Junkers Ju 388

Ju 388
Ju 388
	Ju 388L in 1945
General information
Type	heavy fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, night fighter
Manufacturer	Junkers
Primary user	Luftwaffe
Number built	approximately 100
History
Introduction date	Late 1944
First flight	22 December 1943
Retired	1945
Developed from	Junkers Ju 188

The Junkers Ju 388 Störtebeker is a World War II German Luftwaffe multi-role aircraft based on the Ju 88 airframe by way of the Ju 188. It differed from its predecessors in being intended for high altitude operation, with design features such as a pressurized cockpit for its crew. The Ju 388 was introduced very late in the war, and production problems along with the deteriorating war conditions meant that few were built.

Background

The Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM), the Reich Aviation Ministry, first learned of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bomber in late 1942. Serious concerns as to B-29 capability developed in early 1944, when YB-29 "Hobo Queen" made a well-publicised appearance at RAF Bovingdon, which had been cryptically hinted-at in an American-published Sternenbanner German language propaganda leaflet from Leap Year Day in 1944, meant to be circulated within the Reich.^[1]

The performance estimates of this aircraft were a cause for great unease in the Luftwaffe. The B-29 had a maximum speed of around 560 km/h (350 mph), and would attack in a cruise of about 360 km/h (225 mph) at 8,000–10,000 m (26,000–33,000 ft), an altitude where no current Luftwaffe aircraft was effective, and for which the only effective Wehrmacht anti-aircraft gun was the rarely-deployed 12.8 cm FlaK 40, which could effectively fire to an altitude of 14,800 metres (48,600 ft).

To counter the B-29, the Luftwaffe would need new day fighters and bomber destroyers with greatly enhanced performance at extreme-altitude. The fighter chosen was the Focke-Wulf Ta 152H. The Ta 152 was a derivative of the Fw 190D with a longer wingspan and powered by the new high-altitude model "E" of the Junkers Jumo 213 engine. An alternative was the Messerschmitt Me 155B, a long-winged development of the Bf 109 which had already undergone several stages of design and would ultimately be built in prototype form by Blohm & Voss. The centre-line thrust, twin-engined Dornier Do 335, powered with two of the competing Daimler-Benz DB 603 engines also offered a service ceiling of some 11,400 m (37,500 ft), but the promising Dornier heavy fighter and zerstörer was still under development with only prototype airframes flying, and the first production examples expected to enter operational service late in 1944.

For the bomber destroyer and night fighter roles, the all-wood Focke-Wulf Ta 154 and metal-structured Heinkel He 219 had the performance needed to catch the bomber; however, both designs only gained that performance by mounting low aspect ratio wings which were inadequate for flight at high altitude and resultingly produced too high a wing loading. The Junkers Ju 88 had already been modified for high-altitude with as the S and T models, but these did not have the performance needed. Similar high-altitude modifications to the Ju 188, with its complex stepless cockpit glazing comprising some three dozen framed window panels in all, were being looked at as the projected Ju 188J, K and L models, which included a simplified "stepless" pressurized cockpit that fully enclosed the entire nose using fewer glazed panels in comparison to the Ju 188's glazing design, and wing and elevator de-icing equipment for extended flights at very high altitude. These were selected for development, and renamed Ju 388.

Development

In order to improve performance, the Ju 388 was stripped of almost all defensive armament. Whereas the Ju 88 included a number of manually operated guns in ports around the cockpit area, on the Ju 388 they were replaced by a single remote-control turret in the tail containing two 13 mm (.51 in) MG 131 machine guns, aimed via a periscope in the cockpit, mounted one-above-the-other, as had been done experimentally with a few Heinkel He 177A heavy bombers' manned tail defensive gun positions. The Ju 388's remote tail turret had an excellent field of fire and could shoot directly to the rear, so the Bola streamlined defensive armament position under the nose of Ju 88s and 188s was omitted, improving the aerodynamics.

