Hugo Junkers was born on February 3, 1859, and died on February 3, 1935. He was a German engineer and designer who helped create the first airplanes made entirely of metal and flying wings. His company, Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG, played an important role in Germany’s aircraft industry between World War I and World War II. The planes he designed, which had multiple engines and were made of metal, helped start airlines in Germany and other countries around the world.
In addition to airplanes, Junkers also designed diesel and petrol engines. He held patents related to thermodynamics and metalworking. He supported the Bauhaus movement, which focused on combining art and technology, and helped move the Bauhaus school from Weimar to Dessau, where his factory was located, in 1925.
Some of Junkers’ most important achievements include the Junkers J 1, the first practical all-metal airplane with a wing design that needed little external support; the Junkers F 13, the first all-metal passenger airplane; the Junkers W 33, which completed the first successful east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a heavier-than-air aircraft; the Junkers G.38, a flying wing; and the Junkers Ju 52, a famous airliner known as "Tante Ju" in the 1930s.
When the Nazis took control of Germany in 1933, they asked Junkers to help rebuild Germany’s military. When he refused, the Nazis placed him under house arrest in 1934 and later took over his patents and company. He died the following year. Under Nazi control, his company produced some of the most successful German warplanes during World War II.
Biography
Hugo Junkers was born in Rheydt, Prussian Rhine Province, to a wealthy industrialist. After passing his Abitur exams in 1878, he studied engineering at the Technische Hochschulen in Charlottenburg (now Technische Universität Berlin) and Aachen (now RWTH Aachen), completing his studies in 1883.
Initially, he worked for his father’s company in Rheydt but later attended lectures on electromagnetism and thermodynamics by Adolf Slaby in Charlottenburg. Slaby assigned him to the Continental-Gasgesellschaft in Dessau, where he helped develop the first opposed-piston engine. To measure heating value, Junkers invented a calorimeter and started a manufacturing company in 1892. He presented the calorimeter at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where it earned a gold medal. In 1894, he patented a gas-fired bath boiler, later refining it into a tankless heater. In 1895, he founded Junkers & Co. to produce his inventions.
From 1897 to 1912, Junkers taught mechanical engineering at Aachen while working as an engineer. During this time, he developed and patented calorimeters, gas stoves, pressure regulators, gas oil engines, fan heaters, and other inventions.
Junkers began serious work in aeronautics at age 50, collaborating with engineer Hans Reissner in Aachen. Reissner designed an all-metal aircraft, with corrugated iron wings built by Junkers & Co. in Dessau. These wings were patented in 1910. Junkers built a wind tunnel and invented a hydraulic brake.
He envisioned metal airplanes and flying wings but was delayed by World War I, which forced him to focus on military aircraft. In 1915, he created the Junkers J 1 "Blechesel" (Sheetmetal Donkey), the first practical all-metal aircraft. It is displayed at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. His 1916–17 design, the Junkers J.I, was a successful ground attack aircraft. In 1917, Junkers merged his firm with Anthony Fokker’s to form the Junkers-Fokker Aktiengesellschaft. By 1918, his company produced the Junkers D.I, the first low-winged, single-seat all-metal fighter aircraft using duralumin. It also created the Junkers CL.I, a two-seat fighter. Soviet designer Andrei Tupolev and American designer William Bushnell Stout later used Junkers’ corrugated metal construction techniques.
In 1919, Junkers introduced the F.13, the first of many successful civil aircraft, including the Ju 52/3m from 1932. He helped establish airlines worldwide, such as Deutsche Luft Hansa and Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano. Some ventures failed due to economic or political issues. His large four-engine G.38, nicknamed "Der Grosse Dessauer," was delayed for improvements.
When the Nazis took control of Germany in 1933, Junkers opposed their military rebuilding plans. The Nazis demanded ownership of his patents and businesses, threatening imprisonment for treason. In 1934, he was placed under house arrest and died on February 3, 1935, at age 76, after a visit from Nazi officials.
Legacy
Hugo Junkers is best known for the aircraft named after him. These include planes he developed unwillingly for the German Empire during World War I, later working with Anthony Fokker in a smaller role, and civil aircraft designs made by Junkers Flugzeugwerke (Junkers Aircraft Works) during the time between World War I and World War II.
The first all-metal aircraft designs created after World War I by Andrei Tupolev, such as his Tupolev ANT-2 two-passenger plane in 1924, and by William Bushnell Stout, including his Stout ST twin-engine torpedo bomber in 1922, were directly inspired by Junkers’ early work. Each engineer, one from the Soviet Union and one from the United States, created their own versions of aircraft similar to Junkers’ designs. These included Tupolev’s large, 63-meter wingspan, eight-engine Maksim Gorki, which was the biggest aircraft in the world in the early 1930s, and Stout’s popular Ford Trimotor airliner.
In 1976, Junkers was honored by being inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.
Junkers was also included in the 2013 semi-fictional movie The Wind Rises, directed by Hayao Miyazaki from Japan.