[3] Early examples of the W 33 had an open cockpit much like the F 13, although it lacked the structural member that divided the pilot and co-pilot, and the corresponding and very distinctive coamings.

[5] Both of these plants had originally been built to avoid Allied post-war restrictions on aircraft manufacturing in Germany following World War One, that had been considerably eased by the time the W 33 was flying.

[8] After World War II, this aircraft was used as a utility transport by the Swedish Air Force's F 2 Hägernäs squadron and in June 1952, it participated in the search and rescue operation during the Catalina affair, in which two Soviet MiG-15s shot down a Swedish Douglas C-47 intelligence aircraft and the Search and Rescue Consolidated Catalina sent out after it.

[11] The Junkers W 33 set numerous records, and one example, named the Bremen, made the first east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic by airplane.

[3] The North Atlantic had previously been crossed by the US Navy Curtiss NC-4 flying boat, with numerous stops, and by Alcock and Brown in 1919 in a Vickers Vimy, nonstop, and by others, but all of these heavier than air aircraft flew the easier west to east route, which had the prevailing winds helping them along with a tailwind.

On April 12–13, 1928, the W 33 D-1167 Bremen was flown by Köhl, von Hünefeld and Fitzmaurice from Baldonnel, Ireland near Dublin into the prevailing winds, to Greenly Island, off the coast of Quebec in the St. Lawrence River, in 37 hours.

Strong winds took them north of their intended destination, which was to have been New York, and they put down near the first settlement they found, but caused minor damage to the aircraft that required some time to repair before they continued.

Schnabele had set another Class C record for duration and distance, while carrying a 500 kg (1,100 lb) load.

[12] A substantially modified W 33 fitted with a radial engine and so sometimes erroneously referred to as a W 34, flwon by Willy Neuenhofen set an altitude record of 12,740 m (41,800 ft) on 26 May 1929.

With Eiichiri Baba flying under the command of Lt. Col. Kiyoshi Honma, and with Tomoyoshi as the radio operator, J-BFUB, named Third Hochi Japan-US departed Sabishiro Beach near Misawa on 24 September 1932 in an attempt to cross the Pacific Ocean to the US, but they disappeared en route.