Junkers EF 132

EF 132
Type	Bomber
Manufacturer	Junkers
Status	Incomplete
Number built	0
Developed from	Junkers Ju 287

The EF 132 was a planned jet bomber, under development for the Luftwaffe during World War II. It was the last aircraft project development undertaken by Junkers during the war, and was the culmination of the Junkers Ju 287 design started in 1942.

Design

The Junkers EF 132 was one of the last aircraft project developments undertaken by Junkers in WWII, and was the culmination of the Junkers Ju 287 design started in 1942. The shoulder-mounted wings were swept back at a 35 degree angle and featured a small amount of anhedral. Six Junkers Jumo 012 jet engines, each of which developed 24.5 kN (5,500 lbf) of thrust, were buried in the wing roots. Wind tunnel results showed the advantages of having the engines within the wing, rather than causing drag by being mounted below the wing surfaces. Several wooden mockups were built of the wing sections, in order to find the best way to mount the engines without wasting too much space while at the same time providing maintenance accessibility. The landing flaps were designed to be split flaps, and the goal was to make the gearing and operation simple. Because of the high placement of the wings to the fuselage, an unbroken bomb bay of 12 meters (39 ft 4 in) could be utilized in the center fuselage. The tail planes were also swept back and the EF 132 had a normal vertical fin and rudder. An interesting landing gear arrangement was planned, that consisted of a nose wheel, two tandem main wheels beneath the center rear fuselage, and outrigger-type wheels under each outer wing. A fully glazed, pressurized cockpit located in the extreme fuselage nose held a crew of five. Armament consisted of two twin 20 mm cannon turrets (one located aft of the cockpit, the other beneath the fuselage) and a tail turret containing another twin 20 mm cannon. All of this defensive armament were remotely controlled from the cockpit, and a bomb load of 4,000-5,000 kg (8,818-11,023 lb) was envisioned to be carried.

Tests and outcome

A windtunnel model was tested in early 1945, and a full scale wooden mockup was also built at the Dessau Junkers facility. The development stage had progressed far when the Red Army reached the Dessau complex and took possession of the Junkers Ju 287 and EF 132 designs and components. In October, 1946 the whole complex and the German engineers were transferred to the Soviet Union to continue the development of both the Ju 287 and EF 132. The Soviets tested the EF 132, using Mikulin jet engines and later evolved the plane by placing two Lyuka AL-5 engines in nacelles under the wings and giving it a T-tail. Two prototypes were tested as the EF 150, but lost to the Tupolev Tu-16 in the related competition.