Baade B-152

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History

The Baade B-152 also known as Dresden 152, VL-DDR 152 or simply 152 was the first German jet passenger airliner. It was built and tested in Dresden (East Germany) between 1956 and 1961.

The "152" represents the final development in the Junkers aircraft family which ended with the development planes (Entwicklungsflugzeug - EF).

Baade is the name of the designer of the plane, Brunolf Baade. Only two prototypes for flight were built. The first prototype V1/I (DM-ZYA) was derived from the Samoljot 150 or Alexejew 150 jet bomber designed by former Junkers engineers in the Soviet Union. It included a tandem landing gear and glazed nose for the navigator, which was a common feature in many Eastern Bloc aircraft. The landing gear was unusual in that the main gear was housed along the centerline of the fuselage with outrigger wheels in the wing-tips (similar to the more famous Boeing B-47).

The maiden flight of this aircraft took place December 4, 1958. It lasted 35 minutes. The aircraft was lost on its second flight in a crash at Ottendorf-Okrilla while beginning landing approach on March 4th, 1959 taking the lives of the entire crew. The reason or reasons for the crash were never made public. Although issues with the fuel system were the most likely cause as the fuel system had not been tested on a tilt.

Test flights continued with the second prototype V4/II (DM-ZYB). This second prototype had a different landing gear configuration, with an unusual configuration of the main landing gear sharing the same pylon as the engines. This aircraft also had abandoned the glazed nose for the navigator.

The third prototype, V5/II (DM-ZYC) only served ground tests.

The flight testing for commercial use was nearly finished by early 1961 with four aircraft in production for the East German state airline Interflug. At this time, the East German government stopped all aeronautical industry activties, as the Soviet Union did not want to buy any of these aircraft nor supported any further development.

Interflug eventually used the Soviet built Tupolev Tu-124.

All examples of the aircraft were scrapped though currently there is a restoration of the abandoned 152/II #011 fuselage, which was begun in 1995 in Elba.

Chronology

• October 12, 1956 - First test run of jet enginge Pirna 014
• March 1958 - First presentation of airplane 152 and jet engine Pirna 014 at the Leipzig Spring Fair
• April 30, 1958 - Roll out of first 152/I V1 prototype plane
• December 4, 1958 - First flight of prototype 152/I V1 for 35 minutes
• March 4, 1959 - Second flight of prototype 152/I V1 for 55 minutes. Plane crashed at landing killing the crew.
• September 9, 1959 -Testing of Pirna 014 jet engines on test plane Ilyushin Il-28R
• July 30,1960 - Start of ground testing for 152/II V4 plane
• August 26, 1960 - First flight of prototype 152/II V4 for 22 minutes
• September 4, 1960 - Second flight of prototype 152/II V4 for 20 minutes
• December 1960 - End of ground testing of prototype 152/II V4
• March 1961 - End of Pirna 014 jet enginge production
• June 20, 1961 - Last flight of Pirna 014 jet engine on test plane IL-28R
• Summer 1961 - Scrapping of all produced 152 planes

Sketch of the 152 as it would have appeared in service with Interflug

Specifications (152/II V4)

Related content

Comparable aircraft: Boeing B-47 Stratojet - Tupolev Tu-124

Designation sequence: EF 129 - EF 130 - EF 131 - EF 132 - EF 140 - EF 150 - 152

References