The Plane That Could Literally Do Everything: Junkers Ju 88

In this video, we talk about the Junkers Ju 88, a bomber and multi-role aircraft from Germany in World War II. We first talk about its origins back in 1935, in a search for a new schnellbomber (fast bomber) design, and how that original intent snowballed. We talk about how the testing expanded into it being a dive bomber, heavy fighter, and recon plane. We talk about the major expectations at the beginning of production, and how Junkers utterly failed to meet those expectations due to reasons largely out of their control.
We then talk about its relatively minimal role early in WW2, due to various production issues, and its relative poor performance in the Battle of Britain. We look at how that performance led to Germany and Junkers moving away from the original fast bomber concept, and towards a more generalized multi-role aircraft that could be a bomber, dive bomber, torpedo bomber, heavy fighter, night fighter, ground attacker, and reconnaissance. We talk about the incredible acceleration in production, and how that, along with improved performance, led to the Ju 88 being one of the most prevalent and important planes Germany had in WW2. We end by looking at its decline towards the end of the war, and how Germany attempted to keep the design successful.

[@Cone_was_here]

Gaijin should introduce S,G and P models into the game instead of Top Tier planes

[@mastathrash5609]

Indeed, instead of Top tiers That take $$$ and or 10,000 years to grind. And cost a prohibitive amount of in-game credits to run.

[@Cone_was_here]

@@mastathrash5609 ye i still haven't menaged to even grind to early jets.Props are more fun in my opinion then jets,you can have real fights and nut just spam misiles

[@lampshade6967]

But that won’t make them money so they won’t

[@Cone_was_here]

@@lampshade6967 true,but they are will run out of new vehicles eventualy

[@askamikaze3936]

Ju 88 P is my favorite. 2500 capability along with (I think) the guided bomb capability would make it interesting at 3.0

[@UncleJoeLITE]

"You fly an Me109 to get the girls, a Ju88 to come home to them" Along with the Beaufighter & Mozzie [even the Me110], one of my period favourites....cheers from Canberra AU.

[@michael20merc77]

Gotta love the ju-88

[@bigblue6917]

I'm noticing how most of my favourite WW2 aircraft are two engined. Like you I love the Ju-88. For the USAAF it is the B-25 and the P-38 while the RAF it is the Mosquito along with the Beaufighter.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

..if vs 111 & 17....Ja?

[@worldtraveler930]

I second that motion!!! 🤠👍

[@whiskey_tango_foxtrot__]

The Ju-88... The STUG of the sky.

[@womble321]

Carefully designed annular radiators could using the heat of the water actually produce thrust that counteracted the drag. They were used in the avro lincoln and shakelton among others. And of course the 190 D and ta 152

[@JulienGardner]

Meredith effect !

[@robertwoodroffe123]

Long nose was prone to over heating!!!

[@iskandartaib]

That was true of pretty much all radiators used during WW2, annular or not. And I believe it's also true of the ducting they used for cooling on some radial engine installations, such as on the Sea Fury. Without the use of the Meredith Effect, you're essentially losing several tens of mph, so pretty much everyone used it, and it was well-known, having been discovered in the 1930s.

[@touristguy87]

...how much thrust and drag are we talking about there, Bucky

[@charlesrousseau6837]

The P51 radiator scoop was an excellent example of this application,

[@FlorinSutu]

5:09 - That one rests in peace in the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. During WWII it belonged to the Royal Romanian Air Force and it was dedicated to surveillance/reconnaissance. I had the pleasure to take many photos of it, from all directions.

[@prowlus]

Theres also one in the uk (Nightfighter version) that was part of a elaborate operation by a disillusioned group of Luftwaffe pilots who purposely defected to the allies and gave them a way to jam the Ju-88’s radar

[@FlorinSutu]

@@prowlus - One of the three members of the Luftwaffe crew did not want to defect, he had to be tied, or kept at gunpoint, by the other two. By the way, the Ju-88 which is in Dayton, Ohio, was also a result of a defection. The Romanian pilot (an NCO, not officer) took off from Ukraine, crossed over Black Sea and Turkey and landed in Cyprus (at the end, with an escort of 4 Hurricanes). The British already had the plane you mentioned, so they offered the other to the Americans, as a gift.

