The Ju 290 was the only four-engined heavy-duty aircraft used by the Luftwaffe in World War II and was the forerunner of the subsequent transatlantic civil aircraft. In the winter of 1941 the German army encountered the problem of maintaining supplies in sufficient quantities to the combat units. The only way out was the immediate development of the available 4-engined Junkers Ju 90 into a larger and more up-to-date military transport under the designation Ju 290A. One of the features of the Ju 290 was that it had a cargo ramp (the "trapo-Klappe") that could be lowered to enable even tanks to be driven up into the body. In addition the Luftwaffe required a long-range reconnaissance plane to make possible adequate surveillance of the allied convoys. The solution in this case also was the Ju 290, that had a range of over 3,000 km and could remain airborne for over 20 hours. Experience with the pilot-series of the new reconnaissance plane was consolidated in the next series the A-4. After only four aircraft had been built the A-4 series was replaced by the A-5, 11 of which were produced. The majority of these aircraft were used by long-range reconnaissance unit 5 that operated over the Atlantic from Mont de Marsan. Some machines were transferred to the newly formed special unit KG 200. In addition to extensive radio equipment the Ju 290 reconnaissance plane also had the FuG 200 Hohentwiel ship search radar.

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