Ju 88 endurance

[BABIN]

Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner

BABIN,

Would you have the crew names and werknummer / codes of the two Ju 88 D-1 from Wekusta 1 that undertook those long-range flights from France to Norway ? Were those, the longest Ju 88 flights ever recorded? And, is there any glimpse to why this kind of long range flights were discarded or never flown again?

A.

Hello Adriano Baumgartner,

Mission dated 10th of november 1942 :
Crew names : pilot Lt. H-J. Schulze, meteorologist Ass. Dr. Kniess, radio Ofw von Borstel, flight eng. Fw F. Heyer
Aircraft : Ju 88D-1 (D7+EK), WKNr 430 103

Mission dated 19th of november 1942 :
Crew names : pilot Lt Georg Obermeier, met. Wd.Insp W. Beimgraden, radio Fw M. Mrochen, flight eng. Fw F Heyer
Aircraft : Ju 88D-1 (D7+EK), same aircraft as the previous one

Both missions were tests. But in these 2 cases the aircraft had to do stops in Germany and Netherlands on the return trips because of mechanical problems. I think that was the reason why this kind of long range flights were discarded.

However, in the... 900 fliegermeldungen of the Wekusta 2 that I could read, I found an other (only one) long range mission with a Ju 88 : on 8th of June 1943 the Ju 88D-1 (D7+HK), WKNr 430 334, flew a mission far over the Atlantic Ocean. Duration : 8h21mn. Of course, the aircraft was equiped with an additional tank. Crew names : Lt. Obermeier, R.Rat W. Kuspert, radio Ofw. Mrochen, Flight Eng. Ofw Franzke.

Unfortunately, I don't know the reason of this long range mission.

Best regards

Pierre Babin