The Junkers Ju88A-4

The Ju 88 was one of the most versatile aircraft of WWII. It began it's career in 1936 and by 1939 it had been developed as a fast dive bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. Later it was used as a torpedo bomber, a night fighter, a heavy day fighter and an antitank aircraft. Built totally of metal, it was fast nimble and very popular. The Ju 88 saw service during all the campaigns in 1939 and 1940, in the battle of Britain, in the Balkans, in the Mediterranean sea and at the Eastern front.

 

The A series were bombers, torpedo bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. They were powered by a pair of 1007 kW Junkers Jumo 211J-1 engines. This set gave the bomber a maximum speed of 292 mph (470 km/h), a ceiling of 26,900 ft (8200 m) and a range of 1,700 mi (2730 km). It usually carried one 13 mm, three 7.92 mm and a set of twin 7.92 mm machine guns and 6,600 lbs (3,000 kg) of bombs. The Ju 88G-6 nightfighter usually had a crew of three (pilot, radar operator and rear gunner) sometimes four. It was powered by two 1305kW Junkers Jumo 213A-1 engines. Maximum speed was 360 mph (580 km/h), with a ceiling of 31,500 ft (9600m) and a range of 1360 MI (2,195 km). It packed quite a wallop with five or six 20 mm cannons (including a set of cannons firing upwards at an angle of 60 degrees, called Schrage Musik) and a heavy 13 mm machine gun in the rear. These armaments were required to quickly down the large Allied bombers at night, when they could be visible for only a short period of time. Later G variants carried short-range Lichtenstein radar to detect bombers after being vectored to them by Wurzberg radar operators on the ground.