On 7th March 1932, the new version of Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft, powered by three BMW 132 radial engines, made its first flight.
The Junkers Ju 52 was created in 1930, initially being just another single-engine aircraft representing the series of all-metal aeroplanes designed by the Junkers company and featuring a corrugated duralumin metal skin. Its development, led by Ernst Zindel, was focused on creating a durable and robust aircraft, able to operate in areas with almost no infrastructure and therefore requiring little care or maintenance. And therefore, the new transport aircraft had to be, among others, powered by a diesel engine.
Nevertheless, the project caught attention of Reichswehrministerium (Reich Ministry of Defence) and since that moment its development was strongly influenced by military requirements. The needs of civil aviation were pushed off into background and it was only thanks to strong pressure of Deutsche Luft Hansa AG, that a commercial version of the Ju 52 was ever made.
The newly developed variant of the aircraft performed its maiden flight on 13th October 1930. It was powered by an 800 hp V-12 engine built by Junkers. During the course of successive rehearsals, several other engines were tested, in order to find the right power plant for that aeroplane – BMW IV, Armstrong Siddeley Leopard and Junkers Jumo 204. Nevertheless, all of them have proved to be insufficient for such a big aircraft and finally, after a crash of one of prototypes, it was decided to redevelop the Ju 52 into a trimotor configuration.
The new variant was designated Ju 52/3m (3m being an abbreviation for drei motoren, English: three motors), as distinct from initial Ju 52/1m series of prototypes.
More information about the Junkers Ju 52/3m and history of its development, as well as the Spanish-made CASA variant of the aeroplane, can be found in our articles – Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 325L) and Junkers Ju 52/3mte (CASA 325L).
We also recommend checking our article from Dreamers and Doers series, focused on Hugo Junkers and his aviation designs – 3 February – birth (1859) and death (1935) of Hugo Junkers.
