Junkers Ju 90
| Ju 90 | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Junkers Ju 90 under construction at Junkers-Werke Dessau | |
| Role | Airliner, Transport |
| Manufacturer | Junkers |
| Designer | Ernst Zindel then Herbert Wagner |
| First flight | 28 August 1937 |
| Introduction | 1938 |
| Primary users |
Deutsche Luft Hansa Luftwaffe |
| Number built | 18 |
| Developed from | Junkers Ju 89 |
The Junkers Ju 90 was a 40-seat, four-engine airliner developed for and used by Deutsche Luft Hansa shortly before World War II. It was based on the rejected Ju 89 bomber. During the war, the Luftwaffe impressed them as military transports.
The Junkers Ju 90 airliner and transport series descended directly from the Ju 89, a contender in the Ural bomber programme aimed at producing a long-range strategic bomber. This concept was abandoned by the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium, Reich Aviation Ministry) in April 1937 in favour of smaller, faster bombers. Design was headed by Ernst Zindel. Development was headed by Professor Herbert Wagner.
Deutsche Luft Hansa put a request for a long-distance commercial aircraft as early as 1933. When the Ju 89 program was abandoned, the third prototype was partially completed and at the request of Luft Hansa, it was rebuilt as an airliner, retaining the wings and tail of the original design but incorporating a new, wider passenger-carrying fuselage. The new design was designated the Ju 90.
The Junkers Ju 90 was a four-engine all-metal, low-wing aircraft fitted with twin end-plate vertical stabilizers. The wings were built around five tubular girder spars covered with a smooth stressed skin. The leading edge was quite markedly swept, the trailing edge almost straight. The Junkers "double wing", a full-span movable flap/aileron combination was fitted. The tail units on the prototypes used the traditional Junkers corrugated skin, the only part of the aircraft to do so, abandoning the exposed corrugated skinning on later Ju 90 production models for the Luftwaffe. The fins and rudders, the latter with prominent horn balances assemblies were placed at the end of the tailplane; this latter carried the elevators separated by a gap, forming another double wing. These components were as used in the Ju 89.
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