During the Battle of Britain of 1940–1941, its lack of manoeuvrability, speed, or defensive armament meant that it required a heavy fighter escort to operate effectively.Īfter the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe deployed Stuka units in the Balkans Campaign, the African and the Mediterranean theatres and in the early stages of the Eastern Front war, where it was used for general ground support, as an effective specialised anti-tank aircraft and in an anti-shipping role.

Though sturdy, accurate, and very effective against ground targets, the Stuka was, like many other dive bombers of the period, vulnerable to fighter aircraft. Stukas proved critical to the rapid conquest of Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France in 1940. It led air assaults in the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The Ju 87 operated with considerable success in close air support and anti-shipping roles at the outbreak of World War II. The Stuka's design included several innovations, including automatic pull-up dive brakes under both wings to ensure that the aircraft recovered from its attack dive even if the pilot blacked out from the high g-forces, or suffered from target fixation. Upon the leading edges of its faired main gear legs were mounted ram-air sirens known as Jericho trumpets, which became a propaganda symbol of German air power and of the so-called Blitzkrieg victories of 1939–1942, as well as providing Stuka pilots with audible feedback as to speed. The aircraft is easily recognisable by its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 and served the Axis in World War II from beginning to end (1939–1945). Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Junkers Ju 87 or 'Stuka' is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft.

Blitzkrieg ww2 planes