This article appeared in the Benoni City Times, written by Jani De Beer, senior reporter at Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers Limited, and is published with the company's permission.
03.08.2025
The drone from its triple prop engines has brought many grown men to tears, while the corrugated skin and 95ft wingspan will ensure that the Junkers Ju52/3m will forever go down in history as an aviation marvel.
On July 18, aviation enthusiasts and members of the South African Air Force Association (SAAFA) East Rand Branch gathered at Café@The Range, Kempton Park, to pay homage to 'Tante Ju,' as the craft was affectionately named, and the men who had the privilege to take control of its stick.
Ready for flight Photo: Jani de Beer - Benoni City Times.
With a spring in his step, retired SAA pilot, SAAFA East Rand Branch member and one of the few pilots who has taken to the sky in this 74-year-old 'lady,' Karl Jensen, passionately spoke about the aircraft which was first put into service in 1934.
This is shortly after the passenger air agency took control of Union Airways.
Prior to this, the aircraft was mainly used to deliver mail.
“With three Ju52s already part of its fleet, SAA ordered 18 additional aircraft,” said Karl. “This was cause for great excitement as the agency set to work to commercialise air travel. Celebrations were however short lived with the onset of WW2.”
SAA alumni Karl Jensen, Francios (Doc) Malan, Flip Vermeulen with SAAFA East Rand Branch chairperson Roelf Rossouw. Photo: Jani de Beer - Benoni City Times.
He explained that the airlines had taken receipt of 15 planes shortly before the war and that these were commandeered by the SA Air Force and used for troop transport, medical air transport as well as by paratroopers.
“Despite all her promises, the SAA Junkers never transported a single commercial passenger,” he said. “At the end of the war, these magnificent aircraft became obsolete compared to modern aviation advances, and they were discarded as scrap.”
In celebration of SAA's 50th anniversary on February 1, 1984, and with the support of the then South African government, the organisation set out to acquire a Junker Ju52 to form part of its showcase.
“Searching high and low, three were found in 1981 at Blackbushe, in the United Kingdom. It was brought there from Las Palmas, where it was used as a paratrooper,” said Karl. “The best out of the trio of forgotten and neglected aircraft was selected, and a team of SAA Technicians quickly jumped into action to dismantle the aircraft in time to be transported to Durban by Safmarine.”
As the clock ticked, fears were mounting that the refurbishment would not meet the set deadline and that the Junkers, renamed Jan van Riebeeck, would not take to the skies.
“Goosebumps! That is the only way to describe the feeling when the 18-seater weighing 10.5 tons took to the sky,” said the highly decorated pilot, with a lump in his throat. “The drone of her engines left everyone speechless. It was a sight to behold.”
Revelers line up to take to the skies on board the historic Junker Ju52. Photo: Karl Jansen.
Strapping into the pilot seat, Karl was one of a handful of SAA pilots to lead heritage flights across the country at the steer of the Junkers.
Clocking 436 hours, he took tourists and others on low altitude flights over some of the country's most popular landmarks, along the spectacular coastline and cross-border safaris for the wild at heart.
“Flying the Ju52/3m was a laborious task, but the reward was insurmountable,” he said. “Before being retired to the SAA Museum Society at Rand Airport, that glorious hunk of metal brought tremendous joy to everyone who was able to roll down her windows and experience the wind lapping at their faces.”
The intricate controls and panel of the Junkers Ju52, which became the first aircraft to form part of SAA's fleet, in 1934. Photo: Karl Jensen. Added notes by Karl Jensen
Photos by Karl Jensen
The SAA Historic Flight Junkers Ju52 is technically a CASA352.
It was built in 1953, although designed by Ernst Zindel, commencing in 1927. The prototype first flew in October 1930. The Ju52 was a massive leap in airliner design. Besides adding rigidity, the corrugated skin of duralium had the beneficial effect of straightening the airflow. This helped in the elimination of energy-sapping wingtip vortices. The robust construction was relatively lightweight with a max gross weight of around 10.5 tons. 4,835 were built, including 170 built by CASA, where it was known as 'PAVA', and a further 400 examples were built by Avion Amiot, where it was known as Amiot AAC 1 Toucan.
SAA ordered 18, but only 3 were delivered in time for airline service before the outbreak of WWII. The aircraft had many superlatives, considering the era when it was designed and built. The wing structure was enormously strong, with four tapered tubular spars in the wing panels outboard of the engines. The centre section of the wing formed part of the fuselage. The undercarriage had two large main wheels and only a tailskid. This had to be replaced by a castering tailwheel when runways were used, as opposed to flying fields where aircraft took off and landed into the wind.
The main undercarriage had frangible joints so that in the event of a groundloop when heavily loaded, the joints would shear and prevent the airplane from overturning. The wing flaps and ailerons were mounted slightly lower than the wing trailing edge, and being in the high-pressure region of the wing, were very effective. The flaps and ailerons were lowered manually by a control wheel that simultaneously kept the aircraft in trim. Should the airspeed, with flaps extended, exceed 80 knots, a spring mechanism would blow back the flaps toward the Flaps Up position.
The cruise speed was about 135 knots (240km/h) in a 17/18 seater configuration. The Ju52 was pipped technologically in 1934 by Douglas, who built the DC2 that morphed into the DC3. The DC3 was leaps and bounds ahead of the Ju52 in almost all respects. It had a similar wingspan, retractable gear, and much faster cruise. Planning was at about 160kts, and the maximum weight was 11,430 kgs in a 26-32 seater passenger configuration. 16,079 were built.
Our Ju52 was flown to Blackbushe in the UK from Las Palmas, where it was operated as a paratrooper. When acquired by SAA, the airplane was flown from Blackbushe to Lemwerder. Germany, where it was dismantled and loaded onto a barge on the Weser and floated to Bremerhaven. Safmarine loaded it and delivered it as deck cargo to Durban. It was then freighted by road to the then Jan Smuts Airport. It was meticulously restored to almost new condition, essentially by volunteers supervised by SAA Technicians.
Before going into service with the fledgling SAA Historic Flight, the engines were replaced by Pratt & Whitney R1340 radials enclosed in Harvard cowlings and fitted with 2.75m Hamilton Standard constant-speed propellers, a very reliable combination that never in my experience gave mechanical trouble.
Tante Ju now belongs to the SAA Museum Society's Museum at Rand Airport, but is presently housed in a hangar in the SAA Technical Area at OR Tambo Airport.
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