Hugo Junkers was born in Rheydt, Germany, in 1859. He was professor of mechanical engineering at Aachen (1897-1912) and during the First World War became involved in aircraft production. In 1915 he designed the world's first all-metal plane, the Junkers D-I. His ideas were too advanced for his time, and it did not begin production until 1918. He also produced the Junkers CL-I, the best German ground attack plane of the war.

After the Armistice Junkers established his own company, Lufthansa, and his aircraft factories in Dessau, Magdeburg and Stassfurt produced civil and military planes. Hugo Junkers died in 1958.