Rob J M Mulder Libros

The three-engined Ju 52/3m is one of few aircraft that can lay claim to 50 years of active service, with a few still flying, demonstrating not only its longevity, but also the soundness of its design and construction. While fulfilling the Luftwaffe's operational strategies, largely as a transport and makeshift bomber, it also served major commercial air routes in many parts of the world, since entering service with Deutsche Lufthansa in 1932, and was also adapted for many other missions. Production was re-activated after the war in France and Spain, and a total of almost 5,400 has been built. Our Junkers books, from the F 13, to the W 33/W 34, G 24/G 31, and now the Ju 52, provide the reader with deep insight into the design, construction and operation of aircraft that have contributed greatly to the development of aviation, both in the civil and military fields. Hostile terrain, extremes of weather, and vast distances have been challenges successfully met. All have truly been pioneers. More than forty years of gathering information and in-depth research will provide the reader with a wealth of data, photographs, and colour drawings of the iconic Ju 52/3m.

When in 1919, less than a year after the devastation of the First World War, the small six-seat Junkers F 13 made its first flight at Dessau in Germany, few would have predicted that it would soon be serving air routes in most parts of the world. As air transport grew, more power, capacity and range was demanded, and this inevitably led to the development of the F 13 into the W 33/W 34, further expanded with the production of the K 43 military variant, as war clouds once again descended on Europe. A total of more than 2,360 aircraft were produced, many as training aircraft for the Luftwaffe, which demonstrates their unexpected success. Having produced a book that comprehensively describes the F 13, this follow-on work of its successor continues the authors' more than forty years' fascination with Junkers and represents a natural progression. However, destruction of many records and documents during the war years has made the task of reconstructing the aircraft's history much more difficult, but the wealth of information, photographs, colour drawings, facts and figures, and production list will take the reader on a great journey through aviation history.