Like the USAF C-47, the Junkers Ju 52 tri-motor was first built in the 1930s and remained in service for more than a quarter century. It made its maiden flight in April 1931, and three years later a heavy bomber variant entered service with the German Luftwaffe. The latter version formed the nucleus of the Luftwaffe's early bomber force, which was used with great effect during the Spanish Civil War.

By 1939, the Ju 52 was obsolete as a bomber, but because of its durability, simplicity of design, and handling characteristics, it continued to serve throughout WW II as a versatile workhorse for the German transport fleet. Adolf Hitler even used a Ju 52 as his private transport. Ju 52s delivered the attacking forces and their supplies during the German invasion of Norway, Denmark, France, and the Low Countries in 1940. Later on, approximately 500 Ju 52s participated in the historic airborne assault on the island of Crete in May 1941 and later supplied Rommel's panzerwaffe operating in North Africa.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a German Junkers Ju 52/3m tri-motor transport that participated in the relief of Stalingrad as a medical ambulance in November 1942. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 16-inches
Length: 10-1/4-inches

Release Date: February 2023

Historical Account: "Here is Stalingrad" - Ordered to stay and hold their positions by Hitler, the encircled German 6th Army at Stalingrad were informed that the Luftwaffe were about to establish an Air Bridge to keep them supplied with the food, ammunition and general supplies needed to allow around 300,000 German troops to keep fighting. In the depth of a Soviet winter and woefully unprepared for such an undertaking, Luftwaffe crews quickly learned that if Soviet aircraft didn't shoot them down during the flight in, they were just as likely to be destroyed on the ground, striking one of the many snow covered shell craters that littered Pitomnik airfield, or being hit by mortar or artillery fire from Soviet forces who were fighting their way ever closer.

If they did land safely, inexperienced ground crews lengthened the time aircraft stayed in this 'hell hole' and when they did eventually leave, their aircraft would be laden with injured troops, desperate to escape the Stalingrad cauldron. With Luftwaffe supply efforts never coming anywhere close to delivering even the minimum quantities required by the beleaguered German troops in the Stalingrad region, Pitomnik airfield soon resembled something of an airfield graveyard, with burnt out and destroyed transport aircraft lining the edge of the runway, serving as something of a macabre aviation guard of honor for the aircrews which were still engaged in this increasingly desperate supply operation.