, the I-153 fought in the Soviet-Japanese combats in Mong ...
s, the Ju 88s were intercepted by 66 ShAP I-153s. Six Ju 88s were shot down before the German fighter escort dealt with the threat. By the end of the first day of the campaign, Ju 88 losses amounted to 23 destroyed. Due to the lack of sufficient numbers of Ju 87 ''Stukas'', the Ju 88 was employed in the direct ground support role. This resulted in severe losses from ground fire. ''Kampfgeschwader'' 1, ''Kampfgeschwader'' 76 and ''Kampfgeschwader'' 77 reported the loss of 18 Ju 88s over enemy territory on 23 June. and KG 77 reported the loss of a further four Ju 88s, of which 12 were 100% destroyed. In the north, the VVS North-Western Front lost 465 aircraft on the ground, 148 of them bombers, to the Ju 88s of KG 1. A further 33 were damaged. Out of a total of 1,720 aircraft deployed by the VVS Northern Front on 22 June, it lost 890 and a further 187 suffered battle damage in eight days. The Ju 88s units helped virtually destroy Soviet airpower in the northern sector. Again, the Ju 88 demonstrated its dive-bombing capability. Along with He 111s from KG 55, Ju 88s from KG 51 and 54 destroyed some 220 trucks and 40 tanks on 1 July, which helped repulse the Soviet South Western Front's offensive. The Ju 88s destroyed most rail links during
interdiction Interdiction is a military term for the act of delaying, disrupting, or destroying enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction. The former refers to operations whose e ...
missions in the area, allowing ''Panzergruppe 1'' to maintain the pace of its advance. Ju 88 units operating over the
Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
during the battle for
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
inflicted severe losses on Soviet shipping, with the same dive-bombing tactics used over
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and Britain. KGr 806 sank the Soviet destroyer ''
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
'' on 8 August 1941 in
Loksa Bay Loksa is a town and municipality in Harju County, Estonia, most known for its shipping industry. The town is situated on the estuary of the Valgejõgi river, which drains into Hara Bay, Gulf of Finland. As of April 1, 2022, the town had a p ...
Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
. On 28 August the Ju 88s had more success when KG 77 and KGr 806 sank the 2,026  grt steamer ''Vironia'', the 2,317 grt ''Lucerne'', the 1,423 grt ''Atis Kronvalds'' and the ice breaker ''
Krišjānis Valdemārs Krišjānis Valdemārs (in Germanized spelling as Christian Waldemar or Woldemar) (2 December 1825 at Vecjunkuri in Ārlava parish (now Valdgale parish, Courland, Latvia) – 7 December 1891 in Moscow, Russia) was a writer, editor, educator, po ...
'' (2,250 grt). The rest of the Soviet "fleet", were forced to change course. This took them through a heavily mined area. As a result, 21 Soviet warships, including five destroyers, struck mines and sank. On 29 August, the Ju 88s accounted for the transport ships ''Vtoraya Pyatiletka'' (3,974 grt), ''Kalpaks'' (2,190 grt) and ''Leningradsovet'' (1,270 grt) sunk. In addition, the ships ''Ivan Papanin'', ''Saule'', ''Kazakhstan'' and the ''Serp i Molot'' were damaged. Some 5,000 Soviet soldiers were lost.


The Mediterranean

Ju 88s first arrived in Sicily in 1940, from which they attacked allied shipping in the Mediterranean and took part in the bombing of Malta during the Siege of Malta.


North Africa

Ju 88s were used in the North African campaign, where they flew operations in support of the Axis forces in North Africa.


Italian Campaign

On 2 December 1943, 105 Ju 88 A-4s, armed with bombs and
motobomba The Motobomba, more properly the Motobomba FFF (Freri Fiore Filpa), was an Italian pattern-running torpedo used by Italian and German air forces during World War II. The designation ''FFF'' was derived from the last names of the three men involved w ...
circling torpedoes, attacked the Allied-held port of Bari, Italy. The attacking force achieved complete surprise and sunk over 20 Allied ships in the overcrowded harbour, including the U.S.
Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...
''
John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics * John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician * John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture ...
'', which was carrying
mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, b ...
. About 1,000 people were killed and another 1,000 wounded; many fatalities and injuries were as a result of the release of mustard gas. The attacking force lost one aircraft; the Allies had not assigned any fighters to guard Bari as they thought the Luftwaffe incapable of striking in this strength at this stage of the war. The port was completely closed for three weeks from the damage of the raid, and only resumed full operation in February 1944.


