Junkers (aircraft)

Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM)

Former type	Privately held company
Fate	Merged into Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB)
Successor	Junkers GmbH (post WW2)
Founded	1895
Defunct	1969
Headquarters	Dessau, Germany
Key people	Hugo Junkers
Number of employees	40,000
Website	www.junkers.de

Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I), more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers, initially manufacturing boilers and radiators. During World War I, and following the war, the company became famous for its pioneering all-metal aircraft. During World War II the company produced some of the most successful Luftwaffe planes, as well as piston and jet aircraft engines, albeit in the absence of its founder, who had been removed by the Nazis in 1934.

The history of Junkers aircraft production begins with the Junkers J 1 mid-wing monoplane (not to be confused with the later, all-metal sesquiplane ground attack aircraft J.I which had a factory designation of J 4). Research for this aircraft began in 1914 and was interrupted by the start of the First World War. The prototype aircraft, named the Blechesel (Tin or Sheet-metal Donkey), was completed in very late 1915 after the outbreak of the war. This aircraft is significant in that it was the first flyable aircraft to utilize an all-metal "total structural" design. Contemporary aircraft were built around wooden frames constructed in a rib-and-stringer fashion, reinforced with wires, and covered with a stretched fabric. The J 1 was a semi-monocoque design, using steel ribs and sheeting that formed both the stringers and the skin. At the time aluminium was still fairly expensive and the desirable, newest light duralumin alloy could not be worked in sheet form without damaging flaking occurring, so the J 1 was made of sheet electrical steel. It was quite heavy as a result, which translated into poor climb and maneuverability, yet its clean monoplane layout, which even featured a "belly" radiator installation for its Mercedes D.II inline-six cylinder engine, had very low drag, and the J 1 was one of the fastest aircraft of its day, reaching speeds of 170 km/h, with only a 120 hp engine for power.