Page 30 - October 2018

The German Ju 87 Sturzkampfflugzeug (dive bomber) is
perhaps, the most famous ground-attack aircraft of
World War II. Nicknamed the "Stuka", this two seat
aircraft made its combat debut in 1936 during the
Spanish Civil War.

This tally includes 519 tanks, 70 assault boats, 150

self-propelled guns, 4 armoured trains and 800 other
Noted for its inverted gull wings and fixed undercarriage, vehicles. He also sank a battleship, two cruisers, a
Stuka bombers were often fitted with a wailing siren that destroyer and recorded victories against 9 aircraft. An
would terrorize enemy troops during attacks. The siren, interesting report explains how Rudel once landed his
known as the Jericho Trumpet, became an infamous aircraft to rescue novice Stuka crewmen. Not being
propaganda symbol of Nazi air power. Another notable able to take off, the men were chased for 6 km by
feature was the addition of automatic pull-up dive brakes Soviet soldiers. Their escape included a 600 meter
on each wing. Due to high acceleration, pilots were swim across icy water, only to be captured by other
known to suffer loss of vision or even blackouts during a Soviets before reaching German lines. Rudel then
dive. These brakes ensured that the aircraft recovered made another escape and despite being barefoot,
from its dive even if the pilot lost consciousness. Like wet, wounded and hunted, he managed to jog his
many other dive bombers of the time, the Ju 87’s slow way back to German lines over frozen land.
speed and poor manoeuvrability made it susceptible to Eventually a 100,000 Ruble bounty was placed on his
fighter aircraft. Eventually, the Stuka became too head by Stalin himself. At the end of the war, Rudel
vulnerable to growing opposition and the Luftwaffe was was still determined not to fall into Soviet hands. He
forced to replace it with the Fw 190 F. An estimated led three Ju 87 and four Fw 190 aircraft westward in a
6,500 Ju 87’s were built by the time production ended in 2-hour flight and surrendered to U. S. forces on May
August of 1944. 8, 1945.

The Ju 87 "G" type, represented in this scale model Hasegawa's excellent 1/32 scale model aircraft was
aircraft, was the final operational version of the Stuka. used to replicate the Ju 87 G-2 Stuka dive bomber
This aircraft was designed for combat missions on the (W.Nr. 494193) flown by Hans-Ulrich Rudel. The
Eastern Front against well armoured Soviet tanks. It model displays how Rudel’s aircraft would have
featured massive 37mm cannons mounted in gun pods looked when returning from a mission around
under each wing and loaded with a 6-round magazine of autumn of 1944. Eduard’s photo-etch cockpit was
armour piercing ammunition. The design also enabled it also included to enhance the interior.
to carry a 1,000 kg bomb load. A low stall speed, stability
and large wings made the Stuka very effective against

slow moving ground targets.
Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the most highly
decorated serviceman in Germany. During his career, he
flew a world record 2,530 combat missions and recorded
victories against almost 2,000 targets.