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Highlights during WWII and Other Lesser Known Historical Facts

Khalid Elhassan April 27, 2020 34 min

Junkers Ju 88 - Aviation — A Junkers Ju 88. World Warbird News

17. The Ju 88s’ Coming Out Party

A flight of Ju 88s over Greece in 1943. Bundesarchiv Bild

The Ju 88 bomber was just beginning operational deployment when WWII began. As a result, it only saw limited service during the invasion of Poland in 1939. It played a greater role during the invasion of Norway in April of 1940, in both ground and anti-shipping roles, and saw significant service during the Battle of France a month later.

Ju 88s contributed their fair share to the German victory in France. However, they also suffered high losses because of wing design defects that led to instability and accidents – failings that were exacerbated by inadequate crew training. The shortcomings were addressed with a retraining program and the introduction of longer wingspans with rounded edges to improve handling. The Ju 88s were still being modified to address the shortcoming revealed during the Battle of France, when they were thrust into action in the Battle of Britain.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.