The Italian Aerospace Information Web
by Aeromedia - corso Giambone 46/18 - 10135 Torino (Italy)
The Ju 52/3m D-CDLH Story
The Junkers 52/3m still flying today in the colours of Lufthansa was built in 1936 as w/n 5489 (the 1489th aircraft of this type) and delivered as D-AQUI to Lufthansa.
In June of the same year, it was sold to Norwegian airline DNL. Following the invasion of Norway by Germany in 1940, the aircraft was seized and returned to its former owner with the original registration marks D-AQUI.
It survived the Second World War and was captured by the Allied Forces in 1945. Two years later a DNL team took it back to Norway, where the Ju 52/3m, with the identity LN-KAP "Askeladden", was used till 1956 when it was put on sale.
At the dawn of the jet age, the vintage three-engined lady found a new lease of life with an Ecuatorian airline based in Quito, having been marked HC-ABS and renamed "Amazonas".
In 1963, after seven years of demanding activity, the old aircraft was grounded and abandoned along a runvay, as the scrapping costs were excessive.
Lester Weaver, an American aircraft enthusiast, found the Ju 52 in 1970 and decided to salvage the aircraft that was to become quite a rare bird at that time. The aircraft, registered N130LW, flew to the USA and, from 1975 on, as N52JU, was the property of Martin Cairdin, an aviation writer who was very popular in the air show environment.
It was probably during this period that more powerful and easy to maintain Pratt & Whitney engines replaced the original BMW 132.
Lufthansa decided to buy the aircraft in 1984, in order to use it as a valuable promotional tool: The aircraft reached the company's technical base in Hamburg by ship, to be completely restored updated to the last safety standard.
From 1986 onward, the fifty years old Ju 52/3m has been put back to service as an attraction in occasion of the major air shows. It is also currently used for panoramic flights for "romantic-age flyers": 79,000 passengers have enjoied this experience up to the present time. A number that is expected to grow more and more in the coming years.
In the picture: Junkers Ju 52/3m D-CDLH "Berlin-Tempelhof" of Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung.
(Aeromedia, April 1998)