The aircraft was to be delivered using the same naming as the three original Ju 188 experimental versions: the J, K, and L. The J model was a fighter with two 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 103 cannons and two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in a solid nose for use as a daytime bomber destroyer. For use as a night fighter, the long-barreled MK 103s were replaced by the smaller and lighter 30 mm MK 108s, while a second pair of upward firing MK 108s were added in a Schräge Musik installation behind the cockpit. The K model was a pure bomber, with a pannier under the plane increasing the size of the bomb bay. The L photo-reconnaissance model put its cameras in the pannier along with additional fuel tanks for long-range missions.

Three sub-models of each variant were planned, different only in the engine installation. The -1 would mount the 1,331 kW (1,810 PS) output BMW 801J, a turbocharged version of the basic BMW 801 air cooled radial, each engine installed as a unitized Triebwerksanlage engine installation. The -2 would use the 46.4 litre displacement, 1,864 kW (2,500 hp) Jumo 222A/B 24-cylinder six-bank liquid-cooled engines, or the identical displacement 222E/F versions with an improved two-speed supercharger with triple intercoolers on each engine. The -3 would mount the Junkers Jumo 213E liquid-cooled inverted V12, which included a supercharger similar to the 222E/F's. Since the 24-cylinder Jumo 222 engine never progressed beyond development and testing with just under 300 units ever built, the only powerplants actually used for the Ju 388 would be the BMW 801 radial and Jumo 213 series V12s.

With the BMW 801J or Jumo 213E, the fighter versions flew at 616 km/h (383 mph) when equipped as a destroyer, losing about 25 km/h (16 mph) due to the eight-dipole Hirschgeweih antenna array used for late-war, VHF-band Neptun radar and Schräge Musik when equipped as night fighters. This was similar in speed to existing Luftwaffe night fighters, but the Ju 388 maintained this speed at much higher altitudes. With the Jumo 222 engine, the aircraft was estimated to be capable of reaching around 700 km/h (435 mph), again about 25 km/h (16 mph) less in night fighter versions. The bomber versions flew at roughly the same speeds depending on bombload, while the reconnaissance versions would have been about 25 km/h (16 mph) faster.

The first prototype, Ju 388 L-0/V7, mainly built from Ju 188 series production components, made its first flight on December 22, 1943. It demonstrated much better handling at altitude than the Ju 88S due to an increase in tail surface area, as the streamlined-nose Ju 88S, also omitting the Bola gondola, still used the original Ju 88A vertical tail surface design. This was followed by six new prototypes. It was some time before deliveries of the production models started due to engine delivery delays. By the time the engines were widely available, it was clear that B-29 bombers were actually being sent to the Asia and the Pacific and would not be operating over Germany anytime soon. German photo-reconnaissance efforts had practically disappeared due to the increased performance of the Allied defenses, so production mostly concentrated on the L model.

Deliveries started in August 1944 but few Ju 388s were completed. About 47 L models seem to have been built, the majority as -1s with the BMW 801J engine, and just three -3s with the Jumo 213E. Fifteen K-1s were built; and only three J-1 models were produced.

Production

The exact number of Ju 388s built is difficult to determine. One of the reasons is that various pre-series aircraft were used as prototypes, and some were damaged or destroyed by Allied bombs before completion. Furthermore, several official records terminate before the end of production or contradict each other.

Based on available documentation and research the following can be assumed as proven:^[2]^{[page needed]}

6 Ju 388 prototypes, 2 each for J-1, K-1 and L-1
20 Ju 388L-0, including prototypes V7, V8, V30 - V34
10 Ju 388K-0, first batch, including two converted to the Ju 488 V401/V402 prototypes (never flown)
1 Ju 388K-1 manufactured by ATG for static tests in July 1944
46 Ju 388L-1 manufactured by ATG in 1944
8+ Ju 388L-1 manufactured by ATG in 1945
10 Ju 388L-1 (max.) manufactured by Weserflug (WFG), initially planned as K-1

More aircraft and prototypes were planned and partially completed:

10 Ju 388K-0, second batch, some prototypes, partially completed
30 Ju 388K-0, third batch, planned, only few units completed

Also, an unknown number of Ju 388L-1 and Ju 388J were in advanced stages of production by the end of the war.

