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Junkers J2

1916 WORLD WAR 1 X-PLANE

Junkers J2 Story

The first purpose-built all-metal military monoplane was the 1916 Junkers "J2" prototype. Only six were built, but the series ushered in a new era in aircraft design in terms of combat-oriented platforms. Unfortunately, at the time it came out, cloth-wood biplanes and triplanes were still the accepted standard of comfort, so the number of Hugo Junkers designs that were actually adopted in World War I (1914-1918) was very limited. become. (51 metal cases 1917 CL.

I was produced for the German Empire).

Hugo Junkers had been promoting the idea of ??an all-metal aircraft before World War I, but the conflict made the concept mature even faster. This work resulted in the J1 monoplane, which first flew in December 1915.

The purely experimental J1 laid the groundwork for the subsequent J2 - a dedicated fighter for the German aviation service.

The J1's success in testing led to the J2 being funded by Luftwaffe research and a contract with Junkers & Company for six all-metal aircraft for the fighter's role on the battlefield. This type of aircraft requires good handling and performance, as well as reliability and robustness, which results in a very stable firing platform - no small feat for any wartime aircraft design. The engine of choice was the Mercedes D.II Inline, which produced 120 horsepower and was able to propel the J1 prototype to a speed of 110 mph (the Luftwaffe requires the new aircraft to be at least 90 mph).

Armament is 1 x 7.92mm Spandau IMG 08 series machine gun, synchronised to fire through rotating propeller blades.

The resulting design is a rounded hull. Monoplane wings are slender appendages attached to the sides of the fuselage and supported internally. The tail is conventional (although the rudder is a fully moving surface), as is the landing gear.

The engine sits on the nose and drives a twin-blade propeller unit, and the pilot sits in an open-air cockpit behind this unit. Due to the in-game monoplane, cockpit visibility should be reasonably good compared to competing biplane and triplane types seen in war.

A raised fuselage spine and an additional anti-roll bar protect the pilot's head and neck from the accidental rollover of the aircraft. Contrary to the exposed shape of the earlier J1, the engine fittings are almost completely enclosed within the forward fuselage section.

As impressive and revolutionary as the J1 debuted, the J2 is even more so. The first prototype was completed in early 1916, and the first flight was recorded on July 11 of that year during an official structural review.

Overall, the aircraft exhibited great maneuverability and turning ability, and was generally stablethough its primary metal structure limited the rate of climb, a key attribute of World War I air combat. The top speed reached during this period was 112 miles per hour.

The project was never able to overcome the lack of weight, and a test pilot was killed in a September 1916 crash. The incident ended official government support for the aircraft. In the upcoming J3 design, lighter "duralumin" replaces the electrical steel used in the prototype J1 and J2.

In testing (using a 160-horsepower Mercedes D.III engine), the J2 had a top speed of 124 mph, a range of up to 382 miles, and a service ceiling of 14,760 feet.