Junkers Ju.52/3m various European Users

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German cargo aircraft which was widely used all around the globe. It was used, among many other ones, by the following countries:

• Slovak Republic: Two Ju.52/3mg7e were purchased from Germany in 1942 when the Slovak Air Force (SVZ) replaced their old inherited Czechoslovak-made material. They were destined to their flying school. Their fate is not known, but they were most probably destroyed on the ground during an aerial strike. 
• USSR: The Soviet Union employed the Ju.52/3m both before and after World War 2. Before the war, the type was evaluated by the NII-VVS (Soviet Air Force's Technical Research Unit) in 1937. 
  The Soviet State airline, Aeroflot, began operating captured Ju.52/3m on the Perm to Samara aerial route in the summer of 1944. These aircraft were also used to transport sulphur from mines in Central Asia to Soviet factories. Many of them were retrofitted with Soviet RPK-10 radio compasses and remained in active service until the late 1950s.
• Sweden: The Swedish national airline, AB Aerotransport, bought five Ju.52/3m, (according to some sources it was just 5 of them) in 1932. Though the airline's main aircraft was the famous Douglas DC-3, the Ju.52/3m was kept in service for routes from Sweden to Germany. They were extensively used, even during the war years, with neutrality markings. After the War, they served until 1948. 
  In order to prepare the country for a possible invasion during World War 2, the Swedish Air Force hired five Ju.52/3m from Aerotransport which gave them the designation of 'TP-5'. They were employed in many different roles, like cargo, personnel and VIP transport, but also as trainers and some of them were allocated to train the first Swedish paratroopers, though, eventually, they never served as such.
• Yugoslavia: During the very end of World War 2 and the immediate postwar, the Yugoslav Air Force operated some ex-German Ju.52/3m. They were complemented in 1946 with two French-made AAC.1 Toucan which were ordered in late 1945. In 1950 they acquired four more Toucans and two years later they were replaced by the Soviet Lisunov Li-2, the Soviet copy of the Douglas DC-4. The AAC.1s were passed on to JAT, the Yugoslav state airline, which operated the type until 1964. Nowadays one of them is preserved in Belgrade.

Sources:

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

2. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABA (translated)

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

4. http://www.vrtulnik.cz/ww2/slovac.htm (translated)

5. http://www.lietadla.com/historia/slov-heinkel.htm (translated)

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

7. https://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Transport/255tp5/255Tp5.htm

8. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 186 - Junkers Ju.52 in Action

Asja Jaktfalk - Swedish Users

The Asja Jaktfalk was a Swedish single-seat biplane fighter aircraft built in the late 1920s.

It started as a private venture by the defunct Svenska Aero company when the company board contacted the Swedish Air Board asking them for guidelines and wishes for a fighter aircraft. As they didn't receive any answer, Svenska Aero contacted with foreign designers in order to get some guidance.

Designed by Carl Clemens Bückler, it was a conventional biplane powered by the Armstrong-Siddeley Jaguar 14-cylinder radial engine and featured a fixed landing gear plus a skid under the tail section. Fuselage was made of welded beams covered with fabric while fore and aft parts were covered in aluminium sheet and it had a fuel tank between the engine and cockpit.

The test pilot, Nils Söderberg, after having tested it, stated that it was the best airplane he had ever flown and, after that test, it was presented the first prototype to the press on 11th November 1929. The prototype was bought by the Swedish Air Force on 9th January 1930 and was given the designation J5 and on February 1930 the Air Board decided that it had to be powered by a Bristol Jupiter engine, forcing that way to redesign it, specially the front part and some fuselage parts. The reformed version received the name of J6 or Jaktfalken I. It was followed by a new order of 5 new aircrafts this time powered by Bristol Jupiter VII engines in 1930 but when tested, the vibrations produced by the engine were too much and, despite that the they tried to solve the problem, no solution was found. After that, Bückler redesigned the landing gear and redesigned it to be powered by the Bristol Jupiter VIIF, or Jaktfalk II which were delivered to the Swedish Air Force in 1932.
Further minor modifications in the windshield and stabilizer were carried out in 1933 when Svenska Aero was merged into Asja and delivered seven additional airplanes, calleb J6B, to the Swedish Air Force.

Initially all fighters were assigned to the F1 Squadron at Västeras air base, and later they were transferred to the F8 Squadron based at Barkarby air base in October 1938 to be used as trainers. During the Winter War, three aircrafts were given to Finland as part of the aid-programme and the rest were scrapped in 1941.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svenska_Aero_Jaktfalken
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.