Operation to Retrieve Rare 'Stuka' German Army to Lift WWII Divebomber from Baltic

[Draggingtree]

Spiegel Online International

 

06/05/2012 05.06.2012

Operation to Retrieve Rare 'Stuka' German Army to Lift WWII Divebomber from Baltic

 

 

 

 

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka divebombers in action in December 1940.

 

 

The German army is lifting a Junkers 87 'Stuka' divebomber from the Baltic Sea floor just off the coast. Berlin's military museum is eager to exhibit the feared plane, known for its ear-piercing siren designed to spread panic in World War II. There are virtually no original German aircraft left from either the two world wars.

The German army began an operation this week to lift a World War II divebomber from the seabed off the island of Rügen, located in the Baltic Sea just off of Germany's northern coast.

The Junkers Ju 87 "Sturzkampfbomber," or Stuka, was a feared weapon in Nazi Germany's arsenal, especially at the start of the war when it became a symbol of German aggression with its trademark siren, known as "Jericho trumpets," blaring as the aircraft hurtled down to its target.

"The Stuka as an exhibit is incredibly important to us because there are hardly any left," Sebastian Bangert, spokesman for the Military History Museum in Berlin, told German news website ntv.de.

"The ones left after the end of the war were destroyed as part of the demilitarization program. A Stuka provides a good way of explaining the inhuman system that stood behind it. The siren wasn't intended to sound pretty, it was designed to intimidate the civilian population and the enemy. The siren was intended to spread even more fear and panic."Read More http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-raising-junckers-87-stuka-wwii-divebomber-from-baltic-seabed-a-837155.html