“Cannon birds” take on fuel for their next sortie over the Eastern Front. In the background on the right is a sole Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the type used by II./SG 2 to escort the vulnerable Ju 87Gs on anti-tank sorties, and also used as fighter-bombers, the Stukas being unable to carry bombs while the Bordkanone 3-7 pods were installed.

A rare original colour photograph of a captured Junkers Ju 87G-2, possibly WNr 494200 of SG 2, at an airfield at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia in the late spring/early summer of 1945. By mid-April that year, Polish and Soviet forces were driving hard into eastern Germany as part of the larger Berlin Strategic Offensive.

A Ju 87G of 10.(Pz.)/SG 2, fitted with its impressive Rheinmetall 37mm Bordkanone 3-7 automatic cannon pods under each wing, taxies out for another anti-tank sortie. Note the white silhouette of a T-34 tank applied to the engine cowling.

The barrels of the 37mm cannon extended well beyond the wing’s leading edge, and, although the weapon provided the Stuka with a formidable anti-tank armament, performance was severely compromised. This Ju 87G has had its wheel fairings removed for operations from the primitive strips encountered on the Eastern Front.

Закономерный финал летной карьеры всех немецких асов. Экипажу этого Кавалера Золотого Рыцарского Креста на Ju-87G еще "повезло": они успели перелететь на запад из Чехословакии и сдаться американцам 8 мая 1945г. на аэродроме Эшвеге
Anton Korol (far left) and his crew surrender at Eschwege in central Germany on May 8, 1945. The original USAAF caption, describing the “Nazi air exodus”, reads: “German 'planes of all types were flown fully loaded to American-held bases so their occupants might enjoy the comparative leniency of our prisoner-of-war camps”.

The streamlined gun pod, containing the breech mechanism and fitted to braces just outboard of the aircraft’s distinctive wing crank, extended over approximately 75 per cent of the wing chord and kept the breech free from dust and combat damage.

A German armourer loads a clip of six high-explosive 37mm rounds into the metal hinged tray extending from the starboard gun pod. The trays extended from both sides of the pod, thus providing a total of 24 rounds per aircraft. The empty shell cases were not ejected, but fed back into the opposite tray and removed after flight.