The World's First All-Metal Airliner: Junkers F13 (ONE ONL:Y)

very good second hand copy of this much requested book

In 1919 a small six-seater aircraft lifted off from an airfield in Dessau in Germany on its first flight. Designed and built in less than six months in a devastated Germany immediately after the First World War, its birth could not have been more difficult. It had demanded of its designer Professor Hugo Junkers, creativity, invention and much subterfuge against almost impossible odds.

Yet, within five years, this unassuming aircraft was serving three-quarters of all air routes within Europe, and went on to play a pioneering role in the development of a fledgling air transport industry in many parts of the world.

Large number of photos, many tables and full production list

Colour section with profiles and philately appendix

The Junkers F 13


The F 13's maiden flight lasted 6 minutes. Apparently, most of its features were right from the very beginning. It was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with accommodation for four passengers in an enclosed cabin and an open cockpit for two crew members. The entire structure, including control surfaces, was covered by a corrugated duralumin skin and this form of construction proved extremely strong.

The open two-seat cockpit normally accommodated a pilot and a flight mechanic. The first F 13s were powered by 160hp Mercedes or 185hp BMW six-cylinder, four-stroke inline engines and it was a great credit to the designers that the aircraft could operate efficiently under such low power. Various other engines were fitted later, including radial engine types.

In all, total production of the Junkers F13 amounted to three prototypes and 345 series production aircraft during the period 1919-31 and they were sold and delivered to many countries all over the world.

Junkers F 13 operators:

Germany and Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Mongolia, New Guinea, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, South-West Africa, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the USA and Yemen.