The procurement of this Junkers Ju-52/3m by the Aviodrome is a tribute to those who fought against the German invaders during those doomful days in May 1940s, when 430 Ju-52s and hundreds of other armed aircraft swarmed like flies over the Netherlands. Fokker C.5 fighters, 15 years old by that time, fought a gallant battle. Between May 10th and 14th the Dutch armed forces managed to take out half of the German airtransport fleet and this haulted the Blitzkrieg effort in its intention to continue with an invasion of England that same summer of 1940.
Ju-52/3m 1Z+IK was taken out, after its landing on the beaches of The Hague, where it was damaged beyond repair by Fokker C.5s. Many aircraft dropped parachutists or unloaded troops in this area, near The Hague, to prevent the Queen and her government to flee abroad (a ploy which failed).
This aircraft was part of 1e Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader zur besonderen Verwendung I (KGzbV I). It had landed on the beach but failed to take off as it got stuck in the sand. A flight of 3 Fokker C.5s spotted 20 Ju-52s, including 1Z+IK, on the beach in the morning of May 10th and these and other C.5s returned that afternoon and shot them up in three attacks. 1Z+IK was damaged, but not destroyed; others suffered a fate by fire due to tracer ammunition or were bombarded. 1Z+IK was probably repaired by the Fokker factory, which found a temporary home in the Amsterdam RAI.
This Ju-52/3m will get a spot inside the museum, next to its opponent during those fateful days in May 1940; the Fokker C.5 .
[Source: Verenigde Vleugels, May 2007]