bavarikon4UDescription
In June 1919, six months after the end of the First World War, Hugo Junkers launched the first aircraft specially designed for commercial passenger and freight transport. The all-metal Junkers F 13 aircraft became the model for the design of commercial aircraft and contributed significantly to the development of air transport. The closed cabin for four passengers and the cantilever wing made of duraluminium were revolutionary for the time.
Junkers had worked intensively on all-metal construction during the war. Robustness and the ability to develop in terms of size and speed were the particular advantages of metal construction.
While the passengers were in the closed and heatable cabin, the pilot and the mechanic sat in an open cockpit. At that time, people still believed that they had to hear and feel the wind in order to fly safely.
The market conditions after the First World War were unthinkably bad for new commercial aircraft. There were enough cheap wartime aircraft that were converted and flown by the fledgling airlines for passenger and cargo transport. Nevertheless, about 100 Junkers F 13s were sold in the first two years, mainly abroad. A total of 350 aircraft were produced in 60 versions until production ceased in 1930.
The F 13 and its successor models gained particular importance through their robustness and reliability, for example in South America. In the hot and humid jungle areas and inaccessible mountain regions, the aircraft found an ideal field of application as a means of transport.
The Deutsches Museum’s Junkers F 13 is one of four delivered to Afghanistan in 1928. King Aman Ullah wanted to establish air traffic in his country with Junkers aircraft. However, the plans were thwarted by a revolution. In 1968, the former Junkers chief designer Kurt Weil discovered the remains of the F 13 in a scrap yard in Kabul. The Junkers successor company Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm restored the fuselage and added the missing wings. The original Junkers L 5 engine is installed.
Technical data:
Crew: 2
passengers: 4
maximum take-off mass: 2,100
speed: 140 km/h
service ceiling: 4,000 m
span: 17.75 m
length: 9.60 m
wing area: 43 m²
area load: 46.4 kg/m²
power unit: Junkers in-line engine L-5; 6 cylinders, water-cooled, 310 hp (228 KW) take-off power.