Junkers Ju 88

Ju 88
A Ju 88A over France in 1942
General information
Type	Tactical / dive / torpedo bomber Night / heavy fighter Reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer	Junkers
Designer	Ernst Zindel, W. H. Evers, and Alfred Gassner
Primary user	Luftwaffe
Number built	15,183[1]
History
Introduction date	1939
First flight	21 December 1936
Retired	1951 (France)
Variants	Junkers Ju 188

The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the Luftwaffe and became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the conflict.

The aircraft was originated from the EF59 design study of the mid-1930s, the work being headed by Junkers' chief designer Ernst Zindel. It was designed as a so-called Schnellbomber ("fast bomber") that would evade interception by enemy fighters of its era by being quite quick for a bomber. On 21 December 1936, the first prototype performed its maiden flight. During late 1937, the Ju 88 was developed into a heavy dive bomber, but this proved to be too stressful for the airframe even with modifications. A series of technical problems troubled its development, delaying its introduction to squadron service from 1938 to September 1939, by which point the Second World War had commenced; the Ju 88 first saw action during the invasion of Poland.

Despite its protracted development, the Ju 88 became one of the Luftwaffe's most important aircraft. The aircraft, akin to several other German bombers of the era, served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, and heavy fighter. Perhaps most unusually, it was adapted into a flying bomb towards the end of the war.^[2] The assembly line ran constantly from 1936 to 1945, building in excess of 15,000 Ju 88s across dozens of variants, making it the second-most produced bomber of all time, behind the four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator, and the most-produced twin-engine German aircraft of the period. Throughout its production run, the basic structure of the Ju 88 remained unchanged.^[3]