Junkers W33/34

Jet Tales.  The Lufthansa Magazine.  5/81

This aircraft represents the prototype for the modern all-metal, low-wing, cantilever airliner.  It went into service by Lufthansa in 1928.  When equipped with floats, it could be used as a seaplane.  In 1928 a W33 named the Bremen made the first successful east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic, concluding the trip with a forced landing on Greenly Island, Quebec.  In the same year another W33, the Ural, made two flights from Berlin to Siberia to test conditions for a regular service to the Far East.  In 1930, this type was used for an air expedition to Baghdad.  The same year, Lufthansa engaged in midair refueling tests with this model, with a Fokker Grulich transferring fuel to a W33 via a 20-metre-long hose (although, wisely, water was used for the first test).  The W34 used a radial engine, versus the W33's six-cylinder, in-line Junkers L-5 engine.  By 1935, five of the later models were being used by Lufthansa on airmail routes to South America.

National Aeronautical Collection, Ottawa

Below the aircraft pictured above now on display in a diorama at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa.