Junkers Ju.52 in Argentina

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German transport aircraft manufactured and developed by Junkers. With 4.485 units having been manufactured, it comes no surprise that the type was widely exported to, among many other countries, Argentina.

In September 1938 the Comando de Aviación del Ejército (Army Aviation's Command) sent a representation to Germany in order to buy 5 Ju.52/3m which were being produced for the Luftwaffe. 

The first three Ju.52 arrived in Argentina in 1939 and in October they were assigned to the newly created "Escuadrilla de Transporte" (Transport Squadron) belonging to the "Grupo 1 de Observación" (No.1 Observation Group) based at El Palomar Air Base, in Buenos Aires. Shortly later the two remaining machines were delivered. All five of them were delivered unassembled by boat and were assembled at Fábrica Militar de Aviones' (FMA) factory, in Córdoba.

Given that Germany was in the middle of the World War 2, spare parts and engines were running short, the Junkers were re-engined with FMA E-1 radial engines which were a licensed copy of the American Wright Cyclone SGR-1820F.2. Between the years 1939 and 1945, they served with the Argentine Army's Aviation Command in the transport role, but also with Aeroposta Argentina (Argentine Air Mail) flying in every occasion under neutrality markings (though Argentine declared war on Germany… on 27th March 1945!). 

After the War, the Fuerza Aérea Argentina (Argentine Air Force) was created , which takes into property the Ju.52 together with ten additional second-hand machines bought from the Brazilian company Cruzeiro do Sul in 1946, which were BMW engined.

With the first machines, back in 1940, the first flights of LASO (Líneas Aéreas del Sudoeste - Southwestern Airlines), LANE (Líneas Aéreas del Noreste - Northeastern Airlines) and SADE (Servicio Aeropostal del Estado - State's Aeropostal Service) took place, which were all merged in 1945 into LADE (Líneas Aéreas del Estado - State's Airlines). All of this while they were still serving with the Air Force in military transport flights, cargo transfer and even paratrooper drop as they were the first transports assigned to the Argentinean paratrooper unit, created in 1943. 

Between 1947 and 1948 they were employed as crop dusters (with additional crop dusting gear fitted in a workshop at the city of Quilmes) to fight the locust plague which was ruining plantations in the Argentinean North and Northeast. 

By late 1948 nine aircraft were transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and the remaining two were kept serving with the Air Force until as late as 1963.

Sources:

1. http://www.amilarg.com.ar/junkers-ju-52.html (translated)

2. https://www.zona-militar.com/foros/threads/junkers-ju-52-3-m-en-argentina.10321/ (translated)

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_52

4. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerolíneas_Argentinas (translated)