Junkers Ju 52

[Sam KS2AM]

The DC-3 post reminded me of this.

Lufthansa still flies the Junkers Ju 52 around Germany for tourists. The Ju 52 was manufactured from 1932 to 1945.

Theres a neat video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YNdKZ2nMaQ

[KX5JT]

Thanks Sam... enjoyed watching the videos.  But they sure speak funny, I can't understand them.

[Sam KS2AM]

Thanks Sam... enjoyed watching the videos.  But they sure speak funny, I can't understand them.

The interviewer asks the Ju 52 pilot what he thinks about jet pilots complaining about the older Ju 52.  The Ju 52 pilot says "I just strap and ignore" ....  Or something like that.  

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Good ol' Iron Annie. There are some great shots of one of these in the movie Where Eagles Dare with Burt Lancaster and Clint Eastwood. There are actually a few of these still flying.

Lufthansa is also in the process of restoring the only existing Focke Wulf FW-200 Condor right now. Can't wait to see that one. Think it was fished out of a fjord in Norway and has wing parts recovered from a wreck on a mountain side. They'll be restoring it to airliner configuration instead of the military version it actually is, but I guess one is better than none.

[N0WEK]

That JU-52 was restored by Martin Caidin who wrote Marooned, Cyborg and The Six Million Dollar Man. He installed Pratt Whitney engines for parts availability. He fished it out of a South American jungle.

http://www.pbase.com/image/53010295

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Caidin

Somewhere there is a picture of him looking like a middle aged hell's angel standing waist deep in the roof hatch in flight.

I've also seen the video of him setting the world record for the number of skydivers out on the wing; when they'd get too many out there they'd act like spoilers and stall the wing. It looked like a couple of the jumpers were in danger of falling forward through the props as the thing pitched over, shedding jumpers.

[KC2ZFA]

bligh me, this Jerrie got away !

Attack

[N0WEK]

Hokey but fun watch ad with great air to air with a couple of Spitfires and a Ju-52...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnp9wpypZWE&feature=related

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

The opening title sequence of my favorite WWII aircraft movie Battle of Britain has a nice shot of a Ju-52 in flight, then parked on a field of He-111 bombers.

If you're into authentic aircraft and excellent flying scenes, it's tough to beat that flick. Shot in 68-69, they utilized a good number of Hurricanes and Spitfires, along with Me-109 and Heinkel He-111s. Ironically, the latter were fitted with Merlin engines. The 111s were part of the Spanish Air Force at the time, while the Me-109s were sold at auction by them to the film company. The main camera plane was a modified B-25.

A lot of other good filming too, including the Chain Home Low radar stations, plotting rooms, airfield scrambles and the rest. Stars Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Laurence Olivier, Robert Shaw and several other well knowns. Well worth watching if you haven't seen it.

[N0WEK]

The opening title sequence of my favorite WWII aircraft movie Battle of Britain has a nice shot of a Ju-52 in flight, then parked on a field of He-111 bombers.

If you're into authentic aircraft and excellent flying scenes, it's tough to beat that flick. Shot in 68-69, they utilized a good number of Hurricanes and Spitfires, along with Me-109 and Heinkel He-111s. Ironically, the latter were fitted with Merlin engines. The 111s were part of the Spanish Air Force at the time, while the Me-109s were sold at auction by them to the film company. The main camera plane was a modified B-25.

A lot of other good filming too, including the Chain Home Low radar stations, plotting rooms, airfield scrambles and the rest. Stars Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Laurence Olivier, Robert Shaw and several other well knowns. Well worth watching if you haven't seen it.

Great flick and don't forget Susannah York!