[@touristguy87]

"rests in peace"? really?

[@charlesjames1442]

The circular radiators were very well protected from flak and machine gun fire from the rear. It was expensive and had more drag but could be relatively small and light because of the prop air flow.

[@charlesrousseau6837]

IHYLS's self-deprecation and sense of humour made my day 😅

[@josephstabile9154]

A couple points: 280 mph at altitude during BoB made Ju-88 somewhat difficult to intercept, esp. by Hurricanes, unless they had an altitude advantage. Ju-88S presented same problem, as it was flying at approx. Mosquito altitudes & speeds. Ju-88G nightfighter was, per "Winkle" Brown, at 400 mph at altitude, " a very fast lady," definitely in Mosquito territory, popular with crews 'til the war's end, and significantly faster than P-61. Ju-388, with BMW801 T/TJ engines, would have posed a serious interception problem, HAD there been significant production.

[@williamzk9083]

The Ju 88 was no mosquito. It was over I.5 as heavy and for most of the war had less power. Only with the Jumo 213A and Jumo 213E was there some parity and even then I don’t know if they receive the MW50 system

[@wbertie2604]

That wasn't a production aircraft. Production examples had a max speed of 344mph, much slower than contemporary Mosquito NFs

[@chrissmith2114]

@@wbertie2604 Mossie could carry 4000 lbs of bombs, Ju-88 2000 lbs

[@wbertie2604]

@@chrissmith2114 the NF version didn't typically carry bombs, and certainly not 4000lbs - only a handful carried that much. The Ju-88 series could carry up to 3000kg (6600lbs), although only 1400kg (3100lb) internally. That's still more than most Mosquitos could carry internally (2000lb). I'm a big Mosquito fan boy, but facts matter.

[@chrissmith2114]

@@wbertie2604 Struggling to think why a night fighter would carry bombs ? Would expect it to carry radar and lots of guns. Mossie could carry almost same bomb load as USA B-17, which wasted weight carrying crew of 10 and all those guns when the Brits already told them that daylight bombing was suicide no matter how many guns you had. Brits had to explain that heavy bomber referred to the payload not the weight of the aircraft.

[@marcusott5054]

The thing about the annular radiators was the concept of the "Kraft-Ei" (Power-Egg) which made powerplant interchangeability a thing. So aircraft designers could then choose from various powerplants that all had the same basic form factor. Not a bad concept honestly.

[@Hamishtarah]

13:11 there was a factory in Elsass as well. During WWII the buildings of the car maker Mathis in Strasburg were used for the production and repair of motor engines.

[@glennpettersson9002]

The Ju 88 is a classic tale of theory meets reality. To me it reinforces the idea that the two main categories of combat aircraft are fighters and targets. Thank you for the video 👍

[@user-ez2tq4vi8f]

Lesson 1: multi-role capabilities are a good thing. Lesson 2: as being a decades long Baltimore Oriole's fan , until recently, was like waking up everyday with a headache, but they still have the capacity to disappoint.

[@alexbernhard5936]

I second both of these 🤣 Hyde has been impressive so far, I hope he keeps working the farm system

[@Tom-Lahaye]

An excellent design, the Germans had clearly made the concept forward adaptable, being able to take different kinds of engine and deal with much higher speed in the later versions. The S3 variant was clearly a force to reckon with, speed being on par with the Mosquito. At the RAF museum Cosford there is a Ju-88G, I visited the museum and it's quite a place for those interested in the German Luftwaffe having a Me 262, Me163, the Fritz X guided bomb and all sorts of experimental rockets to name a few of the exhibits.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

I like the story of the Mosquito tetse using its 57mm autocannon to shoot the wing off a Ju-88 Gotta love heavy fighter dogfighting in ww2.

