Dr. Hugo
Junkers designed his first aircraft, with a thick-section cantilever
wing as early as 1910. Although it was never built, the first
Junkers aircraft, the J1 of 1915, used the same wing
design. The J4 (military designation J.1) of
1917 also included corrugated light-alloy skin--a feature that would
distinguish Junkers products into the 1930s.
Junkers
Flugzeugwerke concentrated on transport aircraft in the 1920s
and early 1930s, switching to bombers and transports as the
Luftwaffe expanded in the late 1930s. In 1923, Junkers
Motorenbau (Jumo) was formed. Junkers Flugzeugwerke and
Motorenbau merged in 1936 to form Junkers Flugzeug und
Motorenwerke (IFM).
Probably
the most famous Junker aircraft are the Ju 52 tri-motor
transport, the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber and the Ju 88
"Schnell" bomber.
In 1945, most Junkers
assets were in what became East Germany and disappeared into the
Soviet Union. What remained of Junkers in West Germany was
privatized in 1956 and acquired by Messerschmitt
AG in 1965.
