In 1931 the chief engineer of Junkers Dr. Zindel developed a trimotor plane called the JU 52/3M. The JU 52 was used as a civilian aircraft mainly by Lufthansa, but secretively at the same time it was provided to the Luftwaffe as a transporter and bomber. The Junkers 52 took part in nearly all of the German campaigns of the Second World War. It was a common sight over all the battlefronts from Russia to North Africa.