Ju 20

The Junkers Ju 20 was a small, single‑engine, all‑metal monoplane built by Junkers Motorenbau und Junkers Flugzeugwerk in the early 1920s. Designed as a successor to the earlier F‑13, the Ju 20 first flew in March 1925 and entered limited production the following year. Its cantilever wing, a hallmark of Junkers engineering, eliminated external bracing and gave the aircraft a sleek, unobstructed profile. Powered by a 300 hp Junkers L‑5 six‑cylinder inline engine, the Ju 20 could reach a maximum speed of 210 km/h and carried a pilot plus two passengers in an enclosed cabin, a novelty at the time. The aircraft featured a retractable radiator, a fully enclosed cockpit, and a fixed, split‑axle undercarriage with shock‑absorbing struts. Although only thirty examples were built, the Ju 20 demonstrated the durability of stressed‑skin construction and influenced later civil transports such as the Ju 52. Its use by several European airlines in the late 1920s showed that all‑metal aircraft could be reliable, economical workhorses, helping to shift the industry away from wood‑and‑fabric designs and cementing Junkers’ reputation as a pioneer of modern aeronautical engineering. The Ju 20’s aerodynamic efficiency also provided valuable data for the later development of high‑speed fighter prototypes in the 1930s.