Junkers EF 128

The Junkers EF 128 was a high-altitude jet fighter designed by Junkers for the Emergency Fighter Program Luftwaffe design competition during the Second World War.[1]

Ju EF 128
Junkers EF 128 model at the Technikmuseum Speyer
Role Interceptor
Manufacturer Junkers
Status Terminated by end of war
Primary user Luftwaffe
Number built One wind-tunnel prototype and a mock-up fuselage

This fighter would be powered by a Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet and armed with four MK 108 cannons, reaching a speed of 1000 km/h at an altitude of 7000 m. The production in series was projected to start around mid-1945.

History

As part of the Emergency Fighter Program (German: Jägernotprogramm), at the beginning of 1945 a programme was launched by the OKL in order to replace the He 162 Spatz,[2] the winner of the earlier Volksjäger "people's fighter" design competition. The new aircraft was intended to have superior performance in order to deal with high altitude threats such as the B-29 Superfortress. To meet this requirement, power was to be a single Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet. The designs of the official winner of the competition, the Junkers EF 128, were submitted in February 1945. The plane designs brought forward by other German aircraft makers were the Messerschmitt P.1110,[3] Heinkel P.1078, Focke-Wulf Ta 183 and Blohm & Voss P 212.[4]

This more advanced fighter attracted more interest than the austere Miniaturjäger among German aircraft manufacturers, but at the time of the Surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II only models had been built.[5] It had swept wings which included wood in their construction. There was a projected variant of a two-seater all-weather/night fighter with a lengthened fuselage.[6]

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related lists

References
  1. "Blohm & Voss BV P.212 Luft '46 entry". Luft46.com. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  2. Smithsonian NSAM page on their unrestored He 162A Spatz
  3. Peter Allen's Aircraft Profiles – Fighters
  4. Karl-Heinz Ludwig, Technik und Ingenieure im Dritten Reich. Athenäum-Verlag, Königstein/Ts., 1979, ISBN 3761072198
  5. Smith and Kay 1972, pp. 626–628.
  6. Junkers Ju EF128 Luft '46 entry
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