Airlines, Aviation, Pioneers - History of flight - Britannica
The company's inaugural flight occurred on Aug. 25, 1919, when the plane flew from London to Paris with its sole passenger, an enterprising newspaper reporter.
Hugo Junkers
Germany, prevented by the Treaty of Versailles from developing military aircraft, poured considerable effort into civilian designs. The German government also gave its blessing to the expansionist plans of Deutsche Luft Hansa (now Deutsche Lufthansa Ag), formed in 1926. <anchor>Hugo Junkers</anchor>’s firm supplied a steady stream of low-wing single- and three-engine planes, clad in corrugated metal, that survived for decades in obscure corners of the world. Meanwhile, German airliners became regular callers throughout central and eastern Europe, with routes that extended as far east as Moscow. Other segments of Lufthansa covered Scandinavia and the Baltic; still others ran to the eastern Mediterranean and down to Baghdad. By the mid-1930s, Germany operated the largest commercial airline network in Europe.
Hugo Junkers | Biography, Airplanes, & Facts | Britannica
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[Hugo Junkers](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hugo-Junkers)

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[Junkers, Hugo](https://cdn.britannica.com/21/135521-050-89F248FE/Hugo-Junkers.jpg) Hugo Junkers.(more)

# Hugo Junkers

German aircraft designer



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Quick Facts

Born: February 3, 1859, Rheydt, Prussia \[Germany\]_(Show more)_

Died: February 3, 1935, Gauting, near Munich, [Germany](/place/Germany) (aged 76)_(Show more)_

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**Hugo Junkers** (born February 3, 1859, Rheydt, Prussia \[Germany\]—died February 3, 1935, Gauting, near [Munich](https://www.britannica.com/place/Munich-Bavaria-Germany), Germany) was a German [aircraft](https://www.britannica.com/technology/airplane) designer and early [proponent](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/proponent) of the [monoplane](https://www.britannica.com/technology/monoplane) and all-metal construction of aircraft.

In 1895 Junkers founded the firm Junkers and Company, which made boilers, radiators, and water heaters. He patented a flying-wing design in 1910, the same year in which he established an aircraft factory at [Dessau](https://www.britannica.com/place/Dessau). His [J-1 Blechesel](https://www.britannica.com/technology/J-1-Blechesel) (“Sheet Metal Donkey”) monoplane was the first successful all-metal [airplane](https://www.britannica.com/technology/airplane) (1915), and his F-13 was the first all-metal transport plane (1919). Many Junkers aircraft had a corrugated sheet-metal skin, which was copied by several American builders, including the [Ford Motor Company](https://www.britannica.com/money/Ford-Motor-Company). The Junkers works also built “Jumo” aircraft engines. Under pressure from the Nazis, who sought to [consolidate](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/consolidate) aircraft production under the national government and harshly criticized Junkers’s socialist leanings, he stepped down from his company in 1933.

After Junkers stepped down, the company designed one of the first [turbojet](https://www.britannica.com/technology/turbojet) engines during [World War II](https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II) and played an important part in German airpower during the war, supplying the [Luftwaffe](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Luftwaffe) with the [Ju 52](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Ju-52), a trimotor monoplane used as a troop transport and glider tug; the Ju 87 [dive bomber](https://www.britannica.com/technology/dive-bomber) ( _Sturzkampfflugzeug,_ shortened to “Stuka”); and the Ju 88, a twin-engine all-purpose [bomber](https://www.britannica.com/technology/bomber-aircraft).

[The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica](/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419)This article was most recently revised and updated by [Encyclopaedia Britannica](/contributor/encyclopaedia-britannica/12989892).