Junkers Logo

Hugo Junkers founded Junkers in 1895 as an engineering and manufacturing company. Its early work belonged to industry rather than aviation, but in the early twentieth century, Junkers moved into aircraft design. In 1915, the company produced the Junkers J-1, an all-metal aircraft built against the dominant wood-and-fabric logic of early flight.

During the First World War, Junkers became associated with all-metal military aircraft, including the J. I and Junkers CL.I. After the war, in the 1920s and 1930s, the company redirected its aviation work toward commercial transport. Key projects from that period included the Junkers F-13, described in the company’s history as the first all-metal transport aircraft, and the three-engine Junkers Ju-52 passenger aircraft.

Junkers also worked beyond aircraft bodies. The company contributed to engine technology, including early jet and rocket engine developments for aviation. With the start of the Second World War, production shifted again toward military needs. The best-known wartime aircraft included the Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber and the Ju-88 bomber.

After the Second World War, Junkers was prohibited from producing aircraft. The company moved into industrial products such as heat exchangers and boilers, leaving aviation manufacturing behind. In 1956, Daimler-Benz acquired Junkers, and in the 1980s, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm absorbed the company. Industrial consolidation, rather than aircraft production, shaped the brand’s later path.