Junkers J 1
| Junkers J 1 | |
|---|---|
 |
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| The Junkers J.1 Blechesel, the world's first practical all-metal aircraft | |
| Role | experimental/Pioneer aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Junkers & Co |
| First flight | 12 December 1915 |
| Retired | 1916 |
| Produced | 1915 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Junkers J 1, nicknamed the Blechesel ("Tin Donkey" or "Sheet Metal Donkey"), was the world's first practical all-metal aircraft. Built early in World War I, when aircraft designers relied largely on fabric-covered wooden structures braced with struts and exposed rigging lines, the Junkers J 1 was a revolutionary development in aircraft design, being built and flown only 12 years after the Wright Brothers had first flown the "Flyer I" biplane in December 1903. Hugo Junkers' experimental all-metal aircraft never received an official "A" nor an "E-series" monoplane designation from IdFlieg and the then-designated Fliegertruppe, probably because it was primarily intended as a practical demonstration of Junkers' metal-based structural ideas, and was officially known only by its Junkers factory model number of J 1. It should not be confused with the later, armoured all-metal Junkers J 4 sesquiplane, accepted by the later Luftstreitkräfte as the Junkers J.I (using a Roman numeral).
Hugo Junkers, who had already established his engineering credentials with the invention of a type of calorimeter and in the construction of internal combustion engines, first became interested in aviation in 1907 when a colleague named Hans Reissner, a professor at the Technische Hochschule in Aachen, approached him for assistance in aircraft construction. Five years later Reissner, with Junkers' help, began construction of his all-metal canard design, which he named the Ente ("Duck"). Junkers' firm built the flying surfaces, and radiator of Reissner's design. The problems encountered in constructing the Ente hsd Junkers' mind working on the problems of airframe design, and solving the problem of eliminating the then-prevalent exterior bracing from airframes. He patented the concept of the flying wing aircraft in Germany in 1910. When World War I began, he turned to military projects.
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