COBI Junkers Ju52/3m - Civil Version Set 5711

COBI's Junkers Ju 52/3m Civil Version is built from 542 blocks in the livery of the Swiss operator JU-AIR. The propellers and ailerons move, the wheels turn on rubber tires and the doors open. A figure of a Swiss airline pilot is included. All markings are printed; no stickers.

Three of these were still carrying passengers in 2018

That is the reason this set exists in civil colours rather than military ones.

JU-AIR was formed in 1982 to operate three Ju 52s that the Swiss Air Force had bought new in 1939 and flown until 1981 — forty-two years of military service, followed by thirty-six more carrying paying passengers on sightseeing flights over the Alps. They were the last Ju 52s in the world in regular commercial operation, and for many people they were the only chance to fly in a 1930s airliner.

It ended on 4 August 2018, when one of them crashed into the Piz Segnas in Graubünden, killing all twenty people aboard. The Swiss investigation found the crew had flown into a valley with no margin to turn or climb, and identified a culture of routine risk-taking at the operator along with technical shortcomings in the aircraft.

JU-AIR's fleet has not carried passengers since. COBI's own description still says the aircraft are in service; they are not.

The aircraft

Corrugated duralumin skin — the corrugations are structural, carrying load so that internal framing could be lighter, which is why the surface looks like that. Three engines, fixed undercarriage, and a design from 1930 that went on to be Germany's standard transport aircraft of the war and served airlines on every continent. Around 4,800 were built.

Specifications

Pieces: 542 · Figures: 1 pilot · No stickers · Opening doors, movable propellers and ailerons