02/28/2014. Remarks by
Johan Visschedijk: "In 1926, the Junkers Flugzeugwerke AG produced at its Dessau factory in Germany a low-wing three-seat multi-role monoplane using the company's patented all-metal construction. The type was a cantilever low-wing monoplane with fixed tail skid landing gear, and was initially powered by a 450 hp BMW VI engine, which was later replaced by a 600 hp Junkers L 55.
Junkers A 32 (
Johan Visschedijk Collection)
Designated A 32 it was introduced as a mail, liaisons and aerial survey plane, two aircraft were built but not sold. In common with other German "civil" aircraft of the time, however, the type had been planned with a military version in mind. One of the unsold A 32s was flown to Sweden and this reappeared in 1927 from Junkers' Swedish subsidiary, AB Flygindustri of Limhamn-Malmo, as a light bomber and armed reconnaissance aeroplane, marketed as the K 39.
The crew of three was accommodated along the top of the fuselage in open cockpits. Armament consisted of five Lewis 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns, the pilot controlled two fixed guns, the observer in the rear cockpit had two trainable guns, and the observer in the central cockpit could descend into a ventral gondola that provided excellent fields of vision and was also armed with a single gun. A bomb load of 220 lb (100 kg) could also be carried. The K 39 performed adequately, but received no production order."
