The Soviet fleet, after entering in the second-half of the 20's in a period of restoration, decided to acquire shipborne aircraft. On December 4, 1922 Jfa received an order from the Soviet government for a total of 100 aircraft - 20 J20s, 50 J21s and 30 J22s. The first of these machines were being assembled during August 1923. The first example was a J.20, accepted onboard the battleship “Commune of Paris”.  This was the float equipped all-metal monoplane, built at Fili.

The J20 floatplanes, which became known as Ju 20s (10-20) in the USSR, were delivered during the winter of 1923--1924 to two Morskoye Razvedivatelnye Aviatsionnye Otryady (Naval Reconnaissance Squadrons). One was formally handed over to the Red Air Fleet in Leningrad on March 30, 1924 and christened Krasnyi Treugol'nik. Twelve days earlier, it had been exhibited outside the plant with the same name, where the 8,000 workers had collected the money for its purchase. This became a normal practice throughout the 1920s. A great number of aircraft were financed by (more or less) voluntary public subscriptions. One Ju-20 was tested with a ski undercarriage and in 1925 one was equipped with a 310hp Junkers L5 engine for tests.

At the end of 1925 17 Ju 20s remained in service with the Red Air Fleet. Except for some 60 second-line aircraft, the only other first-line equipment at this time was 31 Savoia S.16bis flying-boats. Additional Ju 20s were purchased later, one in 1925 and 20 in 1926, but these were almost certainly built at Dessau, just assembled and finished at Fili. They were stationed in the Leningrad and Black Sea areas. The 1st Morskoi Razvedivatel'nyi Aviaotryad at Oranienbaum, not far from Leningrad which was headed by B G Chukhnovskii, was probably the first unit to receive the Junkers floatplane. In 1930 the Ju 20 was replaced by the MR-1, a floatplane version of the R-1, which was a copy of the de Havilland DH 9A At this time the first Heinkel HD55 and Savoia S.65 flying-boats were also delivered.

The Ju 20 was transferred to Dobrolet for civil utility work. At the end of 1930 only five unserviceable machines remained with the military. Late 1930, one aircraft (CCCP-225), was used in support of the fishing industry, searching for fish shoals in the Caspian Sea. This was an experiment, but the operation was considered successful. In 1931 three aircraft based at Moscow were used for photographic duties. A few also served with Komseverput' until 1933 for ice observation over the White Sea. In August 1925 B G Chukhnovskii and 0 A Kal'vits flew two Ju 20s over a distance of some 2,000km (1,242 miles) from Leningrad via Arkhangelsk to Novaya Zemlya. They were sent there to aid a hydrographic expedition with ice reconnaissance and other observation flights.
Type Two seat reconnaissance floatplane ( could have skis or Wheels)
Engine 1 BMW IIIa
Dimensions Length 8,30 m, height 3,21 m, span 15,35 m, wing area 32,00 m2
Weights Empty 1113 kg, flying weight 1593 kg
Performance Max. speed 181 km/h, cruising speed 158 km/h, range 800 k, service ceiling 5000 m
Armament 2  7,62 mm machinegun