Junkers Ju.52, Middle-East and one African users

 

Preliminary note: Yes, we know that the French Amiot AAC.1 Toucan was covered in a previous post. However, as we were not happy with the final result, we decided to remake them.

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German cargo plane that saw an enormous success, thanks to which, it was exported to many parts around the globe. On this post we cover the next users:

• Lebanon: It seems that Lebanon had in force a very small number (probably it was just one airplane) of AAC.1 Toucan (the French version of the Ju.52/3m which was produced during and after the World War 2). Anyway, this was never an important asset for the Lebanese Air Force. As we couldn't find any graphical evidence of a Lebanese Amiot AAC.1 Toucan, the drawing and its markings should be considered as speculative.
• Portuguese Mozambique: In 1936 the airline DETA (acronym for Direcçao de Exploraçao de Transportes Aéreos - Direction for Aerial Transport Explorations) was established with a small fleet of British-made aircraft that were used for airmail services. Soon after, this airline started carrying passengers too and, given the rapid expansion, they acquired Junkers Ju.52/3m in 1938. 
  This airline flew, during  the late 1930s domestic flights inside Mozambique only. With the start of the World War 2, most operations were halted.
  DETA resumed operations after the war and started to open new aerial routes with foreign neighbour countries or regions like Rhodesia, South Africa and Madagascar. The Ju.52/3m served with DETA until April 1960, making it one of the last worldwide operator of the Ju.52/3m on scheduled services. In June 1961 the company ordered three Fokker F.27-200 to replace their ageing Ju.52/3m.
• Syria: Just like in the case of Lebanon, it seems that Syria had a very small number of Amiot AAC.1 in inventory, probably just one airplane. In any case, this Toucan was never given any important task. Please note that the drawing is considered as speculative as we couldn't find graphical evidence.
• Turkey: In 1943 five Ju.52/3m that belonged to Lufthansa were sold to Turkey. These were delivered one year later and assigned to Devlet Hava Yollari (the immediate forerunner of Turkish Airlines) The Ju.52/3m served on the Istanbul-Ankara route and other secondary domestic routes until 1948 when they were replaced by American DC-3 for passengers and Douglas C-47s for cargo duties.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Junkers_Ju_52_operators

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAM_Mozambique_Airlines

3. https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2020/04/11/aac-1-toucan-frances-post-wwii-ju-52/

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines

5. https://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal3/2701-2800/Gal2785-Ju-52-Gerdan/00.shtm

6. http://www.thy-heritage.com/flit/