Junkers Ju 86 Operated by Lufthansa

Lufthansa commenced operations with the Junkers Ju 86B commercial airliner in June 1936 with the delivery of the V2 and V4 prototypes. The V4 was originally given the name Dresden, but when it was decided to name all of the Ju 86s after mountains it was renamed to Brocken. After initial operations with DLH (Deutsche Lufthansa), both prototypes were handed back to Junkers in December 1936.

After being re-engined with BMW 132 Dc radial engines the V4 was returned to DLH in June 1937. On the 18th of June that year it crashed due to pilot error near Hamburg. Deliveries of 12 production Ju 86Bs continued until 1937 with and additional aircraft delivered in 1939.

With the outbreak of war all of Lufthansa’s Ju 86Bs were transferred to the Luftwaffe. However, on 30 June 1944, eight aircraft were chartered from the Luftwaffe so that civilian flights routes could be kept open.