I spent most of the day digging out books and articles on the JU 52/3m from my digital library archives. I came across a most interesting article in the Swiss magazine, Cockpit (Das Schweizer Luftfahrt-Magazin Nr. 6/Juni 2012). It is titled Aunt Ju Dances Samba, Ju 52 to America! It seems the first three Ju 52 /3m were delivered to Bolivia some 80 years ago.
The very first copy made its maiden flight on March 7, 1932 as a passenger version from Germany to Bolivia. The second customer was Colombia also with 3 models, then follow on orders came from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru. Most of these were used for hauling weapons, ammo, and military troops in the jungles of South America as most of these countries were at war with each other in the early 30s. The return flights had a cabin full of wounded soldiers. The pilots were mostly German or Bolivians with Germanic roots.
The embargo imposed by the League of Nations basically cut off the flow of spare parts from Germany and most of the wars had ended in the mid 1930s so the Ju 52/3m saw less and less action. That is until the Spring of 1942 when the USA strong-armed most of the South American countries to allow U.S. military bases and personnel on their soil. This was only a few months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declared war on Japan.
The Plot thickens - the mysterious C-79.
Some say they were captured, some say they were stolen, but, most agree it was the result of a political chess play between the Ecuadorian government and the U.S. But, at the end of the day, the U.S. Army Air Force was in procession of two Junkers Ju 52s in South America in early 1942. Most accounts say the planes belonged to a Lufthansa subsidiary domiciled in Ecuador at the time of transfer. Overnight they were given the designation C-79 and a new inventory number 42-52883.
Now, here is the neat part of the story.
The first action by the USAAF was to completely remove the BMW engines and replace all three with Pratt and Whitney R-1690-23 Hornet engines that was used in a majority of U.S. military aircraft. This included engine covers borrowed from a couple of DC-2 airplanes. Many of the German instruments in the cockpit remained but were eventually replaced by gauges and instruments from U.S. inventory.
These newly christened C-79s saw daily use in the Panama Canal Zone by the 20th Troop Carrier Squadron hauling cargo from the Panama Canal Zone to Curacao and Aruba. One crashed and was totaled in 1948, the other is now somewhere in America, the Smithsonian, I think.
More digging turns up some new info.
The air brakes were replaced with hydraulic brakes, a tail wheel was installed to replace the skid.
The aircraft was flown with no markings or maybe even Luftwaffe markings and used to ferry "supply drops" to German submarines. When the sub spotted the circling familiar tri-motor and surfaced the U.S. would pounce on the sub with bombs and depth charges.
Here is a photo of the Ju-52 at the Smithsonian.
Affectionately known in Germany as Tante Ju, or "Auntie Ju," the Junkers Ju 52/3m was one of the most successful European airliners ever made. Designed for Deutsche Luft Hansa in 1932, the Ju 52/3m was a tri-motor version of the single-engine Ju-52. It could carry 17 passengers or 3 tons of freight and had excellent short-field performance. By the mid-1930s, airlines throughout Europe and Latin America were flying them. In World War II, they were the Luftwaffe's primary transports, and some served as bombers.
A total of 4,835 Ju 52/3ms were built, including 170 under license by Construcciones Aeronauticas (CASA) in Spain and more than 400 by Ateliers Aeronautiques de Colombes in France. This airplane is a Spanish-built CASA 352-L. Lufthansa German Airlines acquired it for promotional flights, then donated it to the Smithsonian in 1987.