[@farrazaulia2917]

cool video man

[@briansteffmagnussen9078]

The US took one Ju 88 back to the states, and they where much impressed by it's general performance and versatility. The only downside for the crew where that the more stuff you put into the airframe, the cramped cockpit became more cramped.

[@jsharpe45]

there also was an hi-altitude recon version, that inspired the creation of the U-2.

[@merafirewing6591]

Could you make a video about the Nakajima G10N Fugaku, please.

[@ptonpc]

Hey there! Another good video and metric is always appreciated.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

? 'cause 1 meter = Nazi-Napoleon-EU? ;-P

[@ottovonbismarck2443]

Putting the cooler in front of the V-inline engine and a round cowling doesn't turn it into a radial engine.

[@gebus5633]

I assume the night fighter variant having "guns slightly tilted upwards" is in reference to the "Schräge Musik" setup, that actually had almost vertically installed guns inside the fuselage. This isn't referring to the forward facing guns in a pod under the fuselage that is shown in the photo. Tilting these under the fuselage mounted guns slightly up would result in hitting your own nose...

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Beautiful aircraft.

[@syncshot3677]

FW-190 video would be great

[@michaelhoffmann2891]

I wish there was more news on various reconstruction efforts. All articles I found were a bit long in the tooth - mostly in Norway it seems (guess the cold preserved them there?). Could be there's more updates on social media, but I don't use it. EDIT: I suppose one "variant" you missed was the Ju-88 as being the larger part of the "Mistel" combo: there the 88 became one giant bomb/missile.

[@benstaubyn]

Superb Subject , Metric is most appreciated!

[@ethanmckinney203]

Douglas A-20 was built in two halves as well.

[@mosesracal6758]

A Tactical Bomber pushed into the role of a strategic one - the Schnell Bomber concept couldve worked if it was not used in such deep strikes.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

It did work, re, the Mosquito

[@brettpeacock9116]

You fail to mention that a significant fraction of the design and Modifications towards the Junkers 88 Production was done with the input of one Eduard Heinemann ( US Citizen of German birth) , loaned to Junkers by Douglas Aircraft in the USA. (He was also on the team that designed the A-20 Havoc , A-26 Invader and, Post-war - the A4D - redesignated later to A-4 - Skyhawk jet, which was also a very succcessful "Jack of All Trades".)

[@daveanderson3805]

Interesting video. The JU 88 was probably the most capable bomber the germans had. Like a cross between a Blenheim and a Mosquito. Also the best night fighter they fielded. What was it with Udet and his dive bombing fetish? That drunk wanted everything with wings to be able to dive bomb. Even the He177.

[@falloutghoul1]

You'd think with the Ju-88 having trouble with dive bombing, the Germans would have learned better than to make the He-177 have dive-bombing abilities.

[@ameliafox9429]

Really informative vid, much less angry than HardThrasher's vid where he talks about them :D thanks for talking about such a pretty plane!

[@shannonterry4863]

HardThrasher loves to over-state aircraft shortcomings and use questionable comparisons to make marginal points that weren't practical given the timeline. Most of his points are clearly pro-British aircraft and designed to low-key troll non-British aircraft.

[@laszlosimon884]

​@@shannonterry4863if only the philosophy and characteristics of german plane design were tested against enemy aircraft to see if they were better or viable... Oh wait

[@shannonterry4863]

@@laszlosimon884 Snark really clears up any historical questions, eh what?

[@dashydoo]

Your videos make the flight to target in IL-2 a lot shorter thank you.

[@pierrelahaie6359]

From the encyclopedia "Weapons and warfare": -It would be pointless to describe the Ju88 as a war-winning aircraft because Germany lost the war. But no aircraft did more , in all kinds of mission and on all fronts, to stave off defeat.

[@TheLateBird7]

That chart with all the possible (serious and not-so-serious) roles ROFL

[@loddude5706]

Hmm, had De Havilland's been a German furniture company, & Hugo Junker's aircraft factories worked alongside RR, would their lethal Vulture engine have had it's neck wrung any earlier? : )

[@Scobragon]

It was absolutely vital to Finland.

