Junkers Ju 52/3m, WNr. 6821, "VB +UP"
History
Among the aircraft preserved at the Technik Museum Speyer is a Junkers Ju 52 that carries a remarkable history. At first glance, the aircraft's familiar corrugated-metal fuselage and three engine layout identify it immediately as a legendary "Tante Ju." But this particular machine, Werknummer 6821, is far more than an example of classic German aircraft engineering. It is a survivor of the Norwegian campaign of 1940, an aircraft that spent 46 years beneath the waters of a Norwegian lake before being recovered and eventually brought to Germany.
Today, Ju 52/3m g4e Werknummer 6821 stands as one of the most unusual surviving examples of the type.
On 13 April 1940, a group of Ju 52 transports flew north carrying supplies for the German forces around Narvik. Werknummer 6821, operating as VB+UP, was among the aircraft involved.
The most extraordinary chapter in Werknummer 6821's story began after it landed.
The Ju 52s could not simply take off and leave. Fuel and logistical difficulties, combined with the deteriorating situation around Narvik, left the aircraft stranded on the frozen lake.
As spring progressed, the ice began to weaken.
The aircraft that had arrived as part of an emergency German airlift gradually became trapped on the lake. Norwegian forces subsequently attempted to make use of some of the abandoned aircraft, but the effort could not prevent their eventual fate.
When the ice melted, the Ju 52s went into the lake.
Werknummer 6821 sank to the bottom of Hartvikvatnet, where it would remain for almost half a century.
In 1986, Werknummer 6821 was recovered from Hartvikvatnet.
The recovery was part of a larger effort to salvage several of the Ju 52s that had gone down in the lake during the war. Contemporary and specialist records identify Werknummer 6821 as one of several aircraft recovered during the 1980s.
Visitors examining the aircraft at Speyer may notice another unusual feature: the markings displayed on the aircraft do not simply reproduce its original identity.
Specialist aircraft records identify Werknummer 6821's original Luftwaffe code as VB+UP. The aircraft displayed at Speyer has been photographed carrying VB+JA on one side and CA+JY on the other. These markings are therefore not its original wartime identity.