what is it?
The Junkers Ju 352 Herkules ("Hercules" in German) was a German World War II transport aircraft that was developed from the Junkers Ju 252.
How to recognise it: 3 piston engines with propellers · low wing · 34.2 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 83 years ago, in 1943.
- Top speed is 2.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 34.2 m: about 8 cars parked nose to tail.
- Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Range of 1,800 km: 10× Amsterdam to Brussels.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1943-08-18
- number built
- 50
- role
- transport
- origin
- Nazi Germany
- makers
- Junkers Motorenbau und Junkers Flugzeugwerk
- engines
- 3× BMW-Bramo 323 R-2 Fafnir / Bramo 323 Fafnir
- crew
- 3
- length
- 24.2 m
- wingspan
- 34.2 m
- height
- 5.7 m
- max take-off weight
- 19.5 t
- top speed
- 370 km/h
- cruise speed
- 240 km/h
- range
- 1,800 km
- ceiling
- 6,000 m
- wings
- low wing
- landing gear
- land-based aircraft
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q594868, Wikipedia: Junkers Ju 352 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.