Junkers Ju 390 V1
Description
Role	Transport
Crew	10
First Flight	October 20, 1943
Entered Service	1943
Manufacturer	Junkers
Dimensions
Length	34.20 m	112 ft 2 in
Wingspan	50.30 m	165 ft 1 in
Height	6.89 m	22 ft 7 in
Wing area	254 m²	2,730 ft²
Weights
Empty	39,500 kg	87,100 lb
Loaded	53,112 kg	117,092 lb
Maximum takeoff	75,500 kg	166,400 lb
Powerplant
Engines	6x BMW 801D radial engines
Power	7,500 kW	10,200 PS
Performance
Maximum speed	505 km/h	314 mph
Range	9,700 km	6,030 mi
Service ceiling	6,000 m	19,700 ft
Rate of climb
Wing loading	209 kg/m²	42.8 lb/ft²
Power/Mass	0.17 kW/kg	0.10 hp/lb
Avionics
Armament
Guns	2x 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in dorsal turrets 1 x 20 mm MG 151/20 in tail 2x 13 mm MG 131 machine guns at waist 2x 13 mm MG 131 in gondola

The Junkers Ju 390 was a long-range derivative of the Junkers Ju 290 and was intended to be used as a heavy transport, maritime patrol aircraft, and bomber. It was a design selected for the abortive Amerika Bomber project. Junkers Ju 390 V1 This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 50 years. ... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 72 days remaining. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German military aircraft of World War II. The engine’s cylinders were in two rows of seven cylinders each, the bore and stroke were both 156 mm, giving... The MG 151 (MG 151/15) was a 15 mm cannon produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser starting in 1940. ... The MG 131 was a 13 mm machine gun developed in 1938 by Rheinmetall-Borsig and produced from 1940 to 1945. ... For the Prussian/German landowning classes, see junker. The name Junkers (IPA: /ˈjunkeɺs/) is well known in connection with aircraft, which were produced under this name for the Luftwaffe during World War II. In particular the Ju 87 Stuka and Ju 52 Tante Ju were common symbols of the... The Junkers Ju 290 was a long-range transport, maritime patrol aircraft and bomber used by the Luftwaffe late in World War II. The Ju-290 was the only four-engined heavy-duty aircraft used by the Luftwaffe in World War II and was the forerunner of the subsequent transatlantic... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... The Amerika Bomber project was an initiative of the German Air Ministry to obtain a long-range bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe that would be capable of striking the continental United States from Germany. ...

Two prototypes were created by inserting an extra pair of inner wing segments into the wings of basic Ju 290 airframes and adding new sections to "stretch" the fuselages. The resulting giant first flew on October 20, 1943 and performed well, resulting in an order for 26 such aircraft, to be designated Ju 390 A-1. None of these were actually built by the time that the project was cancelled (along with Ju 290 production) in mid-1944. The maritime patrol version and bomber were to be designated Ju 390 B and Ju 390 C respectively. It was suggested that the bomber could have carried the Messerschmitt Me 328 parasite fighter for self-defence. Some test flights are believed to have been performed by Ju 390 aircraft with the anti-shipping Fritz-X guided smart-bomb. October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 72 days remaining. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... The Messerschmitt Me 328 was originally designed as a parasite fighter to protect Luftwaffe bomber formations during World War II. During its protracted development, a wide variety of other roles were suggested for it. ... The XF-85 Goblin was designed to be a parasite fighter for the Convair B-36 bombers. ...

Disputed New York flight in 1944

There is a heavily disputed claim that in January 1944, a Ju-390 prototype made a trans-atlantic flight from Mont-de-Marsan (near Bordeaux) to some 20 km (12 miles) off the coast of the United States and back. Critics claim FAGr 5 (Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5) never flew such a flight. Supporters say the only link between FAGr 5 and the New York flight is the common use of an airfield at Mont-de-Marsan and the veracity of the New York flight is neither proved nor disproved by a lack of unit records for such a flight. Indeed the flight may have had nothing whatsoever to do with FAGr 5 operations. Mont-de-Marsan is a commune of France, préfecture (capital) of the Landes département. ... New city flag (traditional tri-crescent) City coat of arms Motto: The fleur-de-lis alone rules over the moon, the waves, the castle, and the lion Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région Aquitaine Département Gironde (33) Intercommunality Urban Community of Bordeaux Mayor... Mont-de-Marsan is a commune of France, préfecture (capital) of the Landes département. ...

