Junkers Ju 52 - Luftwaffe, BJ-YD, Stalingrad, USSR, Air Bridge Operations, November 1942

Corgi Aviation 1/72 Archive Collector Series AA36911

Ordered by Hitler to stay put and hold their positions, the encircled German 6th Army at Stalingrad was informed that the Luftwaffe was about to set up an air bridge to supply them with food, ammunition and general supplies, to keep some 300,000 German soldiers fighting. In the middle of a Soviet winter and woefully unprepared for such an undertaking, Luftwaffe crews quickly learned that if Soviet planes didn't shoot them down in flight, they were just as likely to be destroyed on the ground, by hitting one of the many snow-covered shell craters littering Pitomnik airfield, or by being hit by mortar or artillery fire from the ever-closer Soviet forces.

If they landed safely, inexperienced ground crews prolonged the aircraft's stay in this "hell hole", and when they finally left, their aircraft were loaded with wounded troops desperate to escape the Stalingrad cauldron. As the Luftwaffe's refueling efforts never succeeded in delivering the minimum quantities required by the beleaguered German troops in the Stalingrad region, Pitomnik airfield soon resembled a kind of aerial graveyard, with burnt-out and destroyed transport aircraft lining the runway, serving as a sort of macabre honor guard for the crews still engaged in this increasingly desperate refueling operation.

Junkers Ju 52

The Ju-52 entered service in April 1931 as a troop transport and bomber. During the Spanish Civil War, it ferried troops from Morocco to Spain and dropped some 6,000 tons of bombs. The three-engine Ju-52 served as a 17-passenger airliner for many nations, most famously with the German Lufthansa. Nicknamed "Iron Annie," the Ju 52 was built of strong corrugated metal. For air defense and tactical ground support it was armed with multiple machine guns and was fitted with bomb racks capable of carrying 3,307 lbs of bombs. During WWII, 5,000 Ju-52s served in all fronts in a variety of roles, from troop transport to mine-laying.

Corgi Aviation Archive Collector Series

The Corgi "Aviation Archive" range presents highly-detailed, ready-made diecast models of military and civilian aircraft. The vast Aviation Archive range has become the standard by which all other diecast airplane ranges are judged. Each Corgi model is based on a specific aircraft from an important historical or modern era of flight, and has been authentically detailed from original documents and archival library material. Famous airplanes and aviators from both military and commercial airline aviation are all honored.

Corgi "Aviation Archive" diecast airplanes feature:

• Diecast metal construction with some plastic components.
• Realistic panel lines, antennas, access panels and surface details.
• Pad printed markings and placards that won't fade or peel like decals.
• Interchangeable extended/retracted landing gear with rotating wheels.
• Poseable presention stand to display the aircraft "in flight".
• Many limited editions with numbered certificate of authenticity.
• Detailed, hand-painted pilot and crew member figures.
• Authentic detachable ordnance loads complete with placards.
• Selected interchangeable features such as speed-brakes, opened canopies and access panels.
• Selected moving parts such as gun turrets, control surfaces and swing-wings