The unconventional layout of the Do-335 – one engine “pulling” in the nose and another “pushing” in the tail – was patented by Claudius Dornier in 1937. The configuration provided the power of two engines, but with reduced drag and better maneuverability. The German Aviation Ministry (RLM) was interested in the design, but initially wanted Dornier only to produce bombers. By 1942, Dornier was still continuing design work and the war situation was worsening. The Luftwaffe now needed a multi-purpose fighter, and the prototype Do-335V-1 (“V” indicating “versuchs” or “experimental”) flew in fighter form in September, 1943 – six years after its conception. Orders were immediately placed for 14 prototypes, 10 A-0 preproduction aircraft, 11 production A-1 single-seaters, and 3 A-10 and A-12 two-seat trainers.
The aircraft was large for a single-seat fighter, with a cruciform tail and a tricycle landing gear. The two liquid-cooled Daimler-Benz DB-603 engines were used in four different versions, each displacing 44.5 liters (2670 cu in) and weighing 910 kg (2006 lb). The engine produced 1750 hp from 12 cylinders in an inverted V layout using fuel injection and an 8.3:1 compression ratio. The rear three-bladed propeller and dorsal fin were jettisoned by explosive bolts in an emergency, to allow the pilot to bail out safely using a pneumatic ejection seat. The seat, inclined 13 degrees to the rear, was ejected with a force of 20 times gravity. The ventral fin could be jettisoned for a belly landing.
Unlike a normal twin-engined aircraft, with wing-mounted engines, loss of an engine on the Do-335 did not cause a handling problem. Even with one engine out, speed was a respectable 621 kph (348 mph). Because of its appearance, pilots dubbed it the “Ant eater” (“Ameisenbar”), although they described its performance as exceptional, particularly in acceleration and turning radius. The Do-335 was very docile in flight and had no dangerous spin characteristics. Many Do-335 prototypes were built, as the Reich strained desperately to provide day and night fighters and fast reconnaissance aircraft to the failing war effort. One of the many RLM production plans, issued in December 1943, called for the production of 310 Do-335s by late 1945. Initial production was at the Dornier Manuel plant, but this factory was bombed heavily in March-April, 1944, and the Do-335 tooling was destroyed.
Powered by a pair of DB-603E liquid-cooled engines arranged in tandem, it has attained a speed in excess of 500 mph with both 12-foot, 3-blade propellers in operation. Operating on one engine, it can move along at a 350¬mph for several minutes.

A big airplane by any standard, the 335 weighs more than 18,000 pounds with standard equipment and loading, topping 22,000 pounds in certain sub-types. With wing span and length of approximately 45 feet, it was originally built as a single seater only to emerge during the last year of war with a pig-a-back seating arrangement for training and reconnaissance utilization.
The Dornier has a wing loading of 41 pounds per square foot in the standard model, wing load¬ing of 35 pounds per square foot in one high altitude type. However, interchangeability of armament and equipment brought wide divergence in gross loading on various mis¬sions.
With a 520-gallon main tank installed behind the pilot’s compartment, two wing tanks, two drop tanks, and a bomb bay fuel cell, the aircraft carried a total of 1,000 US gallons of gasoline for a range of approximately 2,400 miles. With internal and external belly tanks removed, the Do-335 carried a single 1,000 kg, two 500 kg bombs, or ten 70 kg anti-personnel missiles in the bomb bay, along with one 250 kg bomb in each drop-tank shackle. The full fighter installation included one 30-mm gun firing through the propeller hub, one 20-mm gun on each side of the nose cowling within the propeller arc, and one 20- or 30-mm gun in each wing. Pilots were well-protected with a bullet-resistant glass windshield and cockpit enclosure, and an armored bulkhead between cockpit and main fuel tank.
The trapezoidal wing, built around a heavy spar, has stressed metal skin, squared tips with detachable corners, leading edge de-icer, stowage for master unit of remote indicating compass, hydraulic tanks, oxygen bottles. On the A-6 version, radar antennae are mounted outboard on each wing. The all-metal monocoque fuselage is distinguished only by circular radiator in the nose, jettisonable mounting for rear propeller, cushioned stringers for hollow shaft to rear propeller, and explosive canopy release. In two-place models, the extra seat is above the leading edge of the wing and faces into the fuselage, with only the fuel tank separating this seat from the rear engine.
The the Pfeil was never encountered in operations, although available in small numbers as the Do 335 A-1 single-seat fighter (with a maximum speed of 763km/h), Do 335A-6 two-seat night fighter and Do 335 B-series heavy fighter and night fighter towards the end of the war.
It was the fastest production piston-engined fighter ever built, attaining 846 kilometers per hour (474 mph) in level flight at a time when the official world speed record was 755 kph (469 mph). Powered by two 1800-hp engines in a unique low-drag configuration.