Whilst the Ju 390's 32-hour endurance would have certainly made such a crossing theoretically possible, there is a lack of evidence to support the claim. Aviation historian Horst Zoeller claims the flight was recorded in Junkers company records.

Critics have also pointed to the vagueness of the aircraft's alleged position and even the date of what would have been a milestone flight. The best known (and maybe earliest publication) of the claim in English was in William Green's Warplanes of the Third Reich in 1970, where he wrote that the Ju 390 flew to "a point some 12 miles from the US coast, north of New York". Critics say the vagueness of detail and lack of corroborating evidence are hallmarks of an urban legend. William Green may refer to the following: William Ellis Green, an Australian cartoonist. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... An urban legend is a kind of modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ...

Critics believe that the aircraft would have had to overfly parts of the Massachusetts coast in order to fix their location, and point out the likelihood of the aircraft being spotted by observers and/or radar, which it was not. If New York state were meant, this would have put the aircraft closer to Boston. Critics ask why this city wasn't referred to for fixing the position of the claim. Finally, it is questioned how the aircrew would have been able to fix their position so accurately anyway. This article is about the U.S. State. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ...

Supporters argue that a Ju 390 crew could have obtained a highly accurate fix from public broadcast radio stations. Also that a Ju 390 would not have needed to overfly Massachusetts at all. They say there was no reason why New York City could not have been approached purely from the sea.

Supporters also note that the mission was designed to deliver a single bomb to New York and that such a bomb could only have been the atomic weapon under development. Japan and Germany at the time were using the "Harteck Process" of gaseous uranium centrifuges. Germany in 1944 was shipping both uranium ores and centrifuges to Japan by U-boat. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... General Name, Symbol, Number uranium, U, 92 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance silvery gray metallic; corrodes to a spalling black oxide coat in air Atomic mass 238. ... Iron ore (Banded iron formation) Manganese ore Lead ore Gold ore An ore is a volume of rock containing components or minerals in a mode of occurrence which renders it valuable for mining. ... A laboratory tabletop centrifuge A centrifuge is a piece of equipment, generally driven by a motor, that puts an object in rotation around a fixed axis, applying force perpendicular to the axis. ... U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ...

Supporters of the New York flight say of course the mission was kept secret so as not to tip off the US Government to provide better air defences. It was an ultra top secret test flight for the delivery of an atomic bomb.

Corroboration is gleened from the so-called Silbervogel sub-orbital bomber designed to attack New York from space with only a single bomb. Only one type of bomb was worth all the time and expense involved. Supporters say a mission so secret would never have found its way into FAGr.5 logbooks. Silverbird is also the name of a Telecomsoft software label. ... A sub-orbital spaceflight (or sub-orbital flight) is a spaceflight that does not involve putting a vehicle into orbit. ...

Supporters note the top secret unit, II/KG200 also flew the Ju 390 as did Junkers company test pilots in Czechoslovakia. A captured B-17 bomber of KG 200 KG 200 (Kampfgeschwader 200 or Bomber Wing 200) was a secret Luftwaffe bomber unit during World War II. The unit was the Luftwaffes special operations wing that carried out long-distance reconnaissance flights, tested new aircraft designs and tested and flew...

War time secrecy or not, supporters are not absolved of the need to support their claims with actual historical evidence. The burden of proof still exists.

Following the war, Hitler's armaments minister Albert Speer also recounted to author James P O'Donnell that a Ju 390 aircraft flown by Junkers test pilots flew a polar route to Japan in 1944. Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... Albert Speer, c. ...

External links

• Das Flugzeugarchiv (German)