Finnish Air Force

In April 1943, as Finland was fighting its
Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...
against the USSR, the Finnish Air Force bought 24 Ju 88s from Germany.Stenmann 1995, p. 35. The aircraft were used to equip No. 44 Sqn, which had previously operated
Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...
s, but these were instead transferred to No. 42 Sqn. Due to the complexity of the Ju 88, the FAF spent most of 1943 training crews on the aircraft, and conducted only a handful of bombing missions. The most notable was a raid on the Lehto partisan village on 20 August 1943 (in which the whole squadron participated), and a raid on the
Lavansaari Moshchny (russian: Мощный; fi, Lavansaari; sv, Lövskär, et, Lavassaar) is an island in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, located some 120 km west of Saint Petersburg. The island is a part of the Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The ar ...
air field (leaving seven Ju 88 damaged from forced landing in inclement weather).Stenmann 1995, p. 37. In the summer of 1943, the Finns noted stress damage on the wings. This had occurred when the aircraft were used in dive bombing. Restrictions followed: the dive brakes were removed and it was only allowed to dive at a 45-degree angle (compared to 60–80 degrees previously). In this way, they tried to spare the aircraft from unnecessary wear. One of the more remarkable missions was a bombing raid on 9 March 1944 against Soviet
Long Range Aviation Long-Range Aviation ( rus, Авиация Дальнего Действия, r=Aviatsiya dal'nego deystviya, abbr. to AДД, or ADD, and literally ''Aviation of Distant Action'') is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces responsible for delive ...
bases near
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, when the Finnish aircraft, including Ju 88s, followed Soviet bombers returning from a night raid on
Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
, catching the Soviets unprepared and destroying many Soviet bombers and their fuel reserves, and a raid against the
Aerosan Aerosani (both singular and plural; russian: aэросани, literally aerosled) is a type of propeller-driven snowmobile, running on skis, used for communications, mail deliveries, medical aid, emergency recovery and border patrolling in northern ...
base at Petsnajoki on 22 March 1944.Stenmann 1995, p. 37. The whole bomber regiment took part in the defence against the Soviets during the
fourth strategic offensive Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
. All aircraft flew several missions per day, day and night, when the weather permitted.Stenmann 1995, pp. 37–38. No. 44 Sqn was subordinated ''Lentoryhmä Sarko'' during the
Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War ( fi , Lapin sota; sv, Lapplandskriget; german: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. ...
(now against Germany), and the Ju 88s were used both for reconnaissance and bombing. The targets were mostly vehicle columns. Reconnaissance flights were also made over northern Norway. The last war mission was flown on 4 April 1945.Stenmann 1995, p. 39. After the wars,
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
was prohibited from using bomber aircraft with internal bomb stores. Consequently, the Finnish Ju 88s were used for training until 1948. The aircraft were then scrapped over the following years. No Finnish Ju 88s have survived, but an engine is on display at the
Central Finland Aviation Museum The Finnish Air Force Museum ( fi, Suomen Ilmavoimamuseo), formerly the Aviation Museum of Central Finland ( fi, Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseo), is an aviation museum located near Jyväskylä Airport in Tikkakoski, Jyväskylä, Finland. The museum e ...
, and the frame structure of a German Ju 88 cockpit hood is preserved at the
Finnish Aviation Museum The Finnish Aviation Museum ( fi, Suomen ilmailumuseo, sv, Finlands flygmuseum) is a museum specialising in aircraft, located near Helsinki Airport in Veromies, Vantaa, Finland. History The Aviation Museum Society ( fi, Ilmailumuseoyhdistys ry) ...
in
Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...
.


Variants


Ju 88A

Main bomber type with
Jumo 211 The Jumo 211 was a German inverted V-12 aircraft engine, Junkers Motoren's primary aircraft engine of World War II. It was the direct competitor to the Daimler-Benz DB 601 and closely paralleled its development. While the Daimler-Benz engine ...
engines. ;Ju 88 A-0 :Pre-production aircraft. ;Ju 88 A-1 :Initial production variant. Jumo 211B-1 engines ;Ju 88 A-2 :Jumo 211 G-1 engines. ;Ju 88 A-3 :Conversion trainer. Dual controls and throttles, various instruments duplicated. ;Ju 88 A-4 :Improved variant. Longer wingspan, due to redesigned wingtips. Stronger defensive armament. Power provided by Jumo 211 J-1 or J-2 engines producing , driving wooden bladed propellers. Reinforced undercarriage. Provision for four external bomb racks. ;Ju 88 A-5. :This version actually predates the A-4. Earlier models of Ju 88 upgraded with longer wings and other equipment. Jumo 211B-1, G-1 or H-1 engines all rated at for take-off. ;Ju 88 A-6 :Was equipped with a balloon cable fender. A counterweight was mounted in the rear fuselage. Extremely vulnerable to fighter interception, most reverted to the normal A-5 version, fender and counterweight removed. ;Ju 88 A-7 :Dual control trainer based on the A-5 ;Ju 88 A-8 :This version had balloon cable cutting capabilities, crew reduced to three, Jumo 211F-1 engines ;Ju 88 A-11 :Factory built tropical version ;Ju 88 A-12 :Dual control trainer. Ventral gondola, dive brakes and all armament removed. ;Ju 88 A-13 :Low level assault version. Dive brakes and bomb sight removed. Additional armor for crew, engines and fuel tanks. Armament consisted of bombs and up to 16 MG 17 machine guns housed in gun pods. ;Ju 88 A-14 :An improved A-4 version, more armor for the crew, Kuto-Nase balloon cable cutters, MG FF cannon in the ventral gondola, bomb sight removed. ;Ju 88 A-15 :Based on the A-4, it featured an enlarged wooden bomb bay, capable of holding 3 tons of bombs. Ventral gondola removed, only two defensive MGs. It was rejected as the bomb bay "bulge" caused too much drag and a thus a reduction in speed. ;Ju 88 A-16 :Dual control trainer based on the A-14 ;Ju 88 A-17 :Dedicated torpedo bomber, no ventral gondola. One PVC torpedo rack under each wing replaced the two bomb racks. A long housing on the starboard side of the nose contained the torpedo aiming mechanisms. Crew of three.


Ju 88B

Prototype with all-new fully glazed "stepless" crew compartment nose, developed into
Junkers Ju 188 The Junkers Ju 188 was a German ''Luftwaffe'' high-performance medium bomber built during World War II, the planned follow-up to the Ju 88 with better performance and payload. It was produced only in limited numbers, due both to the presence of i ...
. ;Ju 88 B-0 :10 pre-production aircraft with "stepless" fully glazed nose.


Ju 88C

''
Zerstörer A heavy fighter is a historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons, and/or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-e ...
'', fighter-bomber and night fighter, based on A-series, but with sheet metal nose. ;Ju 88 C-1 :Heavy fighter, 20 converted from A-1, Jumo 211 engines ;Ju 88 C-2 :Heavy fighter, 20 converted from A-5 ;Ju 88 C-3 :Heavy fighter with BMW engines, none built ;Ju 88 C-4 :Heavy fighter, reconnaissance variant, based on A-5. 60 built and 60 converted from A-5 ;Ju 88 C-5 :Heavy fighter, like C-4 but with BMW 801 engines, up to four converted ;Ju 88 C-6 :Heavy fighter and Night fighter, based on A-4, Jumo 211J engines with , 900 built


Ju 88D

Long-range photo-reconnaissance variants, based on the Ju 88 A-4/A-5. ;Ju 88 D-1 :Long-range photo-reconnaissance variant based on Ju 88 A-4. ;Ju 88 D-2 :Long-range photo-reconnaissance variant based on Ju 88 A-5. ;Ju 88 D-3 :Tropicalized D-1. ;Ju 88 D-4 :Tropicalized D-2. ;Ju 88 D-5 :as D-1 but with VDM metal propellers instead of Junkers wooden propellers


Ju 88G

Night fighter, new fuselage with A-series' ventral ''Bola'' (Bodenlafette) gondola omitted, tail section from Ju 188, aerodynamically improved conformal gun pod for a quartet of forward-firing calibre, MG 151/20 autocannons below the former bomb bay. ;Ju 88 G-1 :BMW 801 radial engines with , FuG 220 ''Lichtenstein SN-2'' radar ;Ju 88 G-6 :Junkers Jumo 213A inverted V12 engines with , used either FuG 220 ''Lichtenstein SN-2'' 90 MHz or FuG 218 ''Neptun'' 158/187 MHz frequency radar, either with the usual ''Hirschgeweih'' eight-dipole aerial setup or experimentally with the more aerodynamic ''Morgernstern'' tripled crossed-dipole aerials. Some very-late-war aircraft equipped with experimental FuG 240 ''Berlin''
cavity magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field while ...
based 3 GHz radar, with dish antenna in bulbous solid nose. Optional with ''Schräge Musik'' upward firing guns with two guns. ;Ju 88 G-7 :Identical to G-6, but with Jumo 213E high-altitude engines, planned for use with FuG 218/220 with Morgenstern array or FuG 240. The G-7 was also to be installed with wings from the
Junkers Ju 188 The Junkers Ju 188 was a German ''Luftwaffe'' high-performance medium bomber built during World War II, the planned follow-up to the Ju 88 with better performance and payload. It was produced only in limited numbers, due both to the presence of i ...
. ; Ju 88G-3, 4 and 8 not produced.


Ju 88H

Long-range photo-reconnaissance, fighter variants, based on the stretched Ju 88G-series fuselage. ;Ju 88 H-1 :Long-range maritime reconnaissance variant, equipped with a FuG 200 Hohentwiel radar and a trio of remotely controlled cameras in the aft fuselage. ;Ju 88 H-2 :Fighter variant intended to attack Allied long range convoy escort aircraft armed with six Forward firing MG 151/20. ;Ju 88 H-3 :Ultra-long-range maritime reconnaissance variant similar to H-1. ;Ju 88 H-4 :Destroyer variant.


Ju 88P

Anti-tank and bomber destroyer variant with single ''Bordkanone'' series , , or twin calibre cannon in conformal ventral fuselage
gun pod A gun pod is a detachable pod or pack containing machine guns, autocannons, revolver cannons, or rotary cannons and ancillaries, mounted externally on a vehicle such as a military aircraft which may or may not also have its own guns. Description ...
mount, which mandated removal of the ''Bola'' gondola under the cockpit section, conversion of A-series bomber. Produced in small series only, they were perceived as a failure for both anti-tank and anti-bomber use. ;Ju 88 P-1 :Heavy-gun variant fitted with single ''Bordkanone'' BK 7,5 cannon in ventral gun pod. Appeared in mid-1942 in small numbers.Staerck, Chris and Paul Sinnott
''Luftwaffe: The Allied Intelligence Files.''
Washington, DC: Potomoc Books, 2002. .
Rickard, J

''historyofwar.org,'' 30 June 2007. Retrieved: 19 January 2011.
;Ju 88 P-2 :Heavy-gun variant with twin ''Bordkanone''
BK 37 The Bordkanone 3,7 (BK 3,7) ("on-board cannon 3.7") was a German anti-tank/bomber autocannon of World War II and based on the earlier 3.7 cm Flak 18 made by Rheinmetall. It was mounted on Luftwaffe aircraft such as the Junkers Ju 87 G-1 and G ...
cannon in ventral gun pod. ;Ju 88 P-3 :Heavy-gun variant with twin ''Bordkanone''
BK 37 The Bordkanone 3,7 (BK 3,7) ("on-board cannon 3.7") was a German anti-tank/bomber autocannon of World War II and based on the earlier 3.7 cm Flak 18 made by Rheinmetall. It was mounted on Luftwaffe aircraft such as the Junkers Ju 87 G-1 and G ...
cannon in ventral gun pod, and additional armor. ;Ju 88 P-4 :Heavy-gun variant with single ''Bordkanone''
BK 5 cannon The Rheinmetall ''Bordkanone'' 5, or BK-5, was a WWII-era German 50 mm autocannon primarily intended for use against Allied heavy bombers, such as the United States Army Air Forces's (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The shells had a hi ...
in ventral gun pod. There were 32 built. ;Ju 88 P-5 :Proposed heavy-gun variant with single , none known to have ever been built.


Ju 88R

C-series night fighters with BMW 801 engines.


Ju 88S

High-speed bomber series based on Ju 88 A-4 but with ventral ''Bola'' gondola omitted, smoothly glazed nose with radial-ribbed supports instead of the "beetle's eye" of the A-version, and
GM-1 {{unreferenced, date=September 2008 GM-1 (''Göring Mischung'' 1) was a system for injecting nitrous oxide (laughing gas) into aircraft engines that was used by the ''Luftwaffe'' in World War II. This increased the amount of oxygen in the fuel mix ...
nitrous-oxide boost, fastest of all variants. ;Ju 88 S-0 :Fitted with two BMW 801 G-2 engines, single dorsal gun and 14 SD65 bombs. ;Ju 88 S-1 :Fitted with two BMW 801 G-2 engines, the GM-1 boost system and could carry two SD1000 bombs externally. ;Ju 88 S-2 :Fitted with two turbocharged BMW 801J engines, wooden bomb bay extension as used on the Ju 88 A-15. ;Ju 88 S-3 :Fitted with two Jumo 213A engines and GM-1 boost system.


