Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber

Its inverted gull wings and fixed landing gear make the Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber perhaps the most recognizable combat plane of World War II, and the aerial symbol of the early blitzkrieg campaigns that ravaged Europe from the invasion of Poland into the early stages of the Russian campaign.

Precision dive bombing had long been a goal of air forces around the world.  The first attempts were made in World War I by British fliers. Between the wars nations such as Germany and Sweden continued to show interest in the technique.  The U.S. Marines and the U.S. Navy were both keenly interested in dive bombing then as well.  The Marines wanted ground support and the Navy wanted to sink ships.  When the Second World War started, American manufacturers developed aircraft for these purposes, including the Douglas SBD Dauntless and Curtiss SB2C Helldiver.

The Stuka, designed by Junkers in the early 1930s, won out over three other German designs and came into service in 1936.  The plane excelled at ground support and was adroit at attacking ships.  Perhaps its strongest features were its dedicated autopilot, automatic recovery mechanism, and ability to use primitive airfields.  The autopilot enabled pilots to concentrate on bombing while diving; the automatic recovery mechanism righted the plane if the pilot blacked out; and the ability to make rough landings saved aircraft and lives.  Decisions to equip the plane with a screaming siren and its bombs with an eerie whistle, meanwhile, made the Stuka an effective transmitter of Nazi terror.  In addition, the plane was able to place its bombs, about 2,000 pounds worth, very accurately.

The Stuka, however, was slow and cumbersome, attributes that made it an easy target especially as it climbed out of a dive.  Disastrous encounters with British and Russian fighters showed it needed escort to survive.  This vulnerability, combined with advances in weaponry that enabled defter nondiving planes to achieve comparable precision, eventually made the Stuka obsolete in its original role.  Seeking a new one, engineers reconfigured the Stuka to operate in a ground-attack capacity, following the blueprint of the Soviet Il-2 Sturmovik.  This new focus proved successful, with the plane proving adept at coming up on Soviet tanks from behind and punishing them with 37 mm cannon.