Quote:
Originally Posted by jckinswo
Could this possibly be a D7? From what I've read they were adapted from the D-3s specifically for night fighting and had the MG17 replaced by the MG 151/20, 20mm cannon. On the subject of machine guns and cannons, are the machine guns on a Ju 87 always extended or can they be "recessed" and shorter (making them look more like a 20mm to my untrained eye) John
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No less dive-bomber authority than Peter C. Smith (author of countless books) recently castigated (
Stuka Vol. 2, Classic Publications) "some (self-appointed and self-proclaimed) 'experts' [who] claim the Ju 87 D-7 and D-8 did not exist."
I haven't done any self-proclaiming yet (Where do you start? The steps of City Hall?) but…
There's no question that Junkers drew up the specs for these types and Christian Möller makes a logical case for prototypes being constructed.
However - and this is important, I think - if the D-7 and D-8 were built, where did they all go?
- I have never seen a single strength return or loss report from a Nachtschlachtgruppe referring to such an aircraft;
- I have seen not a single Allied report on a wrecked Ju 87 that identifies it as a D-7 or D-8;
- The D-7 and D-8 have not featured in any deciphered German signal that I have read over the last 17 years.
What you do see continually are references to the Ju 87 D-3, the Ju 87 D-5 and more rarely the "Ju 87 D-5 (N) VII" or "Ju 87 D-5 (Nacht) VII."
About the wing guns: the D-3 had normal span wings and MG 17 machine guns as in the picture you posted, usually with the fairing over the muzzle; the D-5 had extended wing tips and MG 151/20 cannon whose barrels extended substantially beyond the leading edge. In aircraft adapted for night operations, the muzzles were often fitted with a flash-suppressor.