Junkers Ju 287
The Junkers Ju 287 was an aerodynamic testbed built in 1944.
The Ju 287 was intended to provide a bomber that could outrun enemy fighters. The swept-forward wing was suggested by the project's head designer Dr. Hans Wocke as a way of providing extra lift at low airspeeds - necessary because of the poor responsiveness of early turbojets at the vulnerable times of takeoff and landing. A further structural advantage of the forward-swept wing was that it would allow for a single massive weapons bay in the best location, the centre of gravity of the plane, with the main wing spar passing behind the bomb bay. The same structural requirement meant the wing could then be located at the best aerodynamic location, the centre of the fuselage.Prior to the assembly of the first Ju 287, an He 177 A-5 (designated as na He 177 prototype, V38) was modified to examine the technical characteristics of this single large bomb bay design.
Flight tests began on 16 August 1944, with the aircraft displaying good handling, as well as revealing some of the problems of the forward-swept wing under some flight conditions. Most notable of these drawbacks was excessive in flight flexing of the main spar and wing assembly. Tests suggested that the warping problem would be eliminated by concentrating greater engine mass under the wings. This improvement would be incorporated in the subsequent prototypes with under wing engines moved forward.
The Ju 287 was intended to be powered by four Heinkel-Hirth HeS 011 engines, but because problems experienced with that engine, the BMW 003 was selected in its place. The second prototype (Ju 287 V2) would have had six engines (originally four underwing BMW 003s and two fuselage-mounted Jumo 004s, but later changed to two triple clusters composed of four Jumo 004s and two BMW 003s), and also differed from the Ju 287 V1 in having the main undercarriage struts with an inward cant, the horizontal stabilizer lowered by 30 centimeters, and trouser pants for the nose wheels.The third prototype, the Ju 287 V3, employed six BMW 003s, in a triple cluster under each wing, and featured an all-new fuselage and tail design intended for the production bomber, the Ju 287A-1.
The Ju 287 V4 and V5 would have served as prototypes of the Ju 287A-2 and Ju 287B-1 respectively, and the V5 and V6 were to feature tail armament and ejection seats. The Ju 287B-1 would have had four 1,300 kg (2,900 lb) thrust HeS 011 turbojets, while the Ju 287B-2 was to employ two 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) thrust BMW 018 turbojets.
Work on the Ju 287 programme, along with all other pending German bomber projects came to a halt in July 1944, but Junkers was allowed to go forward with the flight testing regime on the V1 prototype. The components for the Ju 287 V2 had been completed and were shipped for final assembly. Seventeen test flights were undertaken in total, which passed without notable incident. This initial test phase was designed purely to assess the low-speed handling qualities of the forward-swept wing, but despite this the V1 was dived at full jet power at least once. After the 17th and last flight in late autumn of 1944, the V1 was transferred to the Luftwaffe's evaluation and test centre at Rechlin. However, in March 1945, for unknown reasons, the Ju 287 program was restarted, with the RLM issuing a requirement for mass production of the jet bomber as soon as possible.
Both V1 and V2 were destroyed by the Nazis to avoid capture by Allied forces. Wocke and his staff were captured by the Red Army and taken to the Soviet Union.
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