[W9GT]

Reminds me of old Ford and Stinson Tri motors.  I had the great pleasure of riding on both.  I actually got to ride shotgun in the co-pilot's seat on the Stinson.  Wow! what a great experience!  The Ford was actually an airliner that was used on a regular basis in Ohio...flew out to the islands in Lake Erie for Island Airways.  It was at an airshow in Fort Wayne in the '70's.  I also rode on "Breezy" which was nothing more than a Cessna wing, home brew open frame job with a VW engine.  That was like riding on nothing but a seat on a wing...all open...nothing between you and the wild blue yonder....what a rush!

http://www.trimotors.awiggins.com/fordlist.htm

73,  Jack, W9GT

[WA1GFZ]

Trimotor is like running a spark rig

[K5WLF]

That JU-52 was restored by Martin Caidin who wrote Marooned, Cyborg and The Six Million Dollar Man. He installed Pratt Whitney engines for parts availability. He fished it out of a South American jungle.

http://www.pbase.com/image/53010295

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Caidin

Somewhere there is a picture of him looking like a middle aged hell's angel standing waist deep in the roof hatch in flight.

I've also seen the video of him setting the world record for the number of skydivers out on the wing; when they'd get too many out there they'd act like spoilers and stall the wing. It looked like a couple of the jumpers were in danger of falling forward through the props as the thing pitched over, shedding jumpers.

Caidin's book about his time with the JU52/3m is called "The Saga of Iron Annie". Great book with a lot of pictures of the plane and Martin and his "rowdy friends". He wrote a novel called "Jericho 52" about some pilots who find a JU52 on a plateau in South America, fly it out of there, restore it and proceed to do wild things with it. I won't spoil the book for y'all, but they do change the engines to P&W R-1340s and replace the wooden props with Ham-Standard 3-blade constant speed props. Just like Martin did.

I remember the video with the skydivers. It was on "Real People" or "That's Incredible" back when. IIRC, he had 19 divers on the port wing and the yoke cranked way over to starboard when he yelled "Get 'em off of there, I can't hold it!"

About a dozen years or more ago, I stopped at Ezell Aviation in Breckenridge, TX just to say "HI". Ezell does some of the best warbird restoration work I've ever seen, so it's a must to stop and look at the planes when I go through Breckenridge. I drove around the end of the hangar and saw a JU52/3m in person for the first time. It's a big plane. Almost a 100' wingspan and the cockpit looks like it's about 3 stories up. I got a close-up look at the outside. The owner hadn't given permission for them to let folks in, so I didn't get a tour of the interior. At the time, they also had a B-25 resto that was looking better than new and Linda Finch's Lockheed Vega was there getting long-range tanks put in for her attempt at recreating Amelia Earhart's flight.

ldb
K5WLF

[Ed/KB1HYS]

every september, we have old home days and there's a fly-in at the airport (Boire Fld).  A B-17 and B-24 often come in for the show.  This last year there was a P-51 as well.   They sell seats on the 17 (not cheap).  I was at a soccer game when the 17 went over in the pattern...  some of the other parents thought I was a bit crazy, but man you won't get a chance to see that too often.  What a sound!!!  I can't imagine what it would have been like with a mission of hundreds of those things inthe air...

[WB2EMS]

For a while the B-17 "Fuddy Duddy" was based in Elmira and flying out of there. Every once in a while I'd be down at the mall across the street and have the pleasure of seeing it flying. One time it was doing Touch and Go landings in the pattern, flying over the mall parking lot about every 5 minutes as it went around the pattern. Way cool. I saw some folks stopping and paying attention like myself, but most were oblivious to the bit of history passing over their heads.

At an airshow a number of years back they had about 5-6 of the flying B-17's there and they made an amazing sound when they all were cranked up.

[Sam KS2AM]

According to the Lufthansa site, round trip flights on the Ju 52 are 199 EU for 30 minutes and 372 EU for 60 minutes.  Seems reasonable for a plane with its history.

[W7TFO]

"Sentimental Journey", the B-17 lives here and I catch it flying every once in awhile over our place. 

Lately, a four-engined radial civvy job has been making passes every other day or so.  Too high for an ID, plies a East-West course.  Sounds so sweet!

