Junkers Ju 252

Ju 252
Type	Transport
Manufacturer	Junkers
Maiden flight	October 1941
Primary user	Luftwaffe
Number built	15
Variants	Junkers Ju 352

The Junkers Ju 252 was a transport plane manufactured by Junkers that made its first flight in late October 1941. The aircraft was planned as a replacement for the Junkers Ju 52/3m, but only a small number were built. One of the features of the Ju 252 design was the Trapoklappe, this being a hydraulically powered ventral loading ramp which, when fully lowered, allowed loading of heavy vehicles or freight while holding the fuselage level. Although the Ju 252 was a vast improvement over the Junkers Ju 52/3m, the situation at that time did not permit any disruption of the existing production lines, and the RLM was of the opinion that any replacement for the Junkers Ju 52/3m must make minimum demands on supplies of strategic materials and utilize power plants not required by combat aircraft. Junkers was then instructed to investigate the possibility of redesigning the Ju 252 in order that a considerable portion of wood could be included in its structure, simultaneously replacing the Junkers Jumo 211F engine with the BMW Bramo 323R engine of which surplus stocks existed. The result was the Junkers Ju 352. Production of the Ju 252 was restricted to already completed prototypes plus those for which major assemblies had already been semi-completed, thus only 15 transports of this type were completed before production was switched to the Junkers Ju 352.

Specifications (Ju 252A)

General characteristics

• Crew: 3-4
• Length: 25.10 m (82 ft 4¼ in)
• Wingspan: 34.08 m (111 ft 10⅛ in)
• Height: 5.74 m (18 ft 10⅓ in)
• Wing area: 122.63 m² (1,320 ft²)
• Empty weight: 13,100 kg (28,880 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 24,000 kg (52,911 lb)
• Powerplant: 3× Junkers Jumo 211F 12-cylinder inverted-vee engine, 1,006 kW (1,350 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 437 km/h at 5,800 m (272 mph at 19,030 ft)
• Cruise speed: 334 km/h (208 mph)
• Range: 3,980 km (2,473 miles)
• Service ceiling: 6,300 m (20,670 ft)
• Rate of climb: 228 m/min (748 ft/min)

Armament

• 1 x 13 mm MG 131 machine gun in dorsal turret
• 2 x 7.92 mm MG 15 machine gun in side windows

Template:RLM aircraft designations

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Junkers Ju 252".