Proposed export to Japan

In August 1944, Japanese Major-General Osamu Otani, a member of one of the commissions related to the Tripartite Pact and serving in Berlin, expressed interest in a license production of the Ju 388.^[3]^{[page needed]} Complete drawing sets for the Ju 388 were handed over to the Japanese as well as the rights for licensed production. No evidence exists that any documents were ever delivered. Otani was captured by allied forces in Berlin in May 1945.^[4]

Variants

Ju 388J: Heavy fighter / night fighter.
Ju 388K: High-altitude bomber.
Ju 388L: Photo-reconnaissance aircraft.
Ju 388M: Proposed torpedo bomber based on the Ju 388K.
'145': A captured Ju 388L modified with an early 'fly by wire' control system in support of the development of the Soviet OKB-1 150 jet bomber.

Operators

Nazi Germany

Luftwaffe
- Erprobungsstelle Rechlin
- Erprobungsstelle Werneuchen
- Erprobungskommando Ju 388
- 3./Versuchsverband O.K.L. operated Ju 388 V32, W.Nr 300 295, T9+DL.
- Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 operated four Ju 388J-0 nachtjager during April/May 1945, under operational trial/evaluation conditions. Aircraft were pre-production prototypes.

Surviving aircraft

One Ju 388 survives today. The Ju 388L-1 reconnaissance version with construction number (Werknummer) 560049 was the eighth of the series manufactured at Weser Flugzeugbau's Nordenham plant. Parts of the airframe were also built at ATG in Altenburg and at Niedersächsische Metallwerke Brinckmann & Mergell in Hamburg-Harburg. The aircraft was completed early in 1945. It was captured by U.S. troops in May 1945 at the Junkers plant in Merseburg, then flown to Kassel/Waldau.

The aircraft was examined and test flown by "Watson's Whizzers", led by United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Colonel Harold E. Watson, as part of Operation Lusty and it is believed that Watson himself flew in the aircraft in preparation for flying it directly back to the U.S. Instead, on 17 June 1945 the aircraft was flown to Cherbourg, France where it was shipped to the United States aboard the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Reaper together with other captured German aircraft for detailed evaluation in the U.S.

The aircraft was flown to Freeman Field in Indiana for evaluation, and in September 1945 made a flight demonstration for the press. The Ju 388 was flown for 10 hours of flight tests at Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio with the "foreign evaluation" serial number FE-4010 (later changed to T2-4010). Following these tests the aircraft was displayed at the Dayton, Ohio Air Show at Wright Field in 1946 along with other captured German aircraft.

On 26 September 1946, 560049 was transferred to Orchard Place Airport in Park Ridge, Illinois, near the present O'Hare International Airport. This temporary storage facility was a vacant U.S. Government-owned factory previously used by the Chrysler Corporation to build the Douglas C-54. The Ju 388 was donated to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air Museum on 3 January 1949 and arrived at Silver Hill, Maryland, for storage in November 1954.

Today the aircraft is disassembled and remains in generally good condition, having never been stored outside. The cockpit area is in particularly good condition and complete with all instruments. The aircraft is just one of several unique German aircraft still awaiting restoration at the National Air and Space Museum's Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Silver Hill, Maryland, all intended to be transferred in the coming years to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center's restoration annex of the Smithsonian, on the Dulles International Airport property.^[5]

Specifications (Ju 388K-1)

Data from Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933–1945 Vol.3 – Flugzeugtypen Henschel-Messerschmitt^[6]

