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The last two surviving Stukas........

Article about: As many of you know, there are only two intact Junkers Ju87 Stukas left from the Second World War. One is in the RAF Museum at Hendon, London. The other in in the Chicago Museum of Science a

  1. #31

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    Yes i think when i went there in the early 1990s it was displayed as a tank buster .I know there is a guy in Belgium buliding a whole Stuka out of crashed Aircraft parts last time i was at his place he had 3 engines there and was making one Engine out of the 3 so there could be a third stuka coming sometime soon

  2. #32

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    I was amazed at just how big the Stuka is.
    gregM
    Live to ride -- Ride to live

    I was addicted to the "Hokey-Pokey" but I've turned
    myself around.

  3. #33
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    Yeah, pretty big.
    IMO the role of the Stuka in WWII can not be overestimated.
    It might not be as sexy as some fighter planes and some might be more interested in FW 190s et al.
    The Stuka even 'lost terrain' in later stages of the war, as it became (relatively) easy prey for more agile enemy planes, but at initial stages of the war and even in the right hands in the late war period, the Stuka was a force to be reckoned with.
    I bet a few fighter pilots were surprised just before their planes fell apart around them, when encountering Stukas set up for being 'Panzer knackers' and then turning the tables on the fighters by firing at them with the cannon meant for busting tanks.

    I heartedly recommend Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel's book 'Mein Kriegstagebuch' (My War Diary).
    Rudel busted a remarkable number of tanks and shot down a number of enemy planes. He sunk a ship with a Stuka bomb.
    As with the Stuka, Rudel's role in WWII simply can not be overestimated; he cost the USSR the equivalent of countless millions of Dollars.

    He might never have been accepted into polite post war Luftwaffe Company, because he refused to make a amneds, but the PC brigade will just have to look beyond that and enjoy the book for what it is; an interesting read about a pilot in sync with the planes he flew.

    If you can look beyond Rudel being a dyed-in-the-wool believer, you should read the book for the aviation parts.
    Last edited by Scout; 11-13-2013 at 04:30 PM.

  4. #34

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    Rudel was high on the list of Hitler's preferred possible replacement as Leader so no, not a pleasant chap...

  5. #35
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    Rudel never recanted thus was never accepted into polite company after the war as mentioned.
    He was shunned in some circles.

    Leader of what? Führer?

  6. #36

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    Das Reich-Hitler thought him the archetypal Aryan warrior.

  7. #37
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    Might be true. AH was certainly fond of him.

    But then again, Leon Degrelle also stated that AH had said to him in person, that if he (H) ever had had a son, he wished for him to be like Degrelle.
    I take that with a grain of salt

  8. #38
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    Fantastic photo's of the bygone years. If ever in the States must go to the aircraft WWII museum which only opened few years ago in Colorado Springs at the General Aviation airport. They restore these old planes and keep the jiges .for future parts, restorations etc. While I saw it for the first time approx. 8 mo ago had the privilege to see my first P-38.

  9. #39
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    In the 1958 film Dunkirk, there is archive footage of Stukas taking off and in flight with no fairings on the wheels, the reasons for this remain unclear

  10. #40

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    'Dunkirk', like many films of the era, was made in B/W so as to use 'stock' original war footage but also, like many films, no real attention to matching exact time and place-Tiger tanks appear at one point rolling down the road... It was practice by the time of the Balkan campaign of early 1941 for Ju87s to operate without the spats-usually it's stated this was because of mud clogging them but may also simply have been done to make it easier to service the undercarriage in the field under operational conditions.

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