No suitable replacement was ever forthcoming, dooming the Ju 288 program, and leaving the Luftwaffe with older bomber designs during the second half of World War II.

Prior to the opening of World War II, the Luftwaffe bomber force included three major types, the Dornier Do 17 and Ju 88, both classed as schnellbomber, and the slower but somewhat larger Heinkel He 111.

Although the Ju 88 outperformed the other designs in service, it however possessed adverse characteristics, including its very small internal bomb bay that forced it to carry some of its load externally, degrading performance.

The exclusive use of remotely operated turrets for the Ju 288's defensive firepower allowed them to be positioned more efficiently, as well as eliminating "breaks" in the fuselage pressurization.

No serious work was undertaken on these versions, but after Heinrich Hertel left Heinkel and joined Junkers in 1939, the EF 074 design was submitted to the RLM in May 1939.

A number of companies returned proposals, but these were to some extent a formality, the EF.74 had already been selected as the winner, and of the rest of the designs submitted, only the Focke-Wulf Fw 191 and Dornier Do 317 progressed even as far as prototypes, and the Henschel Hs 130 coming under consideration as a late entrant.

This distinctive type of design required the oleo strut's freely moving top end to rotate physically downwards and aftwards during the rear-swinging retraction of the main "Y-shaped" member, operated by a lever and gear-sector system mounted on the portside of each main gear assembly, operated with a long lever that had its upper end pivoted from a fixed bracket, anchored to the firewall's rear surface.

[citation needed] In 1944, following the cancellation of the 288 program, the surviving A and C series prototypes were hurriedly fitted with defensive armament and equipment and deployed as reconnaissance bombers on the Western Front.