Ju 88T

Three-seat photo-reconnaissance version of S-series. ;Ju 88 T-1 :Based on the Ju 88 S-1 but with bomb bays fitted for extra fuel or GM-1 tanks. ;Ju 88 T-3 :Based on the Ju 88 S-3.


Operators

; *
Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; fi, Ilmavoimat, , Air forces; sv, Flygvapnet, , Air weapon) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of Finnis ...
received 24 Ju 88 A-4 aircraft. ** No. 44 Squadron ; *
French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
operated aircraft captured in Toulouse repair depot and other captured by the RAF and USAAF handed over to the French. *
French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
(Postwar) ; * Luftwaffe ; *
Royal Hungarian Air Force The Hungarian Air Force ( hu, Magyar Légierő), is the air force branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces. The task of the current Hungarian Air Force is primarily defensive purposes. The flying units of the air force are organised into a single ...
; *''
Regia Aeronautica The Italian Royal Air Force (''Regia Aeronautica Italiana'') was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolis ...
'' ; *
Royal Romanian Air Force The Air Force branch of the Royal Romanian forces in World War II was officially named the (ARR), or the Romanian Royal Aeronautics, though it is more commonly referred to in English histories as the (Royal Romanian Air Force, FARR), or simply ( ...
; *
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
**
No. 1426 Flight RAF No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight RAF, nicknamed "the Rafwaffe", was a Royal Air Force flight formed during the World War II, Second World War to evaluate captured enemy aircraft and demonstrate their characteristics to other Allied units. Several ...
operated at least five captured aircraft. ; *
Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
bought three Ju 88A-1 for evaluation in 1940 and operated captured aircraft. ; *
Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...
bought ten aircraft and put into service another 15 interned during the war.


