Due to its reliability the Junkers Ju 52 became a standard plane of commercial aviation in the 1930s. It also played a part as military plane already prior to WW II. It served, e.g., in the Spanish Civil War as a bomber and transport plane. In April 1940, the plane shown on top flew from Neumünster to Narvik with a load of supplies where it landed on frozen Lake Hartvigvaansee. British and Norwegian planes attacked, the traces are plainly visible. When thaw melted the ice the plane sank into the lake where it layed 75 m deep for 46 years. It was salvaged in 1986 and later on brought to the Technik Museum in Speyer.

The picture below shows a civilian version as it was used, for instance, by the German Lufthansa in the 1930s. Two other Junkers Ju 52/3m are presented at the Technik Museum Sinsheim.