Junkers Ju 390

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_390

The Junkers Ju 390 was a German long-range derivative of the Junkers Ju 290
aircraft, intended to be used as a heavy transport aircraft, maritime patrol
aircraft and long-range bomber. It was one of the aircraft designs submitted for
the abortive Amerika Bomber project, along with the Messerschmitt Me 264, the
Focke-Wulf Ta 400 and the Heinkel He 277.

Two prototypes were created by attaching an extra pair of inner-wing segments
onto the wings of basic Junkers Ju 90 and Ju 290 airframes and adding new
sections to lengthen the fuselages.

The first prototype, V1 (bearing Stammkennzeichen code of GH+UK), was modified
from the Ju 90 V6 airframe (Werknummer J4918, civil registration D-AOKD from
July 1940 to April 1941, then to the Luftwaffe as KH+XC from April 1941 to April
1942, then returned to Junkers and used for Ju 390 V1 construction). It made its
maiden flight on 20 October 1943 and performed well, resulting in an order for
26 aircraft, to be named Ju 390 A-1. None of these had been built by the time
that the project was cancelled (along with Ju 290 production) in mid-1944. The
second prototype, the V2 (RC+DA), was longer than the V1 because it was
constructed from a Ju 290 airframe (using the fuselage of Ju 290 A-1 Werknummer
J900155). The maritime reconnaissance and long-range bomber versions were to be
called the Ju 390 B and Ju 390 C, respectively.


Role
Long range transport/maritime reconnaissance/bomber

Manufacturer
Junkers

First flight
20 October 1943

Introduction
1943

Retired
1945

Primary user
Luftwaffe

Number built
2

Developed from
Junkers Ju 290

Two prototypes were created by attaching an extra pair of inner-wing segments
onto the wings of basic Junkers Ju 90 and Ju 290 airframes and adding new
sections to lengthen the fuselages.

The first prototype, V1 (bearing Stammkennzeichen code of GH+UK), was modified
from the Ju 90 V6 airframe (Werknummer J4918, civil registration D-AOKD from
July 1940 to April 1941, then to the Luftwaffe as KH+XC from April 1941 to April
1942, then returned to Junkers and used for Ju 390 V1 construction). It made its
maiden flight on 20 October 1943 and performed well, resulting in an order for
26 aircraft, to be named Ju 390 A-1. None of these had been built by the time
that the project was cancelled (along with Ju 290 production) in mid-1944. The
second prototype, the V2 (RC+DA), was longer than the V1 because it was
constructed from a Ju 290 airframe (using the fuselage of Ju 290 A-1 Werknummer
J900155). The maritime reconnaissance and long-range bomber versions were to be
called the Ju 390 B and Ju 390 C, respectively.

Alleged flights

South Africa flight

A Ju 390 is claimed by some to have made a test flight from Germany to Cape Town
in early 1944. The sole source for the story is a speculative article which
appeared in the Daily Telegraph in 1969 titled "Lone Bomber Raid on New York
Planned by Hitler", in which Hans Pancherz reportedly claimed to have made the
flight. Author James P. Duffy has carried out extensive research into this
claim, which has proved fruitless. Authors Kössler and Ott make no mention of
this claim either, despite having interviewed Pancherz.

New York flight

The first public mention of an alleged flight of a Ju 390 to North America
appeared in a letter published in the November 1955 issue of the British
magazine RAF Flying Review, of which aviation writer William Green was an
editor. The magazine's editors were skeptical of the claim, which asserted that
two Ju 390s had made the flight and that it included a one-hour stay over New
York City. In March 1956, the Review published a letter from an RAF officer
which claimed to clarify the account. According to Green's reporting, in June
1944, Allied Intelligence had learned from prisoner interrogations that a Ju 390
had been delivered in January 1944 to Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5, based at
Mont-de-Marsan near Bordeaux and that it had completed a 32-hour reconnaissance
flight to within 19 km (12 mi) of the U.S. coast, north of New York City. This
was rejected just after the war by British authorities. Aviation historian Dr.
Kenneth P. Werrell states that the story of the flight originated in General
Report on Aircraft Engines and Aircraft Equipment, two British intelligence
reports from August 1944, which were based in part on the interrogation of
prisoners. The reports claimed that the Ju 390 had taken photographs of the
coast of Long Island but no photos or other evidence for the existence of such
photos has ever been found.

