Despite initial competition from the Henschel Hs 123, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM, the German aviation ministry) turned to the designs of Herman Pohlmann of Junkers and co-designer of the K 47, Karl Plauth. Įrnst Udet the greatest proponent of the dive-bomber and the Ju 87 (1928 photo)Īfter the Nazis came to power, the design was given priority.
The military version of the Ju A 48 was designated the Ju K 47. Pohlmann continued to carry on developing and adding to his ideas and those of Dipl Ing Karl Plauth (Plauth was killed in a flying accident in November 1927), and produced the Ju A 48, which underwent testing on 29 September 1928. This led to many technical innovations, such as the retractable undercarriage being discarded in favour of one of the Stuka's distinctive features, its fixed and "spatted" undercarriage. The Ju 87's principal designer, Hermann Pohlmann, held the opinion that any dive-bomber design needed to be simple and robust.
The aircraft is easily recognisable by its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage.
The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 and served in Axis forces in World War II (1939-1945).
Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft.