FP_2015_05_

58 FLYPAST May 2015

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HARBINGERS

OF THE BLITZKRIEG

STURZKAMPFBOMBER

Above

Stuka was a shortened form of the word Sturzkampfbomber - dive-bomber. In

Luftwaffe parlance, a Geschwader roughly corresponded to an RAF Group, while

a Staffel was a squadron. A Geschwader equipped with Junkers Ju 87s was a

Sturzkampfgeschwader, abbreviated as StG. Illustrated is a Ju 87B of the 7th

Staffel of StG 51, which abbreviates as 7/StG 51. This unit re-formed as 4/StG 1 in

July 1940.

Above

Underwing detail of a Stuka. To the left at the top of the black cross is the port dive brake in retracted position

and to the right of that, light bomb racks. The trailing edge had an inboard and mid-set fl ap, with an aileron

making up the fi nal section.

Below

An unidentifi ed Stuka at Villacoublay, near Paris, at the end of the Battle of France.

58-59_Blitzkrieg_fp.indd 58 13/03/2015 11:09