Junkers Ju 287

Infobox Aircraft
name = Ju 287
type = Bomber prototype
manufacturer = Junkers



caption =
designer = Philipp von Doepp
first flight = 16 August 1944
introduced =
retired =
status =
primary user =
more users =
produced =
number built = 2
unit cost =
variants with their own articles =

The Junkers Ju 287 was a flying testbed built to develop the technology required for a multi-engined jet bomber aircraft. It was powered by four Junkers Jumo 004 engines, featured a revolutionary swept forward wing and was built largely from scavenged components from other aircraft. The flying prototype and an unfinished second prototype were captured by the Red Army in the closing stages of World War II and the design was further developed in the Soviet Union after the end of the war.

Development

The Ju 287 was intended to provide the Luftwaffe with a bomber that could avoid interception by outrunning enemy fighters. The swept-forward wing was suggested by the project's head designer, Dr Hans Wocke as a way of providing extra lift at low airspeeds - necessary because of the poor responsiveness of early turbojets at the vulnerable times of take-off and landing. The first prototype was intended to evaluate the concept, and was cobbled together from the fuselage of a Heinkel He 177, the tail of a Junkers Ju 388, main undercarriage from a Junkers Ju 352, and nosewheels taken from crashed B-24 Liberators. Two of the Jumo 004 engines were hung under the wings, with the other two mounted in nacelles added to the sides of the forward fuselage.

Flight tests began on 16 August 1944, with the aircraft displaying extremely good handling characteristics, as well as revealing some of the problems of the forward-swept wing under some flight conditions. Tests also suggested that the aircraft would benefit from concentrating more engine mass under the wings, a feature that was to be incorporated on the subsequent prototypes. These were to have been powered by Heinkel HeS 011 engines, but because of the development problems experienced with that motor, the BMW 003 was selected in its place. The second and third prototypes were to have six of these engines, the former with a cluster of three under each wing, the latter with two under each wing and one on each side of the fuselage, as the first prototype had. These machines were to have all-new, purpose designed fuselages, and the third prototype was also to carry armament and serve as the development aircraft for a production version.

Before the second prototype was complete, though, the Junkers factory was over-run. Wocke and his staff, along with the two prototype aircraft, were taken to the Soviet Union. There, the second prototype (returned to its original Junkers in-house designation, EF-131) was eventually finished and flown on 23 May 1947, but by that time, jet development had already overtaken the Ju 287. A final much-enlarged derivative, the OKB-1 EF 140 was tested in prototype form in 1949 but soon abandoned.

pecifications (Ju 287 V1)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=jet
ref=Fact|date=February 2008
crew=two, pilot and co-pilot
capacity=
payload main=
payload alt=
length main= 18.30 m
length alt= 60 ft
span main= 20.11 m
span alt= 65 ft 11 in
height main= 4.70 m
height alt= 15 ft
area main= 61 m²
area alt= 655 ft²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 12,500 kg
empty weight alt= 27,500 lb
loaded weight main= 20,000 kg
loaded weight alt= 44,000 lb
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
more general=
engine (jet)=Junkers Jumo 004B-1
type of jet=turbojets
number of jets=4
thrust main= 8,825 kN
thrust alt= 1,984 lb_f
thrust original=
afterburning thrust main=
afterburning thrust alt=
max speed main= 780 km/h
max speed alt= 487.5 mph
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
range main= 1,570 km
range alt= 980 miles
ceiling main= 9,400 m
ceiling alt= 30,000 ft
climb rate main= 580 m/min
climb rate alt= 1,890 ft/min
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
guns=2 x 13 mm MG 131 machine guns in tail turret
bombs=4,000 kg (8,800 lb) of bombs (proposed)
avionics=

ee also

aircontent
related=
*Boeing B-47

lists=
*List of military aircraft of Germany
*List of World War II jet aircraft

see also=

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Hitchcock, Thomas H. "Junkers 287 (Monogram Close-Up 1)". Acton, MA: Monogram Aviation Publications, 1974. ISBN 0-914144-01-4.

External links

* [http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/ju287-1.jpgJu 287]