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 15.2 m (49 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 22 m (72 ft 2 in)
Height: 4.35 m (14 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 56 m² (600 sq ft)
Max takeoff weight: 14,000 kg (30,865 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × BMW 801J 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 1,350 kW (1,810 hp) each
Propellers: 4-bladed Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke (VDM)-Verstell-Luftschrauben, 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in) diameter constant-speed propellers

Performance

Maximum speed: 616 km/h (383 mph, 333 kn) at 12,285 m (40,305 ft)
Boost speed: 655 km/h (407 mph; 354 kn) at 9,080 m (29,790 ft) with MW 50 water-methanol boost (Junkers Jumo 213E only)
Cruise speed: 540 km/h (340 mph, 290 kn)
Landing speed: 175 km/h (109 mph; 94 kn)
Range: 2,250 km (1,400 mi, 1,210 nmi)
Service ceiling: 13,100 m (43,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 6.3 m/s (1,240 ft/min)

Armament

Ju 388J: 2 × 20 mm (0.787 in) MG 151/20 cannons and 2 × 30 mm (1.181 in) MK 103 cannon or MK 108 cannon in an under-fuselage pod and 2 × 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine guns in a remotely-controlled Hecklafette tail turret.
Ju 388K: 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) of bombs internally and 2 × 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine guns in a remotely-controlled Hecklafette tail turret
Ju 388L: 2 × 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine guns in a remotely-controlled Hecklafette tail turret

References

Notes

^ Sternenbanner announcement of the B-29 in German, comparing it to the B-17 in size
^ C. Vernaleken, M. Handig (2006). Junkers Ju 388: Development, Testing and Production of the Last Junkers High-Altitude Aircraft. Schiffer Publishing.
^ C. Vernaleken, M. Handig (2006). Junkers Ju 388: Development, Testing and Production of the Last Junkers High-Altitude Aircraft. Schiffer Publishing.
^ "Japanese Ambassador to Germany Captured". St. Petersburg Times. 12 May 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 16 April 2015 – via Google News.
^ "Junkers Ju 388 L-1". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
^ Nowarra, Heinz J. (1993). Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933–1945 Vol.3 – Flugzeugtypen Henschel-Messerschmitt (in German). Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. pp. 127–129, 264–265. ISBN 978-3-7637-5467-0.

Bibliography

Vernaleken, Christoph and Handig, Martin. Junkers Ju 388: Development, Testing And Production of the Last Junkers High-altitude Aircraft. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2006. ISBN 0-7643-2429-2.
Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1970. ISBN 0-356-02382-6.
Smith, J.R. and Kay, Anthony. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam and Company, Ltd., 1972. ISBN 0-370-00024-2.

External links

www.ju388.de

[1] Sternenbanner announcement of the B-29 in German, comparing it to the B-17 in size

[2] C. Vernaleken, M. Handig (2006). Junkers Ju 388: Development, Testing and Production of the Last Junkers High-Altitude Aircraft. Schiffer Publishing.

[3] C. Vernaleken, M. Handig (2006). Junkers Ju 388: Development, Testing and Production of the Last Junkers High-Altitude Aircraft. Schiffer Publishing.

[4] "Japanese Ambassador to Germany Captured". St. Petersburg Times. 12 May 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 16 April 2015 – via Google News.

[5] "Junkers Ju 388 L-1". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.

[Nowarra-6] Nowarra, Heinz J. (1993). Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933–1945 Vol.3 – Flugzeugtypen Henschel-Messerschmitt (in German). Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. pp. 127–129, 264–265. ISBN 978-3-7637-5467-0.

