Why the Only Surviving Ju 87 Stukas Are Locked in Two Museums

More than six thousand Ju 87 Stukas were built. Two complete aircraft are left. The Stuka was the dive bomber that gave the early war its sound — a single-engine machine with cranked gull wings, fixed landing gear, and a siren fitted to make the dive audible from the ground before the bomb arrived. It was built in the thousands, flown on every front Germany fought on, and photographed more than almost any other aircraft of its era. It was everywhere. The easy answer is that they were simply shot down, all of them, and that attrition explains the empty hangars. That isn't what happened. Because other German aircraft built in similar numbers survive in dozens. Fighters, transports, trainers — recovered, restored, flying. The Stuka was not rarer in the air. It is rarer on the ground. Same war. Same factories. Opposite survival. In this video: what the Stuka actually was and why its shape made it instantly recognizable; what happened to the thousands of airframes that never made it into a collection; why the two that remain ended up where they did instead of anywhere else; and what it means for a machine that defined a period of the war to be reduced to a pair of static exhibits behind glass. The two survivors sit in climate-controlled halls on two continents, wings… 📎 SOURCES & CREDITS (used in this video) YouTube: • Junkers Ju 87 Stuka FHCAM Restoration Project 2023 — Aviation Explored —    • Junkers Ju 87 Stuka FHCAM Restoration Proj...   • The Junkers Jumo 211 — Wehrtechnik Museum —    • Der Meistgebaute Deutsche Flugmotor - Der ...   • German wrecks in North Africa — OkraJoe —    • German wrecks in North Africa -- tanks, pl...   • Stuka Landing — Griffin Museum of Science and Industry —    • Stuka Landing   • RAF Museum London Ju 87 D/G-2 Stuka Part 2 — Weekend Classic Aviation —    • RAF MUSEUM LONDON / Junkers Ju87 D/G-2 Stu...   • RAF Museum London closer look Ju 87 D/G-2 — Weekend Classic Aviation —    • RAF MUSEUM LONDON / ''1940's WEEK'' / Clos...   • RAF Museum London Ju 87 D/G-2 Stuka — Weekend Classic Aviation —    • RAF MUSEUM LONDON / Junkers Ju87 D/G-2 Stuka   • Walkaround Ju 87G-2 RI+JK RAF Museum Hendon — Argentinian Spotter —    • Walkaround | Junkers Ju 87G-2 RI-JK (RAF M...   • Stuka Restoration Dec 21 FHCAM Ju-87R-4 — Fight to Fly Studio —    • Stuka Restoration - Dec 21 - FHCAM - Ju-87R-4   • Junkers Ju 87R-4 Stuka — Randall Gary Malmstrom —    • Junkers Ju 87R-4 Stuka   • Stuka Updates and Tour — Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum —    • Stuka Updates and Tour   • Ju87 Stuka Dive Bombers in Action with Sound and Sirens — HistoryFlicks4u —    • Ju87 Stuka Dive Bombers in Action with Sou...   • Jumo 211F Walkaround — Siivet - Wings —    • Jumo 211F Walkaround - Aircraft Engine fro...   • Stuka Restoration update April 2019 — Fight to Fly Studio —    • Stuka Restoration update - April 2019   Wikimedia Commons: • Bombardowanie pozycji partyzantów jugosłowiańskich w górach w Czarnogórze. (2-527).jpg — Karnath (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Jumo 211 Engine at IWM Duxford (3277037912).jpg — fw190a8 from Cheltenham, United Kingdom (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Junkers Jumo 211 engine in the Great Patriotic War Museum 5-jun-2014.jpg — Mike1979 Russia (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • German Stuka dive bomber (Junkers Ju 87) at Malmi Airport, Finland 1941.jpg — Unknown author Unknown author (CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Duitse Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" 2157 008308.jpg — Fotoafdrukken Koninklijke Luchtmacht (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Duitse Stuka's (Junkers Ju 87) tijdens een missie boven het Russische front, Bestanddeelnr 28034 090.tif — Atlantic Photo (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Abandoned German Junkers Ju 87B in North Africa, in late 1942 or early 1943 (342-FH-3A28592-A23276AC).jpg — U.S. Army Air Forces photo 342-FH-3A28592-A23276AC (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... All footage, images and recordings belong to their respective owners and are used under their stated licenses or as fair-use commentary/education. Contact us for credit updates or removal.