The all-metal Junkers Ju 523m enjoyed a solid - indeed, revered - reputation amongst its crews and the troops and paratroopers who used and depended on it. For more than ten years, it saw service as a successful military transport, with its distinctive, three-engined design and corrugated metal construction becoming instantly recognisable. It was a mainstay in the Luftwaffe's inventory, first seeing service in the 1930s in bombing and transport operations in the Spanish Civil War, and subsequently during the German invasion of Poland. It then served on every front on which the Luftwaffe was deployed until May 1945.