Country of origin:

Germany

Description:

General purpose civil and military transport

Power Plant:

(JU 52/3mg 7e)

Three 545 kw (730 hp) BMW T-2 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engines

Specifications:

History:

The workhorse of the German Luftwaffe in the transport role during World War II, the prototype Ju 52/ba, D-1974, powered by a 597 kw (800 hp) Junkers L.88 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled engine, first flew on 13 October 1930. After extensive testing it was re-engined with a 563 kw (755 hp) BMW VII engine and became known as the Ju 52be. When completed the second prototype was tested with a variety of engines, including the BMW VII, Armstrong Siddeley Leopard radial, and the Junkers Jumo 204 diesel.

Only six single-engine models were built and the seventh was used to develop the three-engine model, being fitted with 410 kw (550 hp) Pratt & Whitney Hornet radials as the Ju 52/3mcd. First customer for the new model was Aero Boliviano. In 1932 Ju 52/3ms were delivered to Luft Hansa and two (D-2201 ‘Boelcke’ and D2202 ‘Richthofen’) inaugurated the airline’s Berlin to London and Berlin to Rome services. Some 230 examples were delivered to Deutsche Lufthansa and continued to fly commercial services to neutral countries throughout the war.

Eighteen months later a new variant of the basic design fitted with three 429 kw (575 hp) BMW 132A radial engines (licence built Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines) was flown and became known for its abilities as a rugged, reliable, transport capable of operating successfully from small, rough, high altitude airfields.

Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG built the type in large numbers for civil and military service. It was used in the bomber–transport role in Spain in August 1936, its first task being 20 aircraft flying 10,000 Moorish troops from Spanish Morocco to Spain; and later with the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War where it was used as a bomber.

A variety of models was produced, including the Ju 52/3mg 5e with 619 kw (830 hp) BMW 132T engines; and many operated on floats and skis. The type was in the forefront of the invasions of Denmark and Norway, and was used to ferry fuel, ammunition, and equipment to forces in North Africa and on the Russian front. Production was transferred to the Junkers controlled Societe Amiot in occupied France after the fall of that country. The Ju 52/3m carried a crew of two or three and up to 18 fully-equipped troops, or 12 stretchers. A number of examples have survived in museums; and others have been airworthy in the United States, Switzerland, and Germany.

Three examples have been registered in this region, all obtained in Sweden for £500 ($1,000) each.  They were imported to operate with Gibbes Sepik Airways of Goroka, New Guinea. The first was VH-BUV (c/n 7493 – ex OH-LAO, SE-BED). This aircraft was assembled at Merseburg and was first flown on 6 December 1941. It was leased to Aero OY in Finland, later going to ABA in Sweden. At one stage it was leased to Lufthansa. Delivered by RH ‘Bobby’ Gibbes, it was flown to Australia, arriving on 18 November 1955. Registered in April 1957 as VH-BUV, it became VH-GSS in August 1959.

In February 1957 the other two aircraft were flown to Australia by Capt Brian ‘Black Jack’ Walker (VH-BUU, c/n 7256 – ex OH-LAM, SE-BUE) and Wg Cdr Robin Gray (VH-BUW, ex-Luftwaffe 641375, OY-DFU, SE-AYB). They were first registered in March 1957 to Bulolo Gold Mining Company, VH-BUW later becoming VH-GSW in January 1959 when ownership was transferred to Gibbes Sepik Airways. This aircraft was built in France as a Ju 52/3mg 14e in 1944 and was reputed to be the personal aircraft of Field Marshall Kesselring during the last years of the war, but this has never been confirmed.

Located in Sweden, the aircraft were purchased with BMW engines. However, it was considered there would be difficulty operating this engine type due to factory technical data, specifications, and stress figures being not available as the Junkers facility at Dessau was taken over by Russian forces. Nothing was forthcoming from the United Kingdom either, although British European Airways had operated a fleet after the war, but these had not been modified to the extent considered necessary in the 1950s for the Australian aircraft, particularly for the type of operations that were to be carried out.

VH-BUW was operated for a short period with the BMW engines but in 1956 was fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1340-S1H1 engine in the nose, retaining the BMW 132-3 engines on the wings. The conversion was successful for a period but in June 1956 it was flown to Bankstown, NSW, where the two BMWs were replaced, cowls from CAC Winjeels being fitted to the Wasp engines. In the meantime a conversion crew, along with Pratt & Whitney engines, flew to Sweden where the other two aircraft were converted before being flown to Australia.

The Ju 52s, like their G 31 forbears in New Guinea, proved to be extraordinarily versatile freighters. They regularly carried 3,402 kg (7,500) to 3,629 kg (8,000 lb) loads and were, with the aid of their full trailing-edge flaps, able to get in and out of short strips with ease. They were operated as general freighters and on occasion carried up to 40 native recruits at a time in high density seating for the Administration of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

The type suffered its share of incidents whilst in service. VH-BUW, on 21 March 1957, on taking-off from Wau loaded with timber, suffered an engine problem with the port engine, developed a swing and crashed into and destroyed the Qantas office beside the strip. The fuselage was broken aft of the trailing-edge and the undercarriage was destroyed. The aircraft was dismantled and, using ex-United States Army prime-movers and trailers, was conveyed from Wau to Goroka, a distance of 483 km (300 miles), in two weeks, where over a period of 12 months it was rebuilt and placed back in service.

In 1958 ‘Bobby’ Gibbes made application to the Customs Department and the Department of Civil Aviation for import licences to import two further Ju 52/3m freighters which were available in Laurenco Marques, Mozambique, and which were already fitted with R-1340 engines, but was refused because, it was said, Dakotas were to be released by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and would become available. In the event none of the latter became available. A couple of other operators sought to import Ju 52s for freight operations but none arrived.

In 1958 Gibbes Sepik Airways was sold to Mandated Airlines. At this time the Department of Civil Aviation wanted only a two-airline policy in New Guinea as in Australia, and decreed that Gibbes Sepik Airways should buy out the operations of either Qantas New Guinea or Mandated Airlines. In the event, funds were not available to do this and the airline was sold. On 15 November 1958 VH-BUV suffered an undercarriage collapse at Mendi whilst taxiing and suffered substantial damage.

In October 1959 VH-BUU crashed at the Baiyer River when it ground-looped and was never recovered, the hulk remaining in situ. VH-BUW had only been returned to the air for a short period when it and VH-BUV were grounded at Madang, broken up and sold for scrap in August 1959. The remains were shipped to Australia where they were noted in the yard of Brown’s Scrap Metals at Port Adelaide, SA in June 1962.