Airfix Airfix Junkers Ju87B-1 Stuka

Although usually associated with the Wehrmachts feared attacks at the beginning of WWII the Ju87B Stuka was also a highly effective maritime strike bomber Capable of performing precision dive bombing attacks against any Allied vessel the Stuka took a heavy toll of shipping in the English Channel North Africa and in the Mediterranean The Stuka also saw service with the air forces of Italy Romania Bulgaria and Hungary as well as remaining in Luftwaffe service throughout WWII The attack dive of the Stuka was so severe that quite a number of automatic features had to be incorporated into the manoeuvre At an altitude of approximately 15000 ft the pilot would locate his target through a bombsight window which was located in the floor of the cockpit His engine and propeller had automatic controls to optimize the aircraft when in a dive and an automatic trimmer would make the aircraft tail heavy as the pilot initiated the dive He would move the dive lever to the rear which would limit the of the control column and quickly begin a defined sequence of actions which if done correctly would see his ordnance detonate on his intended target He quickly set the trim tabs reduced the throttle and closed the engine coolant flaps The aircraft would automatically become tail heavy and pitch over in a 180-degree roll placing the aircraft in a steep nose-down dive at the same time dive breaks were automatically deployed to reduce the speed of the dive to a constant 360 mph This was the point of no return the attack sequence had begun Please note box and model dimensions are shown as identical however only represent the box/package size