Junkers Ju 188

1942

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Junkers Ju 188

The Ju 188 was a development of the Ju 88. It had a redesigned nose, new wings of greater span with pointed tips, and heavier armament.

The first major versions were the Ju 188E and Ju 188F of 1941, which entered service before the Ju 188A and were bombing and reconnaissance types respectively. Power for these was provided by 1,267kW BMW 801D and G engines. Next came the Ju 188A which had been held up by the slow delivery of the 1,323kW Jumo 213A engines. One version of the A was adapted to carry two torpedoes. The Ju 188D was a reconnaissance sister to the A fitted with the same engines and armament.

Projected versions of the Ju 188 included the C bomber (with a remotely controlled tail turret); G (development of the G); H reconnaissance aircraft (developed from the G); R night fighter; and the T photographic reconnaissance aircraft with a pressure cabin. The only other version to enter service was the Ju 188S, a three-seat high-altitude bomber powered by Jumo 213E engines and with a pressurised crew cabin. The priority for low-level attack aircraft caused an abrupt end to Ju 188S production, all remaining airframes being converted into unpressurised aircraft mounting a 50mm BK 5 cannon. More than 1,000 Ju 188s of all versions were built.

Junkers Ju 188

Specification 
 MODELJu 188E-1
 CREW4
 ENGINE2 x 1194kW BMW 801ML radial engines
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight14570 kg32122 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan22.00 m72 ft 2 in
  Length15.06 m49 ft 5 in
  Height4.46 m15 ft 8 in
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed500 km/h311 mph
  Ceiling9300 m30500 ft
  Range2480 km1541 miles
 ARMAMENT1 x 20mm cannon, 2 x 13mm + 1 x 7.92mm machine-guns, 3000kg of bombs

Comments
Klaatu83, e-mail, 30.10.2014 20:19

The engineering department at Junkers developed a bewildering array of different versions of the Ju-188. Specialized versions were developed for dive-bombing, photo-reconnaissance, high-altitude level bombing (with pressurized crew compartment), torpedo-dropping and night-fighting, among others. In addition versions were developed with at least two entirely different engines installed, one with air-cooled radials and one with liquid-cooled inverted V-12 engines. Small wonder the factory only ever managed to complete about 1,200 aircraft of this type!

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Barry, 04.02.2013 19:02

Owing to delays in the production of the Ju88 replacement, the Ju288, it was decided to proceed with the private venture Ju188. Flying in the spring of 1942 the first prototype was powered by BMW801MA radial engines. The 'Technishe Amt' stipulated that the new aeroplane should be able to take both the BMW engine and the Junkers Jumo 213 without any modification to the airframe. This would save any production problems should either engine become unavailable. In the end 1,076 were produced. Whilst production was also undertaken at ATG, Leipzig and Siebel /Halle, the most unusual production was the 12 JU188Es produced from components by SNCASE at Toulouse for use by the Aeronavale after the war's end.

The colour illustration is of Jumo 213 powered radar equipped Ju188D-2 of 1. /FAGr124 based at Kirkenes Norway.

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kuaican, 20.06.2011 05:31

Wished I had fown missions with tah bird instead of the He111 wlkl

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Klaatu, e-mail, 03.05.2011 21:59

Basically an slightly-upgraded Ju-88, this aircraft only went into production because the bomber the Luftwaffe really wanted, the Ju-288, never panned out.

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wlkriessmann, e-mail, 26.09.2010 03:37

I checked the 188 out at Hannover- Langenhagen( May2nd 1943 (CC+LA) I was supposed to ferry factory to units; did some early August and took the last one on Otober the 15th (BT+CF) from Esperstedt-Kirchenlaibach- Prag /Rucine .Wonderful plane. Wished I had fown missions with tah bird instead of the He111 wlkl

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