Junkers Ju 87 Junkers Ju 87 The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from "Sturzkampfflugzeug", "dive bomber") is a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War and served the Axis forces in World War II. The aircraft was easily recognisable by its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage. Upon the leading edges of its faired main gear legs were mounted the "Jericho-Trompete" (Jericho trumpet) wailing sirens, becoming the propaganda symbol of German air power and the
Junkers marked on the J-9's landing gear wheel covers. The corrugated duralumin wing and fuselage "skin" introduced in the J-series became a trademark of Junkers aircraft built in the 1920s and '30s. Development continued during the course of World War I, including a growing (but troublesome) partnership with Fokker, as the "Junkers-Fokker Aktiengesellschaft". Several Junkers designs were licensed to Fokker during this period. The visual similarity of Junkers and Fokker aircraft during the next decade, especially after Reinhold Platz adapted some of the Junkers design concepts, but mostly crafted in wood for the Fokker designs' wing structures instead of the all-metal