Back in the 80's, Southwest ran a Constellation in service, I flew in it several times from Yuma to Phoenix.  That was something else to watch on a cold start...Don'r inhale just yet!

73DG

[WB2EMS]

Those constellations were amazing. Eon's ago, Circa '62, as a cub scout, we toured LaGuardia airport and we got a chance to climb up in a real airplane - which turned out to be a constellation. I got to sit in the left seat for a few minutes. I remember the cockpit was an amazing number of dials and gauges and levers, mostly in groups of 4. 

We got to see the outside of a real jet, a 707, but weren't allowed to go inside.

I used to see the constellations flying occasionally. I think some of them were getting radomes put on at the local grumman plant at the time for AWACS, but don't recall that they sounded as distinct as the B-17's did. There's nothing that sounds like a 17 as far as I know. I wonder what gives them their distinct sound, besides the radials which were used on other aircraft of the period.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Speaking of Connies, Lufthansa is currently rebuilding a Super Connie Starliner on site in Maine to fly back to Germany. A fellow up there had a pair of them along with a lot of parts. They were both for sale for the longest time. Talk about a specialty item!

http://www.lufthansa-technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtportal.portal?requestednode=600&_pageLabel=Template19&_nfpb=true&webcacheURL=TV_I/Media-Relations/SuperStar/SuperStar_Flash_e.xml

http://www.wlbz2.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=96301

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsuZOn0hPhs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB0Z5QXwnd8&feature=related

Somewhere is a site with updates and photos of the project, but damned if I can find it now.

[W8VG]

I was crankin up the autobahn back in the 80's on trip from Worms to Frankfurt and caught a glimpse of a JU-52 slowly heading south at just a few thousand feet.  Seemed like it was just hanging there. 

My other run-in with vintage aircraft flying was when living in Asbury Park NJ in the early 90's.  Was up on the roof working on the old openwire fed diperpole and heard a loud prop noise towards the water.  Caught a glimpse of a B-17, C-47, and P-51 heading in formation of sorts north up the beach.   Later learned at work that there was air show on Long Island somewhere.   Was almost like seeing a ghost. 

Way cool. 

[Ott]

Speaking of Connies, Lufthansa is currently rebuilding a Super Connie Starliner on site in Maine to fly back to Germany. A fellow up there had a pair of them along with a lot of parts. They were both for sale for the longest time. Talk about a specialty item!

Todd... there was a Connie that did restaurant duty as the "Constellation Lounge" in Langhorn PA for a number of years...


http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-penndel_super_connie.htm

Some amount of work later...

http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-connie_needs_a_nose.htm

That same Connie now resides at the Air Mobility Command Museum in Delaware...

http://amcmuseum.org/exhibits_and_planes/c-121.html

[N0WEK]

I don't know if it's still there but there used to be a Connie that got impounded in Valetta, Malta that got turned into a restaurant. It was still there when I was there last in the mid 1980s.

Get into Africa and you find all kinds of old heavy iron parked in weird places, Dc-4s, 6s, 7s and such. Most of the old Boeing 707s and 720s got bought up by the US Govt and moved to Davis Monthan in AZ for spare landing gear and tail parts for the KC-135 fleet, which are basically 707s. That part of the bone yard looks like the UN!

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Sam,
      That Junkers Ju-52 is one beautiful piece of machinery! They were somewhat like our DC-3's and made up the backbone of troop transport as well as civilian "en masse" air travel at the time. Good to see the pics of it and the "Connies" and "Super Connies", etc that were posted. I remember the one in penndel,Pa like it was yesterday, and was even on it once. They reserved the plane for special events and cocktail parties, etc.

Regards,
           Joe Cro N3IBX

[WU2D]

My first flight to Europe in 1997 was to London and Hamburg. And when I landed in Germany I noticed three DC-3's were on the ground and were still in use. They were likely being used for private transport or cargo. Dunno. Here is nice picture of an Air France DC-3 which operated out of Hamburg in days gone by.