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EFW Baade 152 
The political ambition of the East German politburo and the cancellation of the Alekseyev 150 Soviet bomber project led to the return to East Germany in 1953 of a group of German engineers and scientists deported to Russia in 1945. They were sponsored to proceed with one of the many commercial designs that they had formulated while in Russia.
One of these was the 72 seat 152 airliner, which was based on their experience with the Alekseyev 150 and would be powered by a development of the Junkers Jumo turbojet engine named Pirna 014. The design team was led by Brunolf Baade, a former Junkers designer, and the 152 descended from a bomber design started by Junkers during WW2.
The prototype had a glazed nose and an unusual undercarriage arrangement featuring a single central gear assisted by wingtip pod-mounted outriggers, and was completed in May 1958. Late availability of the Pirna engines meant the prototype first flew with Tumansky Rd-9b engines. On its second flight, while rehearsing for the Leipzig trade fair, the prototype 152 crashed due to pressure equalization problems between the multifarious tanks and the inadequate engines. The second heavily modified (152A) model (with modified tanks, conventional undercarriage and a glazed nose) flew twice more before the project was cancelled in 1961 due to national economic crises which were exacerbated by the defection of key design team members.
VEB 152 |