[@touristguy87]

it was exceptionally good at solving a Rubiks Cube, holding the European world record until 1956

[@vectra9_957]

Explain?

[@drstrangelove4998]

Wow, that’s really amazing, especially as Rubic only invented his cube in 1974 😳

[@touristguy87]

@@drstrangelove4998 obviously the plane invented the Rubik's Cube but it was kept hidden as a military secret and then credit was given to a human chosen at random

[@paulrobinson3649]

I think there was a typo on the Height given. 15'9" = 4.8m, or the guys in front of the plane are a bit short for a storm trooper.

[@MattnessLP]

Good to know the Ju 88 designers didn't Lose Themselves in the aftermath of the Battle of Britain

[@MCMXLVI]

Thank you for pronouncing Junkers and Jumo correctly!.

[@sejembalm]

Other good multi-role aircraft of WW2 were the British de Havilland Mosquito which performed as a fast bomber/strike aircraft, reconnaissance, and night fighter, and the US Lockheed P-38 Lightning that was used as a general fighter as well as a highly effective fighter-bomber, a night fighter, and a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks. The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bombers, or even other P-38s equipped with bombs, to their targets. Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P-38 accounted for 90 percent of American aerial film captured over Europe. Although it was not designated a heavy fighter or a bomber destroyer by the USAAC, the P-38 filled those roles and more. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-38_Lightning en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito

[@geesehoward700]

poor old Bristol Beaufighter never gets remembered

[@wolfsoldner9029]

Under any video about one of the german schnellbomber types there is a comment like this which is coping for the Mosquito. Why can't you people accept that one of many plane videos on this platform is solely about a specific german plane ? Just type De Havilland Mosquito into KZbins searchfield and you get what you want.

[@sejembalm]

@@wolfsoldner9029 Pardon me for suggesting other good multi-role aircraft of WW2.

[@wolfsoldner9029]

@@sejembalm Don't warry. There is no conspiracy against the Mosquito.

[@sejembalm]

@@wolfsoldner9029 Would it matter if there was?

[@loneranger5349]

One thing you'll never hear. The engines were overpowered 😊

[@2854Navman]

Go O's!!

[@UguysRnuts]

3:55 The engine shown is upside down. Are you sure you're qualified?

[@thunderK5]

The cattle in the opening photo speak to the udder madness of Hitler's Germany.

[@taka7369]

Everything? Could it cook Schnitzel with Spätzle? I think not, hah!

[@rafale1981]

Spätzle were regulated too, so no, schnitzel with spätzle cooking was reserved only for messerschmidt planes

[@taka7369]

@@rafale1981 You're referring to the McDonalds treaty that was forced on Germany after world wurst 1.

[@davidvavra9113]

Two half fuselages, didnt De Haviland vthat with the Mosquito?

[@kidmohair8151]

16:13 2.8 metres is 9 feet. 15 feet is 4.6 metres.

[@Amadeus8484]

But could it see why kids love the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

[@axelschranck5738]

this was the german Mosquito long before the Mosquito took the air

[@iskandartaib]

Hmm.. How did the Germans say "Ju 88"? "Jay Yoo" (the letters) would be "Yot Oopsilon", so I doubt they'd be saying "Yot Oopsilon Acht und Achtzig" 😁 It would probably be "Yoo Acht und Achtzig". Or "Yoo Acht Acht".

[@1joshjosh1]

Look at all the loads of good parking in front of the luftwaffe headquarters.

[@floycewhite6991]

Not really that big a building. It's still there, you can find it on go ogle maps.

[@connorbrown4695]

15:09 Was the Eminem reference intentional here orrr

[@liaopeter3841]

can it flip pancakes? Literally

[@RectalRooter]

I want a Batman Therapist I think it would give me a most awesome edge over the competition hahaha Oh YEAH

[@builder396]

1:50 "small frame" *shows P-47* Yeah, maybe there are better examples for that....

