Ju-88 also a Stuka ?

Discussions on all (non-biographical) aspects of the Luftwaffe air units and general discussions on the Luftwaffe.
User avatar
Topspeed
Member
Posts: 4785
Joined: 15 Jun 2004, 16:19
Location: Finland

Ju-88 also a Stuka ?

#1

Post by Topspeed » 01 Feb 2007, 16:57

Was Ju-88 also a Stuka ? Was it ever called so ?

User avatar
Sitzkrieg
Member
Posts: 3930
Joined: 23 Sep 2005, 20:38
Location: HELLAS

#2

Post by Sitzkrieg » 01 Feb 2007, 19:46

Well, the term Stuka, short for "SturzKampfFlugzeug", meaning Diving Combat Aircraft describes all dive bombers ever made irrespective of origin. The Ju-88 and other German aircraft, like the Do-217 and even the He 177 were designed and equipped to be able to execute steep diving attacks, but that was not their primary role, just a part of their repertoire. I've never heard the Ju-88 being described as a Stuka.


User avatar
ChrisMAg2
Member
Posts: 641
Joined: 04 Aug 2003, 09:26
Location: Hannover, Germany or Manila, Philippines

#3

Post by ChrisMAg2 » 02 Feb 2007, 10:26

Sitzkrieg wrote: ... I've never heard the Ju-88 being described as a Stuka.
It was not only described as one, it had all features of a dive bomber:
•dive air brakes
•StuVi 5, used by the pilot
•automated divebombing procedeur: "Sturzflugautomatik"
•divebombing schematics
and a manual on how to use the Ju 88 as a divebomber.

Regards
Christian M. Aguilar

User avatar
Hound Dog
Member
Posts: 33
Joined: 01 Feb 2007, 23:17
Location: Tucson, Az

#4

Post by Hound Dog » 03 Feb 2007, 03:22

Kind of a trick question, there.

"Stuka" was a generic term for "Dive Bomber".

The JU-87 was and is commonly known as "The Stuka".

The JU-88 was never commonly referred to as "Stuka". When you say "Stuka", people assume you mean the JU-87.

I don't know if the JU-87 or the JU-88 had official names. Some German aircraft did - the FW-190 was the "Wurger", the ME-262 was the "Schwalbe", or "Sturmvogel" (for the bomber version, IIRC), HE-177 was the "Greif". The ME-109 (or BF-109 for the purists) was often named based on its variant designation: The ME-109E was the "Emil", the ME-109G was "Gustav". I don't know if the Luftwaffe gave 'official' names to all its aircraft.

Practically every American plane was named; P-51 Mustang, B-17 Flying Fortress, etc. The Brits used names instead of alpha-numerical designators followed by a "Mk" designator to specify which variant of the aircraft it was: The Spitfire MkV, Mk XIV, the Mosquito MkII, etc. They didn't have a "P-XX Spitfire" or a "B-XX Lancaster".

So, to answer your question, the JU-88 (along with the Aichi Val, Douglas Dauntless, Blackburn Barracuda, and others) would be known as a 'stuka'. However, in the commonly accepted way of things, when you say "Stuka" most everybody will assume you are talking about the JU-87, and ONLY the JU-87.

User avatar
faf_476
Member
Posts: 758
Joined: 31 Dec 2006, 20:36
Location: Philippines

#5

Post by faf_476 » 03 Feb 2007, 13:42

Hound Dog wrote:
So, to answer your question, the JU-88 (along with the Aichi Val, Douglas Dauntless, Blackburn Barracuda, and others) would be known as a 'stuka'. However, in the commonly accepted way of things, when you say "Stuka" most everybody will assume you are talking about the JU-87, and ONLY the JU-87.

I do think that, the term "Stuka" were only used through, Ju-87, coz they are known to it.
Your are correct mate. But If we focus on the spects of It's medium bomber type, the Ju-88, and as said before, It has those spects also used by the original Stuka.

Grendel-B
Member
Posts: 39
Joined: 09 Mar 2005, 21:56
Location: Finland

Re: Ju-88 also a Stuka ?

#6

Post by Grendel-B » 05 Feb 2007, 22:56

Topspeed wrote:Was Ju-88 also a Stuka ? Was it ever called so ?
Not officially, but it was and is still regularly called "the big Stuka", "Iso Stuka".

User avatar
faf_476
Member
Posts: 758
Joined: 31 Dec 2006, 20:36
Location: Philippines

#7

Post by faf_476 » 08 Feb 2007, 14:03

Just similar, but the task to do are different...

User avatar
Topspeed
Member
Posts: 4785
Joined: 15 Jun 2004, 16:19
Location: Finland

#8

Post by Topspeed » 08 Feb 2007, 15:33

faf_476 wrote:Just similar, but the task to do are different...
Task was to bomb enemy presicely...2 x 1000 kilo bombs does not allow carpet bombing does it ?

User avatar
Reich Ruin
Member
Posts: 370
Joined: 28 Mar 2004, 04:59
Location: Toronto, Canada

#9

Post by Reich Ruin » 18 Feb 2007, 06:59

I wouldn't consider the Ju-88 to be a pure dive bomber. It was found out early on that unlike the actual "Stuka", the Ju-88 was too big to dive vertically. The only way it could actually dive bomb was at shallower angles like 45 degrees or so. The Ju-87 Stuka could bomb anywhere from level flight to 90 degrees right down on it's target. So to me there is almost no real comparision. Besides in the early days during the Spanish Civil War and 1939-1940 the Luftwaffe was so flush with success using dive bombing that they applied it as a requirement to big bomber designs like the Ju-88 or even the He-177. This was quickly proven to be impratical... :lol: :roll:

User avatar
faf_476
Member
Posts: 758
Joined: 31 Dec 2006, 20:36
Location: Philippines

#10

Post by faf_476 » 18 Feb 2007, 12:45

Topspeed wrote:
faf_476 wrote:Just similar, but the task to do are different...
Task was to bomb enemy presicely...2 x 1000 kilo bombs does not allow carpet bombing does it ?
Yes, I know I mean thier way of bombing, where Stuka 88 is not easy to use as a dive bomber.

User avatar
Topspeed
Member
Posts: 4785
Joined: 15 Jun 2004, 16:19
Location: Finland

#11

Post by Topspeed » 19 Feb 2007, 11:52

Apparently so...despite all the equipments and manuals that indicated it was designed to be a Big Stuka.

User avatar
Valtoro
Member
Posts: 810
Joined: 16 Mar 2004, 19:45
Location: Norway

#12

Post by Valtoro » 19 Feb 2007, 16:51

The Ju88 was often called "Wunderbomber" or "Dreifinger".

/valtoro.

User avatar
Resmond.M
Member
Posts: 9
Joined: 27 Feb 2007, 15:11
Location: Shanghai

#13

Post by Resmond.M » 01 Mar 2007, 15:38

Nope, Stuka is shortened from Sturzkampfflugzeug, there is a list about the ju87 and 88's nickname

Junkers Ju 87 (dive bomber)
"Stuka" - dive bomber
"Stupido" (Spanish nickname) - stupid
"Picchiatello" (Italian nickname) - diving a/c; crazy, hit on the head
"Sitting Duck" (British nickname after the Battle of Britain)
"Nazi Hoax" (British nickname after the Battle of Britain)
"Lopata" - spade (Russian nickname)
¡¡
Junkers Ju 87A (dive bomber)
"Anton"
¡¡
Junkers Ju 87B (dive bomber)
"Bertha"
¡¡
Junkers Ju 87D (dive bomber)
"Dora"
¡¡
Junkers Ju 87G (anti-tank aircraft)
"Panzerknacker" - tank smasher
"Kanonenvogel" - cannon bird
¡¡
Junkers Ju 88 (fast bomber a.o.)
"Dreifinger" - three-finger

Wehrmann
Member
Posts: 268
Joined: 07 Jun 2006, 15:54
Location: Bavaria

#14

Post by Wehrmann » 01 Mar 2007, 17:03

Diving procedure Ju88. Sorry for the bad quality.

Wehrmann
Attachments
Sturz1.jpg
Sturz1.jpg (66.87 KiB) Viewed 4547 times

Wehrmann
Member
Posts: 268
Joined: 07 Jun 2006, 15:54
Location: Bavaria

#15

Post by Wehrmann » 01 Mar 2007, 17:04

Bild 2
Attachments
Sturz2.jpg
Sturz2.jpg (83.76 KiB) Viewed 4547 times

Post Reply

Return to “Luftwaffe air units and Luftwaffe in general”