The Junkers Ju 46 was a German shipborne

catapult A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stor ...

-launched

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

derivative of the W 34, constructed for pre-war ''

Luft Hansa ''Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G.'' (from 1933 styled as ''Deutsche Lufthansa'' and also known as ''Luft Hansa'', ''Lufthansa'', or DLH) was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and th ...

''s mail service over the Atlantic Ocean. The first production models were delivered in 1932 and replaced the

Heinkel He 58 The Heinkel HE 12 was a Pontoon (boat), pontoon-equipped mail plane built in Germany in 1929, designed to be launched by Aircraft catapult, catapult from a liner at sea. Development The concept was hit upon after Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) had ...

, which, along with the He 12, had pioneered these ship-to-shore mail delivery flights.

Design and development

The Ju 46 was a strengthened version of the

Junkers W 34 The Junkers W 34 was a German-built, single-engine, passenger and transport aircraft. Developed in the 1920s, it was taken into service in 1926. The passenger version could take a pilot and five passengers. The aircraft was developed from the J ...

, modified for catapult launches. It was externally almost identical to the W 34 apart from a revised vertical tail. Compared to the W 34, this carried a broader- chord

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 air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

with a more rounded

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 199 ...

and a noticeably squared-off top. This revision improved control of the aircraft during the low-speed launch. The ship to shore aircraft were all

s (

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, m ...

s), though some Ju 46 were used with a fixed wheeled undercarriage and tail-skid at times in their careers. The aircraft was equipped with a 441 kW (591 hp) BMW-C

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

. A total of five aircraft were supplied, according to rebuilt civil registers, though other sources claim four. They were later equipped with more powerful BMW-E engines.

Operational history

The aircraft was used in the postal link service across the Atlantic Ocean and were based on board the NDL-liners and . Each aircraft was associated with its ship and bore its name. The first ''Bremen'' and ''Europa'' were both Ju 46fi seaplane variants and went into use in 1932. Two (or three) more, Ju 46hi variants, joined them in mid-1933, one having started life as a landplane. Both ships had been fitted with compressed air-driven catapults for this purpose. These catapults accelerated the 3,200 kg (7,050 lb) aircraft to a speed of 110 km/h (70 mph) at a distance of just 20 m (65 ft). The launch of these aircraft, painted bright red for easy spotting by rescue planes in case of emergency landings at sea, was always a special experience for the passengers. The launch at a distance of about 1,200 km (750 mi) from the destination allowed to land the mail some 24 hours ahead of the mother ship's docking.http://www.baskerville.it/Flynet/aeromedia/ilastogb.html On Westbound crossings, they flew to New York; Eastbound to Southampton, where they refuelled and went on to Bremen. These activities were limited by weather to the summer months, beginning in April 1932. After the end of their ''Luft Hansa'' service two of the Ju 46s flew with the Brazilian airline Syndicato Condor.

Operators

; *'' Syndicato Condor - Serviços Aéreos Condor'' ; *''

'' in cooperation with shipping line ''

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of ...

Specifications (Ju-46hi)

References

{{RLM aircraft designations 1930s German mailplanes Ju 046 Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1932