[@hexpert6043]

Yeah, P47 was giant

[@212th]

Ju88 gang called

[@bigblue6917]

German nightfighters faced a number of problems one of which was the Mosquitos night intruders flying over Germany whose job it was to hunt the hunters. A little story which may interest you is something the Royal Air Force did to keep the German nightfighters away from the bomber stream. The RAF had a number of radio operator who spoke fluent German and the would broadcast to the nightfighters on the same wavelength telling the pilot that the voice they had been listening too was not German but British. They were told not to listen to the "British" voice as they were trying keep you away from the enemy bombers and were told to fly to a different area. The German radio operators did try to convince the crew that they were the real radio operator and not to listen to the other person, but many of the crews got confused and many did follow the new voice where a Mosquito night intruder was usually waiting for them. Some years before I came across this story I did read the biographer of the radar operator of a Mosquito who did not know of the RAF "Germans" and assumed these Germans aircrews were keeping away from the fighting. The Germans did set a trap for the RAF radio operators as one night they switched from male to female radio operators. The problem was that they RAF anticipated the move and quickly switched their own operators from male to female.

[@frosty3693]

You may be interested in reading about the RAF 100 (bomber support) Group. They did that and more and some did have German, or German ancestry/speaking, crews. Some changed their names to more anglo sounding ones in case of being captured.

[@janmale7767]

The Junkers was a truly remarkable aircraft, interesting that you say that it was 2 Germans that went to America to study and learn certain aspects of aircraft design and construction from the Americans,came back to Germany and applied their aquired knowledge to the Ju- 88 project! Whereas i had always read that America design engineers were hired to do the job? Wonder wbich version of the story is correct, i would guess your version is closer to home, considering all the anti German sentiment shortly after WW- 2!

[@TheRunereaper]

It wasn't a bad plane, the thing was that with the exception of dive-bombing, the Mosquito could do everything else it did but much, much better.

[@robertwoodroffe123]

Ah , two long nose Fokker Wolf engines 😂, but with adequate cooling and less boost etc !!! 😅

[@regimentalcolourswoodentoy1998]

Author does not understand the upward firing cannon installation. "Slight upward tilt" is quite wrong. He doesn't know what they are. Sadly, a quick look at a cut-a-way would allow understanding.

[@yvc9]

A metal dragonfly

[@soonerlon]

30 planes a day - at least the nazis had a sense of humor! The biggest aircraft plant in the world at the time, Willow run, was able to produce a brand-new B-24 every 63 Minutes - so basically 24 planes a day. When your factories are being blown to bits by those mass-produced B-24's it a little difficult to achieve those numbers.

[@georgekforrpv6857]

Do everything? Well it could not catch a Mosquito!

[@frosty3693]

Germany pre war was very interested in the dive bomber concept, at heart being a tactical, ground support force as part of bltizkrieg rather than a strategic one. They even tried to have a dive bombing ability for the HE-111. I think the JU-88 was even equipped with a dive bomb dive recovery device that could, after the bombs were released, pull up and climb back up to altitude. Another German aircraft principal used in many of the bombers was crew location. The policy for mutual support, and other reasons, it was decided to locate the crews in a large cockpit area rather than have the gunners, and other crew scattered around the aircraft like the US AAF and RAF. The night fighter had the armament of the 'C' model but could be equipped with the 'Schrange Musik' (jazz music) which was two, or more, 20mm guns pointing about 75 degrees firing upwards, aimed by a special sight. The forward firing guns used tracer in the ammo mix the 'Jazz' guns did not. A favorite tactic was to fly under the bomber, especially Lancasters, and aim at the wing between the engines where fuel tanks were. The RAF bomber crews were confused by why their bombers would suddenly burst into flames with no tracers seen.

[@williamzk9083]

The January 88 was to some extent ruined by the dive bombing concept and made the aircraft slow and heavy. About 1942 the stub 5B slide bombing sight meant that dive bombing was no longer necessary for accuracy. The Lotfe 7 had a similar effect. Dive brakes were removed after 1942. But the dragon weight added never went away.

