Junkers Ju 352

The Junkers Ju 352 Herkules was a German transport aircraft of the Second World War developed from the Ju 252. In spring 1942 the Air Ministry told the Junkers Dessau project office to redesign the Ju 252 to use as little strategic material as possible, replacing its Jumo 211F engines with surplus BMW Bramo 323R radial engines. The result followed the Ju 252 aerodynamically but was an entirely new aircraft, with a wooden wing mounted further aft and a rear loading ramp, the Trapoklappe, like that of the Ju 252. It was considered a major improvement on the Ju 52 but noticeably inferior to the Ju 252. Production was abandoned in the summer of 1944 as the war situation worsened, after 10 pre-production and 33 production aircraft had been built, and a Ju 352B with more powerful engines and stronger defensive armament was proposed but not built. Operators included the Luftwaffe, the postwar Czechoslovak air force, and one Letov-built aircraft that was presented to the Soviet Union in 1946.