If ever a sight and a sound came to symbolise the terror of the German Blitzkrieg then it was the Junkers Ju 87 – the Stuka. Here, Jonathan Falconertakes a look at the history of this infamous warplane.
AERIAL ARTILLERY
Junkers Ju 87
Even its name sounds aggressive, derived as it is from the word ‘Sturzkampfflugzeug’, which is the generic German term for dive-bomber. With its distinctive cranked wing and vulture-like looks, the blood curdling shriek of a Stuka in a vertical power-dive was certain to strike fear and panic into the most battle-hardened soldiers as well as defenceless civilians.
In the early days of the war the Ju 87 certainly lived up to its fearsome reputation but later, when it came up against better equipped adversaries and the war had changed in character, the Stuka finally met its match.
SPAIN AND POLAND
The first in a succession of prototypes of the Ju 87 flew in the spring of 1935 and in late 1936 a handful of pre-production aircraft were secretly shipped to Spain where they flew with the Condor Legion in the Civil War. It was in Spain that the fledgling Luftwaffe gained invaluable experience, testing and refining the Blitzkrieg tactic and developing air-toground communications betw…