[@JoeyFiguero]

In fact the Ju88 was literally the fastest airplane in the world when it was introduced... and this was the ORDINARY Ju88

[@spudgunn8695]

Well, it couldn't do literally everything, could it? Never seen it used to drop parachutists, or do supply drops, for instance. Why do people constantly have to misuse the word Literally?!

[@mathewkelly9968]

Easily Germany's best aircraft in ww2

[@JoeyFiguero]

It WAS NOT GORING. IT IS PRONOUNCED AS IF SPELLED GUERING as the ö is pronounced as the u in burn

[@williamprince1114]

Douglas A20 Havoc was perhaps the Most versatile allied aircraft of the war.

[@robertsolomielke5134]

TY. On guns of the JU 88' 7.7 mm is news to me, on anything German built . 7.92 mm the "normal prewar and early war " then up to the 13 mm MG which was a better MG than the Browning .50 cal. in every measure was....dropped for 20,mm and later 30 mm. auto cannons. Amazing the USAAF did so well with mainly just the million Brownings. Weapons progress moved much faster for the Luftwaffe, as auto cannons seemed more popular in Europe. Then the ADEN gun seems to hold for 20 years after the war. No one is dropping their auto cannons, so we are at a plateau in design needs. Missiles never did nullify cannons, and likely never will, IMO.

[@chrissmith2114]

Browning was could have more than twice the ammo of 20mm cannons and was very effective, you needed trained aircrew to make the most of 20mm cannons, and after halfway point of war Germany was struggling for aircrew and newbies being sent as cannon fodder.

[@joelellis7035]

Go 'Stros! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@martindice5424]

I love the Ju 88 but - It couldn’t carry the bomb load of a Mosquito. It wasn’t as fast a Mosquito. It wasn’t as good a fighter (day or night) as a Mosquito. But apart from that…

[@KarlEggers-qe3qt]

The Ju88 A-4 could definitely carry more bombs than a Mosquito.

[@212th]

Mosquito is awesome. However I'm not sure if mosquitoes could carry torpedo. Also ju88 was more robust than mosquitoe (lack of wood)

[@MrNaKillshots]

It was alright.

[@bigblue6917]

@@212th The navalised Mosquito built for Royal Navy and called the Sea Mosquito TR Mk.33 did. It carried four 20 mm cannon, two 500 lb bombs in the bomb bay (another two could be fitted under the wings), eight 60 lb rockets (four under each wing) and a standard torpedo under the fuselage. Initial carrier tests of the Sea Mosquito were carried out by Eric "Winkle" Brown aboard HMS Indefatigable, with the first landing-on taking place on 25 March 1944. The first production TR.33 flew on 10 November 1945. So too late for the war.

[@toenailmuncher0772]

Oh nice! I love your videos 🗣️

[@RectalRooter]

Comment critique comment, comment comment comment. Critique comment comment critique comment comment. Comment critique critique comment critique comment comment.

[@Rom3_29]

Flying amusement park glass gondola horror ride.

[@richardpellegren1857]

The wings of the Ju 88 were designed by Americans!!😅

[@Legitpenguins99]

I can always count on this guy to horribly pronounce names, English or not be dammed

[@RectalRooter]

Stop poking fingers in Uranus pronunciation lol haha

[@loneranger5349]

Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla cork screw knife screwdriver dude can drag out so many useless points 😑

[@robertwoodroffe123]

This should be about the Mosquito! 😊 as it did anything and everything asked of it ! Even carried the first embryonic cell system! Mobile network ! Was low observable to radar!! Compared to its contemporaries !! ie, stealthy 🥷

[@georgekforrpv6857]

Effing A. Damm straight the mosquito was the most versatile and fastest!

[@robertwoodroffe123]

@@georgekforrpv6857 and it didn’t need to dive bomb ! It could blow the walls off / open of a SS / gestapo prison ! And not hurt the prisoners, Deep inside enemy held territory