This early airliner formed the mainstay of the SAA fleet in the mid to late 1930's. In the 1930's SAA and its predecessor, Union Airways used mainly Junkers aircraft.

Nicknamed "Tante Ju" (Auntie Ju) and "Iron Annie" by Axis and Allied troops, the Junkers Ju-52 was the most famous German transport of the war. Over 4800 examples were built. It served as an airliner, troop transport, light bomber, flying ambulance and VIP aircraft. A Ju-52 served as the personal transport for Adolf Hitler.It was built of corrugated metal skin and paid little attention to beauty, features of a typical Junkers design. Parts and pieces stick out of the airframe, and the corrugated skin, though much stronger than fabric and metal tubes, creates stronger air resistance.

Its most commom work, however, was done with the German Lufthansa. Equipped with luxuaries like a typewriter and oxygen masks, the Ju-52 could fly from Berlin to Rome in eight hours over the Alps, an impressive feat for contemporary aircraft, let alone an airliner. The airliner served on may of the internal routes we know today in South Africa, such as Johannesburg to Durban and Cape Town.

Below are photographs of ZS-AFA, the original aeroplane of the South African Airways Historic flight, faithfully recreated to look like the ones that flew the African skies in the 1930's.