Surviving aircraft

Only two complete aircraft exist. They were both flown into British hands by defecting crews during the war. *Ju 88 D-1/Trop, Werk Nr. ''430650'' :This is a long-range, photographic reconnaissance aircraft that was in the service of the Forţele Aeriene Regale ale României, Royal Romanian Air Force. On 22 July 1943, it was flown to Cyprus by a Romanian pilot who wanted to defect to the British forces on the island. Four Hurricanes from No. 127 Squadron RAF, No. 127 Squadron escorted it to the airfield at Tobruk. :Given the name ''Baksheesh'', it was allocated the RAF serial number ''HK959'' and test–flown in Egypt. However, by this point in the war, the RAF had already acquired three Ju-88s in flying condition and "''Baksheesh''" was handed over to the U.S. Army Air Forces, who flew it across the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic to Wright Field. :In the US, it was registered as ''FE-1598'' and used for examination and test flying from 1943 to 1944. In 1946 the aircraft was placed in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. It was shipped to the US Air Force Museum on 6 January 1960. It was previously painted in spurious Luftwaffe markings, appropriately of a German WW II ''Aufklärungsgruppe'' (reconnaissance group) while on unrestored, outdoor display; however it is presently finished in its original-style Romanian military insignia and is on protected indoor display in the World War II Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. *Ju 88 R-1, Werk Nr. ''360043'' :This aircraft is thought to have been built in mid–1942 as a model A bomber, before being converted to a model R–1 fighter in early 1943. It was flown to Scotland by its defecting crew in May 1943; two of the three crew on board (who may have been British agents)"Ju 88 R-1, Werk Nr. ''360043''."
''RAF Museum''. Retrieved: 30 January 2014.
had taken the decision to defect after being ordered to shoot down a civilian BOAC de Havilland Mosquito, Mosquito courier flight from Sweden to the UK.Jones 1979, pp. 417–418. :The aircraft took off from Aalborg, Denmark on 9 May, landing at Kristiansand, Norway for refuelling, it then took off again, supposedly for a mission over the Skagerrak. The defecting crew instead flew west to Scotland while holding the third crewmember at gunpoint. The aircraft was detected by British radar as it approached the Scottish coast and two Spitfires from No. 165 Squadron RAF, 165 Squadron were scrambled. They intercepted ''360043'' one mile inland, whereupon the Ju 88 lowered its undercarriage, dipped its wings and dropped flares, signalling the crew's intent to surrender. The Spitfires escorted ''360043'' to RAF Dyce, where it received slight damage from the airfield's anti-aircraft guns while attempting to land. The Spitfire pilots (an American and a Canadian) were mentioned in dispatches for taking the risk not to open fire on the Ju 88 upon interception. :The surrender of this aircraft was of great intelligence value at the time, as it was fitted with the latest
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
-band Lichtenstein radar, FuG 202 Liechtenstein BC A.I radar, for which a new form of the Chaff (radar countermeasure), Window radar interference method, set up for UHF-band airborne radar jamming, was developed soon afterwards. The Ju 88R-1 was operated by the RAF's No. 1426 Flight RAF, No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight and evaluated in depth by various British groups, including the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Fighter Interception Unit. It was used to assist in teaching enemy aircraft recognition skills prior to the D-Day landings, and was last flown in May 1945. In September 1954 and again in September 1955, it was displayed on Horseguards Parade for Battle of Britain week. The aircraft was restored in 1975 and fitted with a replica of its characteristic ''Matratze'' 32-dipole radar antenna array, as all its radar equipment had been removed during the war. In August 1978, it was moved to the
RAF Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is a registered charity. The museum is split into two separate sites: * R ...
, its present home. Several reasonably intact aircraft have been recovered from underwater and remote land crash sites in recent years; some of these aircraft are under restoration for static display. Notable examples include: *Ju 88 A-1, Wk Nr 0880119, with ''Geschwaderkennung'' of U4+TK - This aircraft is the subject of a long term restoration project at the Norwegian Armed Forces Aircraft Collection at Gardermoen, near Oslo, Norway. It first flew in January 1940 and served with 2.''Staffel''/Kampfgeschwader 30, under the call sign U4+TK (with the two-character ''Geschwaderkennung'' designation of U4 not recorded as ever having been used by KG 30 - that wing usually used the 4D wing code) during
Operation Weserübung Operation Weserübung (german: Unternehmen Weserübung , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway during the Second World War and the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. In the early morning of 9 Ap ...
, the German invasion of Norway. In April 1940, it was operating from the frozen surface of the Jonsvatnet, a lake near Trondheim in Norway. The lake was Trondheim Airport, Jonsvatnet, being used as an improvised airfield by the Germans, who were conducting operations against Allied naval ships and against the towns of Namsos (town), Namsos and Narvik (town), Narvik"The use of Jonsvatnet as a temporary Airfield during April 1940."
''Ju88.net.'' Retrieved: 12 September 2012.
Towards the end of April, warmer weather made the frozen lake surface unusable for flying operations and a number of aircraft were abandoned on the ice, sinking into the lake when it melted completely. The Ju 88 was recovered in late 2003, in an operation that also saw the recovery of a Heinkel He 111, Heinkel He 111 H-2 6N+NH (Wk Nr 2320) and the tail section of a second Ju 88. *Ju 88 A-4, Werk Nr.0881478 4D+AM (ex-''Stammkennzeichen'' of BH+QQ) :This aircraft, formerly of 4.''Staffel''/Kampfgeschwader 30 is displayed at the ''Norsk Luftfartsmuseum'', the Norwegian Aviation Museum at Bodø Airport. On the 13 of April 1942, it was returning from an attack on Soviet ships when it ran out of fuel. The crew bailed out in the vicinity of Snefjord but the aircraft continued its flight and, remarkably, was left comparatively intact after crash-landing on a hillside at Garddevarre in Finnmark in the far north of Norway. It remained there until recovered by the ''Norsk Luftfartsmuseum'' in 1988. *Ju 88 A-5, Werk Nr. ''0886146'' with ''Stammkennzeichen'' of CV+VP :This aircraft is held at the ''Deutsches Technikmuseum'' near Berlin. It was delivered to the Luftwaffe in June 1940 and assigned to the bomber unit Kampfgeschwader 54, who flew it in the Battle of Britain and during the German invasion of the Soviet Union. :By June 1942, it was serving with a training unit, ''Kampffliegerschule'' 3 based on the German Baltic coast. On the night of the 29 June, it was stolen by two German personnel who intended to fly to Britain and defect to the Allied side. The attempt failed and the aircraft came down in Kilsfjord, Telemark, Kilsfjord, a fjord near Kragerø, Norway.Hinton, Douglas
"Restoration: Desperate Journey, A Junkers Ju 88 is pulled from a Norwegian lake."
''Air and Space,'' 2001. Retrieved: 11 September 2012.
One man drowned but the other, Willi Voss, was rescued by Norwegian civilians. However, he was subsequently captured, returned to Germany and executed in January 1943, even though some accounts claim Voss was forced by the other man to fly at gunpoint.
''Ju88.net.'' Retrieved: 12 September 2012.
The aircraft was recovered in August 2000. Restoration work was carried out in Norway between 2000 and 2004; it was moved to Germany in August 2006.
''Ju88.net.'' Retrieved: 12 September 2012.


