Junkers Ju 87 Stuka
The inverted gull wings and siren howl that announced Blitzkrieg.
The Stuka was a dedicated dive bomber whose pinpoint accuracy was the key to the early-war Blitzkrieg. Its Jericho-Trompete sirens, fitted to scream in the dive, were pure psychological warfare. Vulnerable to modern fighters, the type nevertheless remained in production into 1944 because nothing better existed for its job.
01Catastrophically successful in Poland, France, and the Low Countries, where Allied fighter opposition was overwhelmed. Losses in the Battle of Britain — where the Stuka encountered modern radar-vectored fighters for the first time — forced its withdrawal from western skies.
02Flourished again on the Eastern Front, where Soviet fighter opposition was often weak and Stuka formations could hunt Soviet armour with near-impunity. The Ju 87G "Kanonenvogel," carrying two 37 mm cannon, was a dedicated tank-buster.
03Hans-Ulrich Rudel, flying Stukas, is credited with destroying an astonishing 519 tanks, a battleship (Marat), and nearly 2,000 other vehicles — one of the most decorated soldiers of the Reich and the only person awarded the Golden Oak Leaves with Swords and Diamonds to the Knight's Cross.
Theatres of operation
- ·Every theatre of the European war
Principal operators
- ·Luftwaffe
- ·Regia Aeronautica
- ·Romanian Air Force
- ·Hungarian Air Force
Others in the same fight.
Douglas SBD Dauntless
SBD-1 / -3 / -5 / -6
Messerschmitt Bf 109
Bf 109E / F / G / K
Messerschmitt Bf 110
Bf 110C / D / F / G
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
Me 262A-1a / A-2a