Junkers Ju 90

The Junkers Ju 90 was a four-engined all-metal low-wing airliner and transport aircraft designed and built by Junkers for the German flag carrier Deutsche Luft Hansa. It was derived from the abandoned Ju 89 strategic bomber, sharing its wing and tail unit but with an entirely new fuselage that could seat up to 40 passengers, and it was covered in smooth duralumin skin rather than the corrugated skin traditional on Junkers aircraft. The first prototype, powered by four Daimler-Benz DB 600C engines, made its maiden flight on 28 August 1937; later aircraft used four BMW 132 radial engines. Luft Hansa ordered eight production Ju 90A-1 aircraft, but only seven were delivered to it, the last in April 1940, and full-scale passenger services were never started because the Second World War broke out. Several Ju 90s were rebuilt as prototypes of the larger Ju 290 transport and reconnaissance aircraft, and just two survived the war before being scrapped.