Book Review of
Junkers Ju-88
Author: Malcolm V. Lowe
Key Books
ISBN: 978-1-80282-314-1
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-80282-314-1
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $24.95
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:
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:
Key Books is located in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover of 128 pages in 6 ¾” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a black and white wartime photo of a Ju-88 sitting on a runway. It is dark-green over a light-grey undercarriage. The back cover shows a Ju-88 flying at night over clouds. It is just a black silhouette.
The book contains 162 black and white wartime photos. A photo of a giant G-3B airliner, Junkers J-13, J-1, Ju-52, Ju-87 “Stuka” and a Ju-90 airliner.
Three data lists, photos of: landing gear, interior, dive brakes, canopy (with a 2-view line drawing of it), four three-view line-drawings, the Junkers emblem, six photos of crashed Ju-88’s (including one with a British soldier beside it, looking at the illustration of a half-moon and bat on its nose), 3 photos of Junker’s engineers, a Ju-88 with Fug 212 radar antenna on its nose, a Mistile 2 version that is carrying either a Fw-190 or Br-109 atop a scaffolding on top of it, pilots and ground-crewmen, drop tanks, bombs, torpedo.
75mm belly anti-tank cannon, white ship-kill victory markings on rudder, aerial camera, a captured Ju-88 with 86th Fighter Squadron and Indian above a cloud illustration on its nose, a Ju-188 & Ju-388, a Ju-88 with a barrage-balloon cable-cutter on its nose.
The last page of the books shows 6 black and white cover arts of other Key books: B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell, Hawker Typhoon, Hungarian Arms & Armour of World War Two, Allied Aircraft of D-Day and German Tanks of World War Two.
Key Publishings web address is provided and you can receive two free books by entering their VIP Book Club.
This is a neat book on the Ju-88 and it’s variants. It will be of interest to modelers and aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Key Books for this review sample. All Key book 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:
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:
Key Books is located in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover of 128 pages in 6 ¾” x 9 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a black and white wartime photo of a Ju-88 sitting on a runway. It is dark-green over a light-grey undercarriage. The back cover shows a Ju-88 flying at night over clouds. It is just a black silhouette.
The book contains 162 black and white wartime photos. A photo of a giant G-3B airliner, Junkers J-13, J-1, Ju-52, Ju-87 “Stuka” and a Ju-90 airliner.
Three data lists, photos of: landing gear, interior, dive brakes, canopy (with a 2-view line drawing of it), four three-view line-drawings, the Junkers emblem, six photos of crashed Ju-88’s (including one with a British soldier beside it, looking at the illustration of a half-moon and bat on its nose), 3 photos of Junker’s engineers, a Ju-88 with Fug 212 radar antenna on its nose, a Mistile 2 version that is carrying either a Fw-190 or Br-109 atop a scaffolding on top of it, pilots and ground-crewmen, drop tanks, bombs, torpedo.
75mm belly anti-tank cannon, white ship-kill victory markings on rudder, aerial camera, a captured Ju-88 with 86th Fighter Squadron and Indian above a cloud illustration on its nose, a Ju-188 & Ju-388, a Ju-88 with a barrage-balloon cable-cutter on its nose.
The last page of the books shows 6 black and white cover arts of other Key books: B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell, Hawker Typhoon, Hungarian Arms & Armour of World War Two, Allied Aircraft of D-Day and German Tanks of World War Two.
Key Publishings web address is provided and you can receive two free books by entering their VIP Book Club.
This is a neat book on the Ju-88 and it’s variants. It will be of interest to modelers and aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Key Books for this review sample. All Key book titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.