Junkers Ju 390

Junkers Ju 390
Company type	Aircraft prototype
Industry	Aviation
Founded	October 20, 1943; 83 years ago
Headquarters	Dessau, Germany
Products	Long-range heavy transport, maritime patrol aircraft, strategic bomber

The Junkers Ju 390 was a German aircraft developed as an extended-range version of the Junkers Ju 290, intended to serve multiple roles including heavy transport, maritime patrol aircraft, and a strategic long-distance bomber. It was one of several designs considered for the ultimately cancelled Amerikabomber initiative, alongside competitors such as the Messerschmitt Me 264, Focke-Wulf Ta 400, and Heinkel He 277.

Design and development

The Ju 390 prototypes were produced by lengthening the Ju 290’s fuselage and inserting extra inner-wing sections. The first prototype, designated V1 (registration GH+UK) and converted from a Ju 90 V6 airframe, conducted its inaugural flight on 20 October 1943. Encouraged by its promising performance, an order was placed in early 1944 for six additional prototypes (V2 through V7) plus 20 production models labeled Ju 390 A-1. However, none of these were completed before the program was terminated in mid-1944.

Operational history

Built at Junkers’ facility in Dessau, the Ju 390 V1 featured an extended wingspan and a fuselage stretched to 31 m (102 ft). Although the Reich Air Ministry commissioned further prototypes and production variants, all contracts were cancelled by June 1944, ceasing advancement of the project. The V2 prototype was never constructed. On 26 November 1943, Adolf Hitler observed the Ju 390 V1 during a demonstration at Insterburg, East Prussia. Subsequent test flights took place in Prague until March 1944, including experiments with aerial refueling techniques. The aircraft was relocated back to Dessau late that year and dismantled by April 1945 as Allied forces approached.

The intended Ju 390 A-1 model was to feature an additional fuselage extension of approximately 2.5 m (8 ft), bringing its total length to about 33.5 m (110 ft). It was planned to be outfitted with FuG 200 Hohentwiel ASV radar and defensive weaponry comprising five 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons, though some sources suggest variations in armament configurations existed. While there are claims that the V2 prototype flew in early 1945, official records indicate it remained incomplete and never took flight due to a July 1944 directive from the RLM that halted large combat aircraft projects in favor of emergency fighter production. Only the initial Ju 390 is confirmed to have flown; assertions regarding transatlantic test missions lack substantiation.

Flight to South Africa

In a 1969 The Daily Telegraph article, it was asserted that Hans Pancherz piloted a test flight from Germany to Cape Town in early 1944. However, extensive investigations by author James P. Duffy found no supporting evidence for this claim.

Flight to New York

A letter published in the 1955 issue of RAF Flying Review, edited by aviation historian William Green, suggested that two Ju 390s had flown to the United States, including a stopover lasting about an hour above New York City. The editors expressed doubts about this story’s authenticity. The following year, the Review printed correspondence from an RAF officer who stated that Allied Intelligence had learned—via prisoner interrogations in June 1944—that a Ju 390 had completed a reconnaissance mission lasting approximately 32 hours reaching within close proximity of the U.S. coastline near New York City. British officials dismissed this information shortly after World War II ended.

Researcher Dr. Kenneth P. Werrell traced this narrative back to two British intelligence reports from August 1944 based partially on prisoner testimonies. These documents claimed that the Ju 390 had taken photographs of Long Island’s shoreline; however, no photographic evidence has ever been found.

Following the RAF Flying Review publication, several books referenced this flight story, including Green’s Warplanes of the Second World War (1968) and Warplanes of the Third Reich (1970), though they lacked source citations. Werrell noted that Green later expressed skepticism regarding the flight’s credibility. He also concluded that while a round-trip journey from France to St. John's, Newfoundland was feasible for the Ju 390, adding an additional round trip to Long Island rendered such a mission "highly improbable."

Karl Kössler and Günter Ott addressed these claims in their book Die großen Dessauer: Junkers Ju 89, 90, 290, 390, refuting the New York flight story by pointing out that only one Ju 390 existed at the time and it was not stationed near France during the alleged period. They further argued that the V1 likely could not have taken off with sufficient fuel for such an extended flight due to structural weight limits—the necessary takeoff weight would have exceeded , whereas testing had only confirmed safe maximum weights up to . Additionally, since the V2 was incomplete before September or October of 1944, it could not have undertaken this mission.

Flight to Japan

In The Bunker, James P. O'Donnell recounts that Albert Speer, during an interview in the 1970s, referred to a covert Ju 390 mission to Japan "towards the end of the war," piloted by a Luftwaffe test pilot who navigated via the polar route. O'Donnell stands as the only source for this narrative; Speer never mentioned such a flight in his publications or other interviews. This assertion is not addressed by Kössler and Ott.

Variants

Ju 390 V1

The initial prototype model.

Ju 390 V2 through V7

Prototypes numbered two to seven; none reached completion.

Ju 390 A-1

Designated as the intended production version for extended-range heavy bombing, transport, and maritime reconnaissance tasks.

Operators

File:Flag of Germany (1935–1945).svg Germany

Luftwaffe

While some accounts suggest a Ju 390 was allocated to Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5, this is contested by Kössler and Ott.

Bibliography

Bukowski, Helmut and Fritz Müller. Junkers Ju 90: Ein Dessauer Riese – Erprobung und Einsatz der Junkers Ju 90 bis Ju 290 (German). Berlin: Brandenburgisches Verl.-Haus, 1995. .
Duffy, James P. Target America: Hitler's Plan to Attack the United States. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. .
Georg, Friedrich. Hitlers Siegeswaffen Band 1 Luftwaffe und Marine, Berlin: Jung Verlag & Amun Verlag Schleusingen, 2000. ASIN: B005RIIA6G
Georg, Friedrich. Hitler's Miracle Weapons. Solihull, UK: Helion, 2003. .
Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1970. .
Griehl, Manfred. Luftwaffe over America: The Secret Plans to Bomb the United States in World War II. London: Greenhill Books, 2006. .
Griehl, Manfred and Joachim Dressel. Heinkel: He 177, 277, 274. London: Stackpole Books, 1998. .
Horn, Steve. The Second Attack on Pearl Harbor: Operation K And Other Japanese Attempts. Annapolis, Maryland: US Naval Institute Press, 2005. .
Kössler, Karl and Günther Ott. Die großen Dessauer: Junkers Ju 89, Ju 90, Ju 290, Ju 390 – Die Geschichte einer Flugzeugfamilie (German). Berlin: Aviatik-Verlag, 1993. .
Nowarra, Heinz J. Junkers Ju 290, Ju 390 etc. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1997. .
O'Donnell, James P. The Bunker. New York: da Capo Press, 2001. .
Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. .
Staerck, Christopher, Paul Sinnott and Anton Gill. Luftwaffe: The Allied Intelligence Files. London: Brassey's, 2002. .
Sweeting, C.G. Hitler's Personal Pilot: The Life and Times of Hans Baur. London: Brassey's, 2001. .
Wagner, Ray and Heinz Nowarra. German Combat Planes: A Comprehensive Survey and History of the Development of German Military Aircraft from 1914 to 1945. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971.

External links