I’ve been a Warbirds enthusiast since 1972 when my father bought a B-25 and used it to haul diesel fuel in the high Arctic. The other day my son was playing a video game called “Secret weapons of Normandy” and they showed a JU 390. Up to this point I have never realized that German had built such a larger bomber. Anyone care to elaborate on it’s history.
By: Stepwilk - 21st February 2014 at 20:26
According to the excellent book “German Aircraft of the Second World War” by J R Smith and Tony Kay, the JU 390 prototype operating from Mont de Marsan on a test flight in Jan 1944 got to within 20Km (12 miles) of New York and returned safely. So was it potentially the world first inter- continental bomber?
A well-known urban legend. I recently wrote about this for Aviation History Magazine.
By: hampden98 - 21st February 2014 at 17:45
Looks very similar to the BV222
By: snafu - 21st February 2014 at 17:14
Snafu. The link won’t work for me.
Hmm. Just tried it again and it works for me…
Google “Amazing wartime story of the Ju 390 and the Ju 290” and its the first return.
By: WebPilot - 21st February 2014 at 16:54
I think the New York flight has been largely debunked, but a return flight to Southern Africa may have actually happened.
By: skyskooter - 21st February 2014 at 16:42
Snafu. The link won’t work for me.
By: snafu - 21st February 2014 at 14:58
The conservative position is that only one flew (stkz GH+UK). There is evidence that two flew and indeed Ju-390 test pilot Hans Werner Lerche referred to another aircraft (RC+DA) in his autobiography.
At least two. Photographs showing the differences between the two at this website:
https://sites.google.com/site/junkersju390/home/ju-390-prototypes
which also makes fantastic claims about a JU390 being secretly dismantled in Uruguay after flying something to Argentina in May 1945. Other pages make interesting claims about secret flights to Japan and information on the flight to New York.
By: Scouse - 21st February 2014 at 13:51
William Green in Warplanes of the Third Reich has it that the V1 GH+UK first flew in August 1943, and the V2 RC+DA in October that year. The Atlantic flight was some time in or after January 1944 and involved the second prototype, he says.
By: Kiwiguy - 21st February 2014 at 11:53
On 29 June 1944 the Luftwaffe Quartermaster General paid Junkers for seven completed Ju390 airframes. It is hotly disputed how many aircraft ever flew. The conservative position is that only one flew (stkz GH+UK). There is evidence that two flew and indeed Ju-390 test pilot Hans Werner Lerche referred to another aircraft (RC+DA) in his autobiography. A recreational diver Ruben P Whittemore whose family came from Rockland Maine claims to have dived on the wreck of a six engined Junkers aircraft 2.5 miles off Owls Head, Maine. Residents from Rockland during WW2 asserted that the aircraft came down about 18 September 1944. Ruben has dived the wreck many times and advises that the wing bore fire damage.
Most of what was known about the Ju390 type was gleaned from MAGIC intercepts of reports about the type’s performance by Japanese embassy staff in signals back to Tokyo. In one signal from October 1943 it was reported with a maximum take off weight of 75,000kg. In April 1944 it was re-certified with MTOW of 80,500kg. It flew very slowly around 230kt at altitudes between 6,000-12,000ft. The altitude was limited by excessive fuel consumption above 21,000ft when superchargers cut in. Test Pilot Lerche did note that in sharp turns it suffered from wing flutter therefore had to be flown very cautiously.
By: Vega ECM - 4th February 2006 at 14:47
According to the excellent book “German Aircraft of the Second World War” by J R Smith and Tony Kay, the JU 390 prototype operating from Mont de Marsan on a test flight in Jan 1944 got to within 20Km (12 miles) of New York and returned safely. So was it potentially the world first inter- continental bomber?
By: Flat 12x2 - 4th February 2006 at 11:02
I’ve been a Warbirds enthusiast since 1972 when my father bought a B-25 and used it to haul diesel fuel in the high Arctic. …………………….
Emerson
Sorry to go of on a tangent , but you cant join a forum with an opening statement “my dad brought a B-25 & used it…” with out expanding e.g did you fly in it, its history, pics, has it survived etc.
are yes , you must have grow up in a normal everyday family !
By: DazDaMan - 3rd February 2006 at 20:02
Have a look at this page.
I LOVE that game – it’s a bitch nearer the end, with some kind of giant bomber-thing that has parasite rocket-fighters attached to it that you have to kick the hell out of, but it’s great fun.
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd February 2006 at 20:01
The JU390 was developed as a transport plane mainly because the germans needed larger transports than the JU52/3s and condors.
I think a bomber version was to be developed but the end of the war stopped that, and only a few were ever built.
Unforunately a lot of these games recently have taken luftwaffe 46 aircraft and pretended they were real in service aircraft (in some cases its a good thing they were’nt).
curlyboy
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February 3, 2006 at 7:44 pm