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The Ju 87 B series was to be the first mass-produced variant. A total of six pre-production Ju 87 B-0 wereproduced, built from Ju 87 A airframes. Test flight s began from the summer of1937. A small number, at least three, served as con version Cs or Es for potential naval variants. The first production version was the Ju 87 B-1, with a con siderablylarger engine, its Junkers Jumo 211D generating 1,184 hp, and completelyredesigned fuselage and landing gear. This new design was again tested in Spain,and after proving its abilities there, production was ramped up to 60 permon th. As a result, by the outbreak of World War II, the Luftwaffe had 336 Ju87 B-1s on hand . The B-1 was also fitted with "Jericho trumpets",essentially propeller-driven sirens with a diameter of 0.7 m (2.3 ft) mountedon the wing's leading edge directly forward of the landing gear, or on the front edge of the fixed main gear fairing. This was used to weaken enemy moraleand enhance the intimidation of dive-bombing. After the enemy became used toit, however, they were withdrawn. The devices caused a loss of some 2025km/h (10-20 mph) through drag. Instead, some bombs were fitted with whistles on the fin to produce thenoise after release.
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