Development of the Junkers Ju-488 A-5

The Luftwaffe had high hopes for the He-177 bomber but from the early start this aircraft was plagued by problems, most of them related to the complex DB610 double V-12 engines. Heinkel proposed the He-277 with four separate engines but the RLM insisted in further development of the He-177.

Meanwhile Junkers started a private venture development of a four engined bomber based on components of the Ju-188 and Ju-388. The result was that when the RLM finally admitted that the He-177 would never become trouble free, Junkers had a prototype ready of the Ju-488 while Heinkel had to start building the He-277.
The Luftwaffe quickly decided that the Ju-488 was what it needed and 200 production aircraft were ordered after only three flights of the prototype. The first Ju-488 A-1 was delivered to the Luftwaffe late in 1943 and the rest of the 200 A-1 aircraft quickly followed.
The Ju-488 proved very successful and over 800 were eventually built in a number of versions. The model depicts the Ju-488 A-5 which was powered by BMW 801 radial engines and used to great success in the bombing of the Soviet production facilities behind the Urals.

The model

The model is the 1/72 Kora resin kit.