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Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 290E Night Bomber
The Junkers 290 was a long-range transport, maritime patrol aircraft and heavy bomber developed directly from the Ju 90 airliner. It was intended to replace the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor which by 1942 was proving increasingly slow and vulnerable when confronted by RAF aircraft over the “narrow seas” around Europe. A special long-range reconnaissance group, FAGr 5 (Fernaufklarungsgruppe 5), was been formed on Jul. 1, 1943 and during the late summer of 1943 three of the new Ju 290A-2s were delivered to its 1 Staffel, which became operational at Mont-de-Marsan near Bordeaux on Oct. 15 of that year. They flew their first operational missions in November 1943, shadowing Allied convoys in cooperation with U-boats, and often remaining airborne for up to 18 hours.
As explained by Friedrich Georg in his book Hitler’s Miracle Weapons: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and their Carrier Systems: Volume 1 – The Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, the Junkers Ju 290E was the planned final model in the Ju 290 series. It was a night bomber project based upon the Ju 290C–1 series. The structure of its fuselage was radically modified to be able to carry a 20-tonne (44092,5 pounds) bomb load. That large bomb was to be carried in a huge wooden bomb bay. No other operational German aircraft was suitable to carry such a heavy bomb load.
The armament
The aircraft’s armament consisted of FDL 151V revolving gun-turrets, with four 20mm MG 151s in the nose and tail respectively. It had a hand-operated HDL revolving turret behind the crew cabin. It was planned to fit the aircraft with four Jumo 222 engines, each providing 2,500 pounds of thrust, but they were only ready for operational use in 1945. Until then, as a temporary solution, the 290E was to be fitted with four BMW 801 TJ exhaust turbo-charger engines, each providing 2,000 pounds of thrust at take-off.
No data is available, relating to speed and performance for the E series. But the BMW 801 TJ was an extremely efficient turbo-charger engine, with full pressure at a ceiling of 11,000 metres. It was also used for the Junkers Ju 388K and L high altitude aircraft, craft that even the fastest Allied planes could not intercept.
20-tonne giant bomb
The Ju 290E probably never got beyond the drawing board stage. In contrast to the Ju 290C –1 and D series, however, there seems to have been a serious intention to develop the E series. How long work continued on the night bomber project, after the end of the bomber programme in the summer of 1944, cannot be estimated in the light of current knowledge. Even under the most favourable circumstances only individual prototypes could have been produced.
The planned purpose of the Ju 290E was to deploy it as a high-altitude night bomber that could drop a 20-tonne giant bomb. The planned operational range for the aircraft can only be surmised. Unfortunately, there are no calculations available relating to the performance of the Ju 290E. Therefore, its chances of success cannot be estimated.
But considering the large payload, at the most, what were planned could only have been medium-range operations.
The proportions of the Ju 290 would, in 1945/46, have certainly made it essential for it to be painted in IG Farben’s Schornsteinfeger radar-deflecting paint.
Hitler’s Miracle Weapons: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and their Carrier Systems: Volume 1 – The Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine is published by Helion & Company and is available to order here.
Photo credit: German Federal Archive and Unknown author via Wikipedia
