The Junkers Ju 87, Stuka! The name is a shortened version of Sturzkampfflugzeug, meaning dive-bomber. The distinctive profile with inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage was instantly recognised. Capable of diving at a 90 degree angle of attack with its sirens – the ‘Jericho-Trumpete’ – wailing, it was much feared by its victims. Making its combat debut in the Spanish Civil War, the Stuka became a potent propaganda symbol of German air power.
Stuka at an airfield on Sicily; its next mission is to attack Malta. The gaping mouth scoops in air to cool the radiator for the Jumo 211 inverted-vee twelve-cylinder engine.
Two views of the Stuka in action from the pages of Signal.The photographer/correspondent was Hans Schaller. ‘The first row of planes is flying next to my machine. I have been allowed to follow them with my camera until the bombs fall. We are already high above the clouds and my planes are below me. They are just changing course. I cannot hear them above the noise of my own machine; they seem to be flying quietly and noiselessly above the landscape like sharp-eyed birds of prey, eager to claim their victims, thirsting to attack ... One of the dive-bombers is leaving the formation! The machine tilts to one side, begins to dive, plunges straight down through a milky wall of cloud towards the objective, hurtles down steeper and steeper, stands on its head almost perpendicular ... The machine has reached its objective, the pilot releases the bombs.’
A dramatic shot of Stukas. ‘Dive-bombers in advance over enemy territory,’ says the original caption.
Stukas in Greece. In addition to the Spanish Civil War, the Ju 87 also saw service during the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the invasion of Denmark and Norway and during the Blitzkrieg that swept across France and the Low Countries. During the Battle of Dunkirk, many Allied ships were lost to Stuka attacks, including the French destroyer Adroit and eight of the Royal Navy’s vessels used in the battle. The Stukas also had some success in the early stages of the Battle of Britain, including attacks on shipping, harbours and airfields, but set against determined fighter opposition their slow speed and inadequate defensive firepower made them vulnerable, and they were withdrawn in August after incurring prohibitive losses. Stukas were also deployed to the Mediterranean and North Africa, and from June 1941 took part in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Stuka crews study the charts in a preflight briefing. Each Ju 87 had a two-man crew.
The physical stress and G-forces encountered in the extreme dives and, in particular, the sharp pull-outs could cause pilots to lose vision temporarily or even to black out. Having released the bomb an automatic pull-out mechanism was initiated by pressing a knob on the control panel. It was not universally liked by the Stuka pilots as many believed it allowed the enemy’s anti-aircraft gun crews to anticipate the aircraft’s recovery pattern. The most decorated Stuka ace was Hans-Ulrich Rudel.