Specifications (Ju 88 A-4)


See also


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* Angelucci, Enzo and Paolo Matricardi. ''World Aircraft: World War II, Volume I'' (Sampson Low Guides). Maidenhead, UK: Sampson Low, 1978. . * Bergström, Christer. ''Barbarossa: The Air Battle, July–December 1941''. London: Chevron/Ian Allan, 2007. . * de Zeng, H.L., D.G. Stanket, and E.J. Creek. ''Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933–1945: A Reference Source, Volume 1''. London: Ian Allan Publishing, 2007. . * ''Die großen Luftschlachten des Zweiten Weltkriegs: Flugzeuge – Erfolge – Niederlagen'' (in German). Gebunden, Germany: Neuer Kaiser Vlg GmbH, 1994. . * Donald, David (editor). ''Warplanes of the Luftwaffe''. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1994. . * Dressel, Joachim and Manfred Griehl. ''Bombers of the Luftwaffe''. London: Arms and Armour (DAG Publications), 1994. . * Feist, Uwe. ''Junkers Ju 88 in action''. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1974. . * Goss, Chris. ''Bloody Biscay''. Manchester, UK: Crécy Publishing, 2001. . * Green, William. ''The Warplanes of the Third Reich''. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1970. . * Griehl, Manfred. ''Das geheime Typenhandbuch der deutschen Luftwaffe.'' Wölfersheim-Berstadt, Germany: Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 2004. . * Hooton, E.R. ''Luftwaffe at War: Blitzkrieg in the West, Volume 2''. London: Chevron/Ian Allan, 2007. . * Jones, R.V. ''Most Secret War''. London: Coronet Books, Hodder and Stoughton, 1979. . * Kay, Antony L. ''Junkers Aircraft and Engines: 1913–1945 (Putnam Aviation).'' Annapolis, Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute, 2004. . * * * MacKay, Ron. ''Junkers Ju 88''. Crowood Aviation, London 2001. * Munson, Kenneth. ''Fighters and Bombers of World War II''. London: Peerage Books. 1983. . * Nowarra, Heinz J. ''Die Ju 88 und ihre Folgemuster''. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. 1987. . * Scutts, Jerry. ''German Night Fighter Aces of World War II (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces, Vol. 20)''. London: Osprey Publishing, 1998. . * Stenman, Kari. "Short But Gallant: The Career of the Finnish Junkers Ju 88s". ''Air Enthusiast'', No 60, November–December 1995. Stamford, UK: Key Publishing, pp. 35–39. ISSN 0143-5450. * Suchenwirth, Richard. ''The Development of the German Air Force, 1919–1939''. North Stratford, New Hampshire, UK: Ayer Publishing, 1968. * Taylor, John W.R. "Junkers Ju 88." ''Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the present''. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. . * ''United States Air Force Museum Guidebook.'' Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio: Air Force Museum Foundation, 1975. * Wagner, Ray and Nowarra, Heinz. ''German Combat Planes: A Comprehensive Survey and History of the Development of German Military Aircraft from 1914 to 1945''. New York: Doubleday, 1971. * Weal, John.''Ju 88 Kampfgeschwader on the Western Front''. Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey Aviation, 2000. . * Winchester, Jim. "Junkers Ju 88". ''Aircraft of World War II''. London: Grange Books, 2004. .


External links


The Ingenious Ju 88, Flight magazine, 1940

www.Ju88.net
{{Authority control 1930s German bomber aircraft 1940s German fighter aircraft World War II medium bombers of Germany Junkers aircraft, Ju 088 Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1936 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft World War II aircraft of Finland