Book Review of
Junkers Ju-88A-4, Club 1/48
Author: Sebastian Piechowiak
Kagero No. 73001
ICBN: 978-83-66673-73-1
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $25.95
ICBN: 978-83-66673-73-1
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $25.95
HISTORY:
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called Schnellbomber ("fast bomber") that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war.
Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.
Despite a protracted development, it became one of the Luftwaffe's most important aircraft. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945 and more than 15,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout production the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Tactical / dive / torpedo bomber, Night / heavy fighter, Reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer: Junkers
Designer: Ernst Zindel, W. H. Evers, and Alfred Gassner
First flight: 21 December 1936
Introduction to service: 1939
Retired: 1951 (France)
Primary user: Luftwaffe
Number built: 15,183
Variants: Junkers Ju 188
Crew: 4 (pilot, bombardier/front gunner, radio operator/rear gunner, navigator/ventral gunner)
Length: 14.4 m (47 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 20 m (65 ft 7 in)
Height: 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 54.5 m2 (587 sq ft)
Empty weight: 9,860 kg (21,737 lb)
Gross weight: 12,105 kg (26,686 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 14,000 kg (30,865 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Junkers Jumo 211J-1 or 211J-2 V-12 liquid-cooled inverted piston engine, 1,000 kW (1,340 hp) each for take-off
1,010 kW (1,350 hp) at 250 m (820 ft)
790 kW (1,060 hp) at 5,200 m (17,000 ft)
Propellers: 3-bladed VDM variable-pitch propeller
Maximum speed: 470 km/h (290 mph, 250 kn) at 5,300 m (17,390 ft) and 12,500 kg (27,557 lb)
Cruise speed: 370 km/h (230 mph, 200 kn) at 5,300 m (17,390 ft) economical cruising speed
Range: 1,790 km (1,110 mi, 970 nmi) with 2,896 l (765 US gal; 637 imp gal)
Ferry range: 2,730 km (1,700 mi, 1,470 nmi) with 4,028 l (1,064 US gal; 886 imp gal)
Service ceiling: 8,200 m (26,900 ft)
Time to altitude: 5,400 m (17,700 ft) in 23 minutes
Wing loading: 220 kg/m2 (45 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.100 hp/lb (0.164 kW/kg)
Armament
Guns:1 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine gun on flexible mount in front windscreen, firing forward with 1,000 rounds, 1 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine gun on flexible mount in lower fuselage nose glazing, firing forward with 1,000 rounds, 2 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine guns on flexible mount in the rear of the cockpit canopy, firing aft with 1,000 rounds each.
1 × 7.92 mm MG 81Z twin machine gun on flexible mount in the rear ventral Bola position, firing aft with 1,000 rounds.
Bombs: Up to 1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb) of ordnance internally in two bomb bays rated at 900 kg (2,000 lb) and 500 kg (1,100 lb) or up to 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) externally.
Carrying bombs externally increased weight and drag and impaired the aircraft's performance. Carrying the maximum load usually required rocket-assisted take-off.
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Lublin, Poland.
This book is staple-bound and soft-cover of 46 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾ page format.
The text and captions are in both Polish and English.
It comes packaged in a self-sealing clear cello envelope.
The cover art shows a color photo of the author’s ICM brand, 1/48th scale, Ju-88A-4 model made up. (ICM is a Soviet company).
It is painted in a wave pattern camouflage of earth-yellow, dark-green and red-brown, with a light-blue undercarriage.
It has black spinners with a white band around them and red tips, black German crosses, outlined in white on the fusiloge sides, tops and bottom of the wings, white outlined swastika on rudder sides.
It has a wide white fuselage band with black code 3Z + red A black C atop the band.
One corner of the cover art says the book includes a free canopy masking foil.
The book contains 97 color photos and 33 black and white ones, two color side profiles.
The book covers the building of the author’s kit.
Fifty-six of the color photos are walk-around photos of each assembly step used.
Sixteen color photos are of the model completed.
There are 10 color illustrations of the machine guns. Four color illustrations of the oxygen cylinders. Four color illustrations of general views of the pilot’s seat with leather headrest and six color illustrations of the landing gear and wheels.
There are 2 color side profiles of the paint scheme that the author put on his model (already
described).
It was from Stab II/KG 77, Gerbini Airfield (Sicily) October 1942.
There are color illustrations of the covers of 8 other aircraft books that Kagero publishes:
Dornier The Yugoslav Saga 1926-2007, Ju-88 no’s 57, 59 & 64, Curtiss P-40, Messerschmitt Bf-109F-G, Focke wulf Fw-190A and Warsaw Pact vol. 1.
The self-sticking canopy masks complete the book’s contents.
This is a neat book for modelers planning on building a Ju-88 and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Kagero books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called Schnellbomber ("fast bomber") that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war.
Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.
Despite a protracted development, it became one of the Luftwaffe's most important aircraft. The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945 and more than 15,000 Ju 88s were built in dozens of variants, more than any other twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout production the basic structure of the aircraft remained unchanged.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Tactical / dive / torpedo bomber, Night / heavy fighter, Reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer: Junkers
Designer: Ernst Zindel, W. H. Evers, and Alfred Gassner
First flight: 21 December 1936
Introduction to service: 1939
Retired: 1951 (France)
Primary user: Luftwaffe
Number built: 15,183
Variants: Junkers Ju 188
Crew: 4 (pilot, bombardier/front gunner, radio operator/rear gunner, navigator/ventral gunner)
Length: 14.4 m (47 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 20 m (65 ft 7 in)
Height: 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in)
Wing area: 54.5 m2 (587 sq ft)
Empty weight: 9,860 kg (21,737 lb)
Gross weight: 12,105 kg (26,686 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 14,000 kg (30,865 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Junkers Jumo 211J-1 or 211J-2 V-12 liquid-cooled inverted piston engine, 1,000 kW (1,340 hp) each for take-off
1,010 kW (1,350 hp) at 250 m (820 ft)
790 kW (1,060 hp) at 5,200 m (17,000 ft)
Propellers: 3-bladed VDM variable-pitch propeller
Maximum speed: 470 km/h (290 mph, 250 kn) at 5,300 m (17,390 ft) and 12,500 kg (27,557 lb)
Cruise speed: 370 km/h (230 mph, 200 kn) at 5,300 m (17,390 ft) economical cruising speed
Range: 1,790 km (1,110 mi, 970 nmi) with 2,896 l (765 US gal; 637 imp gal)
Ferry range: 2,730 km (1,700 mi, 1,470 nmi) with 4,028 l (1,064 US gal; 886 imp gal)
Service ceiling: 8,200 m (26,900 ft)
Time to altitude: 5,400 m (17,700 ft) in 23 minutes
Wing loading: 220 kg/m2 (45 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.100 hp/lb (0.164 kW/kg)
Armament
Guns:1 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine gun on flexible mount in front windscreen, firing forward with 1,000 rounds, 1 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine gun on flexible mount in lower fuselage nose glazing, firing forward with 1,000 rounds, 2 × 7.92 mm MG 81J machine guns on flexible mount in the rear of the cockpit canopy, firing aft with 1,000 rounds each.
1 × 7.92 mm MG 81Z twin machine gun on flexible mount in the rear ventral Bola position, firing aft with 1,000 rounds.
Bombs: Up to 1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb) of ordnance internally in two bomb bays rated at 900 kg (2,000 lb) and 500 kg (1,100 lb) or up to 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) externally.
Carrying bombs externally increased weight and drag and impaired the aircraft's performance. Carrying the maximum load usually required rocket-assisted take-off.
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Lublin, Poland.
This book is staple-bound and soft-cover of 46 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾ page format.
The text and captions are in both Polish and English.
It comes packaged in a self-sealing clear cello envelope.
The cover art shows a color photo of the author’s ICM brand, 1/48th scale, Ju-88A-4 model made up. (ICM is a Soviet company).
It is painted in a wave pattern camouflage of earth-yellow, dark-green and red-brown, with a light-blue undercarriage.
It has black spinners with a white band around them and red tips, black German crosses, outlined in white on the fusiloge sides, tops and bottom of the wings, white outlined swastika on rudder sides.
It has a wide white fuselage band with black code 3Z + red A black C atop the band.
One corner of the cover art says the book includes a free canopy masking foil.
The book contains 97 color photos and 33 black and white ones, two color side profiles.
The book covers the building of the author’s kit.
Fifty-six of the color photos are walk-around photos of each assembly step used.
Sixteen color photos are of the model completed.
There are 10 color illustrations of the machine guns. Four color illustrations of the oxygen cylinders. Four color illustrations of general views of the pilot’s seat with leather headrest and six color illustrations of the landing gear and wheels.
There are 2 color side profiles of the paint scheme that the author put on his model (already
described).
It was from Stab II/KG 77, Gerbini Airfield (Sicily) October 1942.
There are color illustrations of the covers of 8 other aircraft books that Kagero publishes:
Dornier The Yugoslav Saga 1926-2007, Ju-88 no’s 57, 59 & 64, Curtiss P-40, Messerschmitt Bf-109F-G, Focke wulf Fw-190A and Warsaw Pact vol. 1.
The self-sticking canopy masks complete the book’s contents.
This is a neat book for modelers planning on building a Ju-88 and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Kagero books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly Recommended.