Junkers Ju EF 132

Junkers Ju EF 132 History

The Luftwaffe recognized the importance of jet aircraft in the middle and late WWII (1939-1945). The main developments were the Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" jet fighter and the Arado Ar 234 "Blitz" fast bomber.

And many more designs never came, because the conflict ended too quickly for German engineers in their faltering war effort to deliver winning designs. For Junkers, his final contribution to the Luftwaffe during the war was the "EF 132" project - a high-speed, fast, jet bomber.

In many ways, the latest design Junkers focuses on is inspired by earlier proposals for the Ju 287 jet tactical bomber (described in detail elsewhere on this site). This design uses a heavy glass nose section, and two crew members manage her various onboard systems - including remote-controlled defensive gun emplacements aimed through a periscope. One of the Ju 287's unique qualities was its forward-swept wings - a rather futuristic feature at the time - with bottom-mounted turbojets.

While only one airworthy prototype was built and made its maiden flight in August 1944, the design (including two unfinished prototypes) ended up in the hands of the advancing Soviets, who used it to propel their own desire for high-speed The study of jet-powered flight through several related iterations of the basic Ju 287 design.

The EF 132 continued some of the established qualities of the Ju 287, including a highly glazed nose section, a single vertical stabilizer, and a fully retractable tricycle landing gear. The bomb bay allows for the internal loading of conventional throwing weapons, and will be powered by no less than six Junkers Jumo 012-series turbojets, each rated at 5,500 pounds of thrust. These will be drawn in through six air intakes located at the root of the wing, which fit nicely into the leading edge and the overall shape of the wing.

A radical change from the Junkers approach was the use of swept, high-mounted wing main aircraft, giving the EF 132 a more modern look. Its five crew members and six 20mm guns in pressurized compartments - secured in pairs by dorsal, ventral and stern turrets - will be standard defensive armament.

The bomb load weighed 11,025 guns.

Engineers estimate a top speed of 580 mph, a range of up to 2,175 miles, a service ceiling of up to 33,800 feet, and a rate of climb of nearly 2,835 feet per minute.

Before the end of the war in Europe, engineers had designed a wind tunnel example for their new bomber to demonstrate some of the design qualities that sounded good. Subsequently, a scale wooden model more realistically assessed the physical properties of the aircraft, all of which was done at the Junkers factory in Dessau, unfortunately for the Germans on their way to Berlin fell into the hands of the advancing Soviets. This meant that all work in progress and any other work the Germans had done was confiscated and eventually shipped to remote areas of the Soviet Empire.

One of the most important facilities in the USSR, receiving German scientists and useful project data/components, was GOZ-1, which allowed the Ju 287 and its offshoots to be further developed under a new owner.

In the end, many of these early wartime turbojet-inspired projects had little success as Soviet technology and applications outpaced the original German offerings. Thus, products like the EF-132 made timely history and were officially phased out in June 1948 at the direction of the Soviet Union when a better replacement was realized.

At this point, only an incomplete EF 132 appeared.

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