The claimed flight was mentioned in many books following the RAF Flying Review
account, including Green's respected Warplanes of the Second World War (1968)
and Warplanes of the Third Reich (1970) but without ever citing reliable
sources. Further authors then cited Green's books as their source for the
claimed flight. Green told Kenneth P. Werrell many years later that he no longer
placed much credence in the flight. Werrell later examined the data regarding
the range of the Ju 390 and concluded that although a great circle round trip
from France to St. Johns, Newfoundland was possible, adding another 3,830 km
(2,380 mi) for a round trip from St. Johns to Long Island made the flight "most
unlikely".

Karl Kössler and Günter Ott, in their book Die großen Dessauer: Junkers Ju 89,
90, 290, 390. Die Geschichte einer Flugzeugfamilie (The Big Dessauers... History
of an Aircraft Family), also examined the claimed flight and debunked the flight
north of New York. Assuming there was only one aircraft in existence, Kössler
and Ott note it was nowhere near France at the time when the flight was supposed
to have taken place. According to Pancherz' logbook, the Ju 390 V1 was brought
to Prague on 26 November 1943. While there, it took part in test flights which
continued until late March 1944. They also assert that the Ju 390 V1 prototype
was unlikely to have been capable of taking off with the fuel load necessary for
a flight of such duration due to strength concerns over its modified structure;
it would have required a takeoff weight of 65 t (72 short tons), while the
maximum takeoff weight during its trials had been 34 t (37 short tons). Another
explanation for this is that prototypes are never flown at maximum gross weight
for their maiden flight until testing can determine the aircraft's handling.
According to Kössler and Ott, the Ju 390 V2 could not have made the US flight
either, since they indicate that it was not completed before September/October
1944.

Japan flight

In his book The Bunker, author James P. O'Donnell mentions a flight to Japan.
O'Donnell claimed that Albert Speer, in an early 1970s telephone interview,
stated that there had been a secret Ju 390 flight to Japan "late in the war".
The flight, by a Luftwaffe test pilot, had supposedly been non-stop via the
polar route. O'Donnell is the sole source for the story; Speer never mentioned
the story in any of his writings or other interviews. Kössler and Ott make no
mention of the claim.

Specifications (Ju 390 A-1)

General characteristics
Crew: 10
Capacity: 10,000 kg (22,046 lb) typical freighter payload
Length: 34.201 m (112 ft 2.5 in)
Wingspan: 50.32 m (165 ft 1 in)
Height: 6.88 m (22 ft 7 in)
Wing area: 253.600 m2 (2,729.73 sq ft)
Empty weight: 36,900 kg (81,350 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 75,500 kg (166,450 lb)
Fuel capacity: 34,096 l (9,007 US gal; 7,500 imp gal)
Powerplant: 6 × BMW 801E 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial piston engines,
1,470 kW (1,970 hp) each for take-off
1,300 kW (1,740 hp) at 1,970 m (6,450 ft)1,090 kW (1,460 hp) at 6,200 m (20,340
ft)Propellers: 3-bladed VDM constant-speed propellers

Performance
Range: 7,998 km; 4,319 nmi (4,970 mi) Ju 390 V1 with 10,000 kg (22,046 lb)
payload and 34,096 l (9,007 US gal; 7,500 imp gal) fuel at 330 km/h (210 mph;
180 kn) and 2,000 m (6,500 ft)
Combat range: 9,704 km (6,030 mi; 5,240 nmi) (reconnaissance mission)
Combat range (bomber mission): 9,254 km (5,750 mi; 4,997 nmi) with 1,930 kg
(4,255 lb) bomb load

Armament

Guns: (proposed) 2 × 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in dorsal turrets
1 × 20 mm MG 151/20 in tail
2 × 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine guns at waist
2 × 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131s in gondola
Proposed fitment of a pair of 4 x MG 131 Hecklafette HL 131V quadmount manned
turrets, one in tail and one in nose.

Hardpoints: 4 with a capacity of 3,968 lb (1,800 kg) each,
Missiles: 4x Henschel Hs 293 or
4x Henschel Hs 294 or4x FX 1400 Fritz-X



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