Junkers Ju 288
| Ju 288 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sole Ju 288A prototype (Ju 288 V5) with Junkers Jumo 222 engines and ducted spinners | |
| Role | Advanced bomber Bomber B design competitor |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Junkers |
| First flight | 29 November 1940 |
| Number built | 22 |
| Developed from | Junkers Ju 88 |
The Junkers Ju 288, originally known within the Junkers firm as the EF 074, was a German bomber project designed during World War II, which only ever flew in prototype form. The first of 22 development aircraft flew on 29 November 1940.
Prior to the opening of World War II, the Luftwaffe bomber force included three major types, the Dornier Do 17 and Ju 88, both classed as schnellbomber, and the slower Heinkel He 111. Although as the most modern type the Ju 88 outperformed the other designs in service, it however possessed adverse characteristics, including its very small internal bomb bay that forced it to carry some of its load externally, degrading performance.
Junkers had been outlining a variety of improved models of the Ju 88 since 1937, powered by the planned Jumo 222 multibank engine, or Jumo 223 inline multibank diesel of greatly increased power of at least 1,500 kW/2,000 HP. No serious work was undertaken on these versions, but after Heinrich Hertel left Heinkel and joined Junkers in 1939, the EF 074 design was submitted to the RLM in May 1939 as the Junkers entry in the RLM's Bomber B design competition.
The EF 074 entry was essentially a scaled-up Ju 88, sharing its general layout and most of its fuselage and wings with extensions in various places. The nose was redesigned (as with the He 111P and -H's revised cockpits) with a more streamlined "stepless cockpit", having no separate windscreen panels for the pilot and co-pilot. This layout allowed cabin pressurization to be more easily implemented. This design approach had been growing in favour, subsequently appearing in various German types. All of the defensive armament was meant to be remotely controlled — in one proposal, comprising a remotely operated rear-facing dorsal turret at the rearmost end of the cockpit glazing, and two remotely operated "flank" turrets on the rearwards sides of the fuselage just forward of the empennage, otherwise each resembling the FDSL 131 units of the Me 210 – the exclusive use of remotely operated turrets for the Ju 288's defensive firepower allowed them to be positioned more efficiently, as well as eliminating "breaks" in the fuselage pressurization. The fuselage was expanded along its length to allow for a much longer bomb bay — somewhat as had been done with the Dornier Do 217 then in development itself — that would allow for an 3,630 kg (8,000 lb) payload to be carried internally, eliminating the need to carry ordnance on outside hardpoints.
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