Intended as successor to the highly successful W 33 and W 34 transports, the Ju 52 was planned from the late 1920s as an enlarged version of the same basic design concept, and first flew in prototype form during October 1930 with one 725hp (541kW) BMW VII Vee engine.

A nose-on view of the JU-52 transport plane.

The Ju 52a to Ju 52d initial production models for the civil market differed only in the type of engine used, but with the Ju 52/3m a threeengined powerplant was introduced for greater payload and performance. The series was built to the extent of some 4850 aircraft, the vast majority of them to meet military orders in variants between the Ju 52/3m ge and the Ju 52/3m g14e. The Ju 52/3m served initially as a bomber as well as transport, but in World War II was a transport and airborne forces aeroplane that saw operational use in every German theatre right up to May 1945.

Country of origin: Germany
Type: (Ju 52/3m g7e) three-seat transport with accommodation for 18 troops, or 12 litters, or freight
Powerplant: three 730hp (544kW) BMW 132T-2 nine-cylinder radial engines
Performance: maximum speed 286km/h (178mph); climb to 3000m (9845ft) in 17 minutes 30 seconds; service ceiling 5900m (19,360ft); range 1305km (811 miles)
Weights: empty 6500kg (14,328lb); maximum take-off 11,030kg (24,317lb)
Dimensions: span 29.20m (95ft loin); length 18.90m (62ft); height 4.52m (14ft loin)
Armament: one 13mm or 7.92mm trainable rearward-firing machine gun in rear dorsal position, provision for one 7.92mm trainable machine gun in forward dorsal position, and one 7.92mm trainable lateral-firing machine gun in each of the two beam positions

Specs and description from: Aircraft of WWII by Chris Chant (Fiedman/Fairfax, 1999, ISBN: 1-58663-303-1), a handy book covering 300 aircraft.

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