The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 and served Axis forces in World War II (1939–1945).

The aircraft is easily recognisable by its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage. Upon the leading edges of its faired main gear legs were mounted ram-air sirens known as Jericho trumpets , which became a propaganda symbol of German air power and of the so-called Blitzkrieg victories of 1939–1942, as well as providing Stuka pilots with audible feedback as to speed. The Stuka's design included several innovations, including automatic pull-up dive brakes under both wings to ensure that the aircraft recovered from its attack dive even if the pilot blacked out from the high g-forces.

The Ju 87 operated with considerable success in close air support and anti-shipping roles at the outbreak of World War II. It led air assaults in the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Stukas proved critical to the rapid conquest of Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in 1940. Though sturdy, accurate, and very effective against ground targets, the Stuka was, like many other dive bombers of the period, vulnerable to fighter aircraft. During the Battle of Britain of 1940-1941, its lack of manoeuvrability, speed and defensive armament meant that it required a heavy fighter escort to operate effectively.

After the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe deployed Stuka units in the Balkans Campaign, the African and the Mediterranean theatres and in the early stages of the Eastern Front war, where it was used for general ground support, as an effective specialised anti-tank aircraft and in an anti-shipping role. Once the Luftwaffe lost air superiority, the Stuka became an easy target for enemy fighter-aircraft. It was produced until 1944 for lack of a better replacement. By 1945 ground-attack versions of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 had largely replaced the Ju 87, but it remained in service until the end of the war in 1945.

Germany built an estimated 6,000 Ju 87s of all versions between 1936 and August 1944.

Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel became the most successful Stuka pilot and the most highly decorated German serviceman of the Second World War.

The Ju 87's principal designer, Hermann Pohlmann, held the opinion that any dive-bomber design needed to be simple and robust. This led to many technical innovations, such as the retractable undercarriage being discarded in favour of one of the Stuka's distinctive features, its fixed and "spatted" undercarriage. Pohlmann continued to carry on developing and adding to his ideas and those of Dipl Ing Karl Plauth (Plauth was killed in a flying accident in November 1927), and produced the Ju A 48, which underwent testing on 29 September 1928. The military version of the Ju A 48 was designated the Ju K 47.


Ernst Udet; the greatest proponent of the dive-bomber and the Ju 87
Despite initial competition from the Henschel Hs 123, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM, the German aviation ministry) turned to the designs of Herman Pohlmann of Junkers and co-designer of the K 47, Karl Plauth. During the trials with the K 47 in 1932, the double vertical stabilisers were introduced to give the rear gunner a better field of fire. The main, and what was to be the most distinctive, feature of the Ju 87 was its double-spar inverted gull wings. After Plauth's death, Pohlmann continued the development of the Junkers dive bomber. The Ju A 48 registration D-ITOR, was originally fitted with a BMW 132 engine, producing 450 kW (600 hp).
General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 11.10 m (36 ft 5 in)
Wingspan: 13.805 m (45 ft 3.5 in)
Height: 4.01 m (13 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 31.900 m2 (343.37 sq ft)
Airfoil: Göttingen 256
Empty weight: 2,712 kg (5,980 lb)
Empty equipped weight: 2,760 kg (6,090 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 4,336 kg (9,560 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Junkers Jumo 211Da V-12 inverted liquid-cooled piston engine, 890 kW (1,200 hp) for take-off
820 kW (1,100 hp) at 1,500 m (4,920 ft)
Propellers: 3-bladed Junkers constant-speed propeller
Performance

Maximum speed: 339.6 km/h (211.0 mph, 183.4 kn) at sea level
383 km/h (238 mph; 207 kn) at 4,087 m (13,410 ft)
Cruise speed: 209 km/h (130 mph, 113 kn) at 4,572 m (15,000 ft)
Range: 595.5 km (370.0 mi, 321.5 nmi) with 500 kg (1,102 lb) bomb
789 km (490 mi; 426 nmi) without bomb load
Rate of climb: 2.3 m/s (450 ft/min)
Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in 2 minutes
2,000 m (6,562 ft) in 4 minutes 18 seconds
3,716 m (12,190 ft) in 12 minutes
Armament
Guns: 2× 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG 17 machine gun forward, 1× 7.92 mm (0.31 in) MG 15 machine gun to rear
Bombs: 1× 250 kg (550 lb) bomb beneath the fuselage and 4× 50 kg (110 lb) under-wing.

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