The Bücker Bü 133 ''Jungmeister'' is an advanced trainer of the ''

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

'' in the 1930s. It was a single-engine, single-seat

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

of wood and tubular steel construction and covered in fabric.

Development

The Bü 133 was a development of the

Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann The Bücker Bü 131 ''Jungmann'' (freshman, young man) is a basic biplane trainer aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Bücker Flugzeugbau. It was the company's first aircraft, as well as being the final biplane to ...

two-seat basic trainer. First flown in 1935 (by Luise Hoffmann, the first female works pilot in Germany),Ketley, Barry, and Rolfe, Mark. ''Luftwaffe Fledglings 1935–1945: Luftwaffe Training Units and their Aircraft'' (Aldershot, GB: Hikoki Publications, 1996), p.14. it was slightly smaller than the Bü 131. The prototype, D-EVEO, was powered by a

Hirth Hirth Engines GmbH is an engine manufacturer based in Benningen, Germany. It is currently a part of the UMS Aero Group. Hirth began manufacturing aero engines in the 1920s, was taken over by Heinkel in WWII to develop the Heinkel-Hirth jet en ...

HM506 inverted, air-cooled

inline-6 A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...

engine. The aircraft showed "astonishing agility" at its first public appearance, the 1936 International Aerobatic Championship at

Rangsdorf Rangsdorf is a municipality in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg in Germany. It has an airfield p to 1940 a genuine commercial airportfrom where on 20 July 1944 Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg took off on his fateful attempt to assa ...

, but the Bü 133A garnered no orders; only two Bü 133Bs, with Siemens-Halske Sh.14A-4 radial engines, were built. The main production type was the Siemens-Bramo Sh 14A

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A ...

powered Bü 133C, which had a distinctive

cowling A cowling (or cowl) is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings ...

and a -shorter fuselage, and the same fine aerobatic performance as the Bü 133A. Fifty-two were manufactured under licence by

Dornier Flugzeugwerke Dornier Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claude Dornier. Over the course of its long lifespan, the company produced many designs for both the civil and military markets. History Originall ...

for the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (; ; ; ) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the Swiss Army, army and in October 1936 as an independent service. In peaceti ...

(which kept it in service until 1968). Twenty five Jungmeisters, initially powered by Hirth HM506 engines, were licence-built for the Spanish Air Force from 1940–42 by CASA with the designation CASA 1-133L, although they were later re-engined with Sh 14 engines. They joined the survivors of 22 German-built Bü-133Cs in Spanish service.Haufschild and Schneider ''Air-Britain Archive'' Winter 2017, pp. 153–154 In the 1960s, the American pilot Jack Canary obtained construction plans for the Bü-133 from Spain and a production licence from Carl Bücker, with the intention of restarting production of the Jungmeister in Germany to meet an expected high demand from the United States. The first new-build aircraft was completed by the Wolf Hirth factory at Nabern being completed in 1968. Jack Canary was killed later that year during the production of the film

Tora! Tora! Tora! ''Tora! Tora! Tora!'' () is a 1970 epic war film that dramatizes the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, from both American and Japanese positions. The film was produced by Elmo Williams and directed by Richard F ...

, however, and his death caused the project to lose momentum, with poor sales (partly due to the high cost of the new-build aircraft together with the availability of ex-Swiss Jungmeisters on the civil market) caused Hirth to stop production in 1971 after four aircraft has been built.Haufschild and Schneider ''Air-Britain Archive'' Winter 2017, pp. 154–155 Several aircraft were later completed from components built during this project, with two aircraft built in Austria in the 1970s, one built in France in 1991 and another completed by Hirth in 1991.Haufschild and Schneider ''Air-Britain Archive'' Winter 2017, p. 155

Operational history

The Bü 133C racked up numerous victories in international aerobatic competition, and by 1938 was the ''Luftwaffe''s standard advanced trainer. At the Brussels meet that year, a three-man ''Luftwaffe'' team made a strong impression on ''

Reichsmarschall (; ) was an honorary military rank, specially created for Hermann Göring during World War II, and the highest rank in the . It was senior to the rank of (, equivalent to field marshal, which was previously the highest rank in the ), but ...

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

, who ordered a nine-man team be formed. It dazzled the crowds at the International Flying meet in Brussels the next year. The ''Jungmeister'' design remained competitive in international aerobatic competition into the 1960s.

Variants

;Bücker Bü 133A: First prototype - initially powered by

HM 6 inline engine as Bü 133 A-1. Later rebuilt with

Hirth HM 506 The Hirth HM 506 was a six-cylinder air-cooled inverted inline engine that was developed from the earlier four-cylinder HM 504. The HM 506 was a popular engine for light aircraft of the 1930s to 1940s and powered the Bücker Bü 133A model trai ...