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v t e Junkers aircraft
Company designations	J 1 J 2 J 3 J 4 J 5 J 6 J 7 J 8 J 9 J 10 J 11 J 12 F 13 J 15 K 16 K 17 J 18 T 19 A 20 H 21 / J 21 / T 21 J 22 T 23 G 23 F 24 / G 24 A 25 T 26 T 27 J 28 T 29 K 30 G 31 A 32 W 33 W 34 A 35 S 36 K 37 G 38 K 39 K 47 A 48 J 49 A 50 K 51 K 53 K 85
Company EF designations (experimental aircraft)	EF 29 EF 31 EF 52 EF 61 EF 72 EF 73 EF 74 EF 77 EF 94 EF 126 EF 127 EF 128 EF 130 EF 131 EF 132 EF 140 EF 150
Idflieg designations	CL.I CLS.I D.I E.I E.I (2) J.I
RLM designations	Ju 46 Ju 49 Ju 52 Ju 60 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ju 160 Ju 187 Ju 188 Ju 248 Ju 252 Ju 268 Ju 287 Ju 288 Ju 290 Ju 322 Ju 352 Ju 388 Ju 390 Ju 452 Ju 488 Ju 635

v t e Reich Air Ministry (RLM) aircraft designations (list)
1 to 100	8-1¹ Fi 2 8-3¹ 8-4¹ Fi 5 DFS 6 8-7¹ Gö 8 Gö 9 Do 10 Do 11/Wn 11 8-12⁴/Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Do 16/Wn 16 Do 17 Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 8-21¹ Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Do 25³/Kl 25 Do 26/Kl 26 8-27/Do 27³/Kl 27⁵ 8-28¹ 8-29/Do 29 Fw 30 Kl 31 Kl 32 Ju 33 Ju 34 Kl 35 Kl 36 He 37³ He 38/Ju 38 DFS 39 BV 40/DFS 40 He 41³ Fw 42/He 42 Fw 43 Fw 44 He 45 He 46/Ju 46 Fw 47/He 47 Ju 48 He 49/Ju 49 He 50/Ju 50 He 51 He 52/Ju 52 Ju 53 DFS 54/NR 54 Fw 55/NR 55 Fw 56 8-57⁴/Fw 57 Fw 58/He 58 He 59 He 60/Ju 60 Fa 61/Fw 61/He 61 Fw 62/He 62 8-63⁴/He 63 Ar 64/He 64 Ar 65/He 65 Ar 66/He 66 Ar 67 Ar 68 Ar 69 He 70 8-71⁴/He 71 He 72 He 73³ He 74 Al 75 Ar 76/FZG 76⁶ Ar 77 Ar 78³ Ar 79 Ar 80 Ar 81 8-82⁴ 8-83¹ Al 84 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ju 91³ Ju 92 Ju 93³ Ju 94³ Ar 95 Ar 96 Fi 97 Fi 98 Fi 99 Fi 100³/He 100
101 to 200	Al 101 Al 102 Al 103/Fi 103 R Fh 104 Kl 105 Kl 106 Kl 107 Bf 108 Bf 109/Bf 109R⁶ Bf 110 He 111/He 111U⁶ He 112 He 113⁶ He 114 He 115 He 116 He 117³/Hs 117 He 118 He 119 He 120 Hs 121 Hs 122 Hs 123 Hs 124 Hs 125 Hs 126 Hs 127 Hs 128 Hs 129 Hs 130 Bü 131 Bü 132³/Hs 132 Bü 133 Bü 134 Ha 135 Ha 136/Hü 136 Ha 137 BV 138 Ha 139 Ha 140 BV 141 BV 142 BV 143 BV 144 Go 145 Go 146 Go 147/Ju 147 Go 148³ Go 149 Go 150 Kl 151 Kl 152/Ta 152 Kl 153³/Ta 153 Kl 154³/Ta 154 BV 155/Kl 155³/Me 155 Fi 156 Fi 157 Fi 158 Fw 159 Ju 160 Bf 161 Bf 162/He 162 Bf 163/Li 163/Me 163 Me 164/MeC 164 Bf 165 Fi 166/FK 166 Fi 167 Fi 168 Fi 169³ He 170 He 171³ He 172 He 173³ He 174³ 8-175⁴ He 176 He 177 He 178 He 179⁵ Bü 180/He 180 Bü 181 Bü 182 Bü 183³/Ta 183 Fl 184 Fl 185 Fw 186/Ju 186 Fw 187/Ju 187² Fw 188³/Ju 188 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Ao 192 Ao 193³/DFS 193 DFS 194/Me 194 Ar 195 Ar 196 Ar 197 Ar 198 Ar 199 Do 200^4,6/Fw 200
201 to 300	Si 201 Si 202 DFS 203 Si 204 8-205¹ Fw 206 8-207¹ Me 208 Me 209 (I)/Me 209 (II) Me 210 Hü 211 8-212⁴/Do 212 8-213¹ Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217/Hs 217 Do 218³ He 219 He 220 Do 221³ BV 222 Fa 223 Fa 224 Ao 225/Fa 225 BV 226/Ho 226 FGP 227 DFS 228 Go 229/Ho 229 8-230/DFS 230 Ar 231 Ar 232 Ar 233 Ar 234 Do 235⁵ Fa 236³ BV 237 BV 238 8-239¹ Ar 240 Go 241 Go 242 Me 243³ Go 244 Go 245³ BV 246 8-247¹ Ju 248 BV 250/Ho 250 Ho 251 Ho 252 Ju 252 Fi 253/Ho 253 Ho 254/Ta 254 8-255¹ Fi 256 SK 257 8-258¹ Fw 259 8-260¹ Me 261/Me 261w Me 262 Me 263 (1941)/Me 263 (1942)/Me 263 (1945) Me 264 Fl 265/Me 265 Fa 266/Go 266³ Ho 267 Ju 268 Fa 269 He 270 We 271 He 272³ He 273³ He 274 He 275⁵ He 276³ He 277 He 278 He 279³ He 280 He 281³ Fl 282 Fa 283 Fa 284 Fl 285 Ju 286 Ju 287 Do 288^4,6/Ju 288 Ju 289³ Ju 290 Hs 291 As 292/Hs 292³ Hs 293 Hs 294 Hs 295 Ar 296/Hs 296 Hs 297 Hs 298 Ju 299³ Fw 300
301 to 349	DFS 301 8-302¹ 8-303¹ 8-304¹ 8-305¹ 8-306¹ 8-307¹ 8-308¹ Me 309 Zwilling Me 310 8-311¹ 8-312¹ 8-313⁴ 8-314¹ Hs 315 8-316¹ Do 317 Do 318 He 319 Me 320³ Me 321 Ju 322 Me 323/ZMe 323 8-324¹ Fa 325/Fw 325³ 8-326¹ Me 327 Me 328 Me 329 Fa 330 DFS 331 DFS 332 Fi 333 Ar 334³/Me 334 Do 335 Fa 336 Ju 337³ 8-338¹ Fl 339 Ar 340 8-341 WNF 342 He 343 Rk 344/So 344⁵ Go 345 DFS 346 Rk 347 8-348¹ Ba 349
Post-349 (non-sequential)	Ju 352 Fi 356/Ju 356 Me 362 Me 364² Me 368³ Ju 388 Ju 390 Fw 391 Ar 393³ Ar 396 Ta 400 Me 409 Me 410 Do 417 He 419 ZMe 423 Ar 430/Ka 430 Ar 432 Do 435 Ar 440 8-445⁴ DFS 446 Ju 452 Me 462² DFS 468 Ju 488 Fw 491 He 500 Me 509 Me 510 He 519 8-520⁴ ZSO 523 Ar 532 8-534⁴ Do 535/He 535 Me 600² Me 609 Ar 632 Do 635/He 635/Ju 635
¹ Not assigned ² Unofficial/proposed ³ Assigned, but not used before RLM was dissolved ⁴ Assigned to captured aircraft ⁵ Unconfirmed ⁶ Propaganda/cover designation Note: Official RLM designations had the prefix "8-", but this was usually dropped and replaced with the manufacturer's prefix.