Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister
The Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister is a German single-seat aerobatic biplane introduced by Bücker Flugzeugbau in 1935 as a single-seat development of the two-seat Bü 131 Jungmann. Its fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage and wooden wings carried a 160 hp Siemens Sh-14A radial in most production aircraft, and its agility made it the Luftwaffe's standard advanced trainer and a dominant competition aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Wikipedia puts production at around 250, including 52 licence-built by Dornier in Switzerland and 25 by CASA in Spain, and survivors remain popular with airshow pilots.
Why It Mattered
Carl Bücker introduced the Jungmeister in 1935 as a single-seat version of his Bü 131 Jungmann, itself a two-seat advanced aerobatic trainer. From the mid-1930s to the end of the 1940s it dominated aerobatics on both sides of the Atlantic, the National Air and Space Museum records. Flying clubs and air services across Europe chose it as their advanced aerobatic trainer. Its appeal rested on modest size, a high power-to-weight ratio, and handling the museum describes as agile and light on the controls. Smithsonian Magazine reports that airshow pilots still favour the type today.
Design Notes
The fuselage was a steel-tube structure covered in fabric. Its wings were built from wooden spars and ribs under fabric covering, and the upper and lower panels were interchangeable. Ailerons were fitted to both wings, an arrangement the National Air and Space Museum credits with securing its future as an aerobatic aircraft. The design allowed either of two 160 hp engines, the Hirth HM 506 inline or the seven-cylinder Siemens Sh-14A radial; the radial was used almost exclusively. The outer wing panels swept back 11 degrees. The Jungmeister was so similar to the Jungmann that parts could be interchanged between the two types.
Operational History
Wikipedia dates the first flight to 1935 and names Luise Hoffmann, Germany's first female test pilot, as the pilot. The Hirth-powered Bü 133A attracted no orders and only two Bü 133Bs were built, leaving the radial-engined Bü 133C as the main production version. Wikipedia's accounting puts total production at around 250 aircraft. Production was German before the Second World War and Spanish during it. Dornier Flugzeugwerke built 52 under licence for the Swiss Air Force, which kept the type in service until 1968. CASA built 25 more under licence for Spain in 1940–42, designated CASA 1-133L, and they joined 22 German-built Bü 133Cs already in Spanish service. By 1938 the Bü 133C had become the Luftwaffe's standard advanced trainer, and the type was collecting victories in international aerobatic competition. At the International Flying Meet in Brussels in 1939, a nine-man Luftwaffe team flying the type dazzled the crowds.
Afterlife
The design remained competitive in international aerobatic competition into the 1960s. In that decade a project backed by American pilot Jack Canary tried to restart production in Germany under licence from Carl Bücker. The Wolf Hirth factory finished the first new-build aircraft in 1968, but Canary was killed that year and Hirth stopped production in 1971 after four aircraft, beaten by high costs and the availability of ex-Swiss Jungmeisters on the civil market. A number of Jungmeisters still exist in Europe and the United States, and the National Air and Space Museum notes that they command high prices for their scarcity and manoeuvrability. The museum's own example, flown by champions Alex Papana, Mike Murphy and Bevo Howard, is displayed at its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.