A.Haufschild and Schneider ''Air-Britain Archive'' Summer 2017, p. 53 ;Bücker Bü 133B: Proposed version with

Argus As 8 The Argus As 8 was a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline aircraft engine produced in Germany by Argus Motoren in the 1930s. Variants ;As 8A:Initial production version maximum for 5 minutes, continuous. ;As 8B:A more powerful variant de ...

engine. Unbuilt. ;Bücker Bü 133C:

Siemens-Halske Sh 14A The Siemens-Halske Sh 14 was a seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engine for aircraft produced in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. First run in 1928, it was rated at 93 kW (125 hp). It was briefly distributed in the United States by Ryan A ...

engine. ;Bücker Bü 133D: Improved production version using roller bearings for rudder, powered by Sh 14A engine. ;CASA 1.133: Spanish-built variant. ;Price/American Tiger Club Jungmeister: Plans for homebuilt construction. ;SSH T-133PA: Modern (1990s-2000s) new build, Sh 14A-powered, Jungmeister by Polish company SSH (''Serwis Samolotów Historycznych''). One prototype built.

Operators

; *'' Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske'' ; *''

'' ; *

Hungarian Air Force The Hungarian Air Force (, ), is the air force branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces. The primary focus of the present Hungarian Air Force lies in defensive operations. The flying units operate are organised into a single command; under the A ...

; *

Lithuanian Air Force The Lithuanian Air Force or LAF (, abbreviated as ''LK KOP'') is the military aviation branch of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. It is formed from professional military servicemen and non-military personnel. Units are located at Zokniai Air Base ne ...

(6 acquired in 1939) * Aeroclub of Lithuania (2 units) ; *

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

(1 bought for tests before 1939) ; *

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) () is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five air bases, a logistics base, an air defense brigade, an air defense regiment and an ISR (Intel ...

; *

Slovak Air Force (1939–1945) The Slovak Air Force (, or SVZ), between 1939 and 1945, was the air force of the short-lived World War II Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovak Republic. Its mission was to provide air support at fronts, and to protect Bratislava and metropolita ...

; Spanish Republic *

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics () and Naval Aeron ...

SBHAC - Aviones de la Fuerza Aérea de la República Española/Aviones de Escuela y Enlace
/ref> ;

Spanish State Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

Spanish Air Force The Spanish Air and Space Force () is the aerial and space warfare branch of the Spanish Armed Forces. History Early stages Hot air balloons have been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896. In 1905, with the help of Al ...

; *

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

; *

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

(following the

occupation of Baltic States The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the Baltic st ...

, at least three former Lithuanian Bü 133C's were transferred to aviation of 29th Territorial Infantry Corps) ; *

SFR Yugoslav Air Force The Air Force and Air Defence ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Ратно ваздухопловство и противваздушна одбрана, Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdušna odbrana ; abbr. sh-Cyrl-Latn, label=none, separator=/, РВ и ПВ� ...

- Postwar.

Specifications (Bücker Bü 133C)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * König, Erwin. ''Bücker Bü 133 "Jungmeister"(Flugzeug Profile 29)'' (in German). D-86669 Stengelheim, Germany: Unitec Medienvertrieb e.K., * König, Erwin. ''Die Bücker-Flugzeuge (The Bücker Aircraft)'' (bilingual German/English). Martinsried, Germany: Nara Verlag, 1987. . * König, Erwin. ''Die Bückers, Die Geschichte der ehemaligen Bücker-Flugzeugbau-GmbH und ihrer Flugzeuge'' (in German). (1979) * Mondey, David. ''The Hamlyn Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II''. London: Chancellor Press Ltd. . * * Smith, J.Richard and Kay, Antony L. ''German Aircraft of the Second World War''. London: Putnam and Company Ltd., 3rd impression 1978, p. 92–93. . * Wietstruk, Siegfried. ''Bücker-Flugzeugbau, Die Geschichte eines Flugzeugwerkes'' (in German). D-82041 Oberhaching, Germany: Aviatik Verlag, 1999. . * Wood, Tony and Gunston, Bill. ''Hitler's Luftwaffe: A pictorial history and technical encyclopedia of Hitlers air power in World War II''. London: Salamander Books Ltd., 1977, p. 140. .

External links

Photogallery on Airliners.net
*[http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code/emuseum.asp?style=browse¤trecord=1&page=search&profile=objects&searchdesc=B%C3%BCcker%20B%C3%BC%20131&quicksearch=B%C3%BCcker%20B%C3%BC%20131&newvalues=1&newstyle=single&newcurrentrecord=1 Bücker Bü 133 page of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum]
Bücker Bü 133 C page of Virginian Aviation Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucker Bu 133 Bu 133, Bucker Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aerobatic aircraft Bücker aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1935 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft