Junkers A50 Junior

The Junkers A50 Junior is a German all-metal sports plane first produced by Junkers in 1929, and the first sports aircraft designed by Hermann Pohlmann at the Junkers works. It used the same corrugated duralumin skin as the larger Junkers airliners, with a streamlined fuselage and a low-mounted cantilever wing, and could be fitted with wheels, skis or floats. It was typically powered by one Armstrong Siddeley Genet II five-cylinder radial engine of 65 kW. The aircraft made its maiden flight on 13 February 1929 and four more prototypes followed. Junkers had expected to build 5,000 but halted manufacturing after only 69, of which only 50 were sold. In 1930 a floatplane variant set eight world records for altitude, distance and average speed, and in 1931 Marga von Etzdorf became the first woman to fly solo from Berlin to Tokyo, in an A50 Junior. A modernized version has been produced since 2022 by Junkers Aircraft Works.