Corgi 1/72  AA36901 Junkers Ju 52 Luftwaffe III./Transportfliegerchef, Norway, Operation Weserubung, 1940

Corgi The Aviation Archive - Limited Edition

This model is from an estate sale and is due into stock in the coming week, when it will be assessed and photographed

An hour before midnight on April 8, 1940, the Norwegian security vessel "Pol III" was on a patrol in the Oslo Fjord, when it discovered unidentified ships in the horizon. A few minutes later it was rammed and shot at by a German torpedo boat. The invasion of Norway had started. The Luftwaffe would have participated with 1,082 aircrafts by the end of the invasion. By the end of April 9, there would be about 16,000 German soldiers on Norwegian soil. Operation Weserubung was to be the first major combined operation here the army, navy and air force were joined together. At the beginning of the Norwegian operation, 571 Ju 52/3m transports were available, in addition to other types such as this floatplane, which as used in the Luftwaffe's first major airborne operation.

Junkers Ju 52

The Ju-52 entered service in April 1931 as a troop transport and bomber. During the Spanish Civil War, it ferried troops from Morocco to Spain and dropped some 6,000 tons of bombs. The three-engine Ju-52 served as a 17-passenger airliner for many nations, most famously with the German Lufthansa. Nicknamed "Iron Annie," the Ju 52 was built of strong corrugated metal. For air defense and tactical ground support it was armed with multiple machine guns and was fitted with bomb racks capable of carrying 3,307 lbs of bombs. During WWII, 5,000 Ju-52s served in all fronts in a variety of roles, from troop transport to mine-laying.