Seen on eBay offered by a seller with a huge ‘archive’. These images show a Junkers Ju 88 G-6 used for ramjet propulsion tests and appear to be images from Pierre Dumollard’s « Junkers Ju 88 et 188 Français » as seen at the CEV (Centre d’Essais en Vol or Flight Test Centre) at Melun Villaroche during the early 1950s. Ju 88 G-6 s/n 3 made some 200 flights with the ARS 600 ram jets before being retired in 1955, including the ’accidental’ flight no. 6 - following a fault with his oxygen supply the pilot put the aircraft into a dive and reached a speed of Mach 0.7 (around 840 km/h). During 1953 André Turcat - future Concorde test pilot - also flew this aircraft at Mach 0.7 at 10,000 mètres altitude; according to author Dumollard, « the limits of the Ju 88s performance had been reached » ! The type was replaced by a Gloster Meteor NF.11 which had the advantage of using the same fuel as the ramjet.
By the time it was retired from service the French had utilised the Ju 88 for nearly twice as long as the Germans and compared it very favorably with similar types such as the B-26 - the Ju 88 had a " shorter take off run, higher top speed , better rate of climb and could carry a bigger load for a similar range.."
More Ju 88 and Ju 188 in French service on this blog
here
