Development
The Junkers A50 was the first sportsplane designed by Hermann Pohlmann in Junkers works. It had the same modern all-metal construction, covered with corrugated duralumin sheet, as larger Junkers passenger planes. The first flight of the A50 took place on 13 February 1929. It was followed by further four prototypes, in order to test different engines.
Junkers expected to produce 5,000 aircraft, but stopped after manufacturing only 69, of which only 50 were sold. The high prices probably inhibited sales. Apart from Germany, they were used in several other countries and some were used by airlines. The purchase price in 1930 in the United Kingdom was between £840 or £885. Starting from the A50ce variant, the wings could be folded for easier transport.
Three German A50 took part in the Challenge international touring plane competition in July 1929, taking 11th place (A50be, pilot Waldemar Roeder) and 17th place. Three A50 took part also in the Challenge 1930 next year, taking 15th (A50ce, pilot Johann Risztics), 27th and 29th places. In June 1930 a series of eight FAI world records for altitude, range and average speed were set on a floatplane variant of A50 with the Armstrong Siddeley 59 kW (79 hp) engine. In 1931 Marga von Etzdorf flew an A50 solo from Berlin to Tokyo, the first woman to do so.
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