Gallery

Dornier Do-335A-1 Pfeil
Wingspan: 13.8 m (45 ft. 3.33 in.)
Length: 13.85 m (45 ft. 5.25 in.)
Height: 5 m (16 ft. 4.75 in.)
Weight empty: 7,400 kg (16,314 lb.)
Max speed: 763 kph.

Dornier DO 335 A-02 Pfeil (Ameisenbär)
Length : 45.604 ft / 13.9 m
Height : 16.404 ft / 5.0 m
Wingspan : 45.276 ft / 13.8 m
Wing area : 414.414 sq.ft. / 38.5 sq.m
Max take off weight : 20969.6 lb / 9510.0 kg
Weight empty : 16317.0 lb / 7400.0 kg
Max. speed : 395 kt / 732 km/h
Service ceiling : 37730 ft / 11500 m
Wing load : 50.64 lb/sq.ft / 247.0 kg/sq.m
Range max fuel : 1161 nm / 2150 km
Range w/max.payload: 1100 km / 684 miles
Engine : 2 x Daimler Benz DB 603A, 1726 hp / 1800kW
Crew : 1
Armament : 1x MK 103 30mm, 2x MG 151, 500kg Bomb. int. , 2x 250kg Bomb. ext.

Do-335A-6
two seat night fighter.

Do-335A-12
two seat trainer.

Do 335 Production List

Do 335V series prototypes, 14 aircraft built at Friedrichshafen, mid 1943 to mid 1944, and tested at Mengen.

Model: Do 335V-1
Code: CP+UA
Werk Nr: 230001
Notes: 1st prototype. DB603A-1 engines. FF 28.10.43

Model: Do 335V-2
Code: CP+UB
Werk Nr: 230002
Notes: to Rechlin, rear engine caught fire, w/o 15.04.44

Model: Do 335V-3
Code: CP+UC/T9+ZH
Werk Nr: 230003
Notes: A-4 prototype, to Ob.d.L.

Model: Do 335V-4
Code: CP+UD
Werk Nr: 230004
Notes: Do 435 prototype, not completed

Model: Do 335V-5
Code: CP+UE
Werk Nr: 230005
Notes: 1st with armament fitted, A-2 engines

Model: Do 335V-6
Code: CP+UF
Werk Nr: 230006
Notes: Dornier development a/c, hit by bomb

Model: Do 335V-7
Code: CP+UG
Werk Nr: 230007
Notes: Junkers Jumo 213A & E testbed, Dessau

Model: Do 335V-8
Code: CP+UH
Werk Nr: 230008
Notes: Daimler-Benz DB603E-1 testbed, Stuttgart

Model: Do 335V-9
Code: CP+UI/V9
Werk Nr: 230009
Notes: A-0 prototype, to Rechlin May 1944

Model: Do 335V-10
Code: CP+UK
Werk Nr: 230010
Notes: A-6 prototype night ftr with SN-2 radar

Model: Do 335V-11
Code: CP+UL/11
Werk Nr: 230011
Notes: A-10 prototype trainer

Model: Do 335V-12
Code: CP+UM
Werk Nr: 230012
Notes: A-12 prototype trainer

Model: Do 335V-13
Code: RP+UA/13
Werk Nr: 230013
Notes: B-1 prototype, to France for tests

Model: Do 335V-14
Code: RP+UB/14
Werk Nr: 230014
Notes: B-2 prototype, destroyed

Do 335A-0 pre-production batch, 10 aircraft built at Oberpfaffenhofen July-Oct 1944.
One example converted to A-4 standard.

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PG/101
Werk Nr: 240101
Notes: DB603A-2 engines, at Rechlin July 1944

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PH/102
Werk Nr: 240102
Notes: sole survivor, to USAAF as FE 1012, now at NASM

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PI/103
Werk Nr: 240103
Notes: to Ob.d.L. late July 1944

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+IJ/104
Werk Nr: 240104
Notes: to Erkdo 335 Sept 1944

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+IK/105
Werk Nr: 240105
Notes: to Erkdo 335 captured by US at Lechfeld 4.45

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PL/106
Werk Nr: 240106
Notes: to Erkdo 335

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PM/107
Werk Nr: 240107
Notes: to Erkdo 335

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PN/108
Werk Nr: 240108
Notes: to Erkdo 335

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PO/109
Werk Nr: 240109
Notes: to Erkdo 335

Model: Do 335A-0
Code: VG+PP/110
Werk Nr: 240110
Notes: to Erkdo 335 Oct 1944

Do 335A-1 production batch. 11 aircraft built at Oberpfaffenhofen, plus 9 aircraft part assembled, Nov-April 1945.

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 113
Werk Nr: 240113
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240161
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240162
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 240163
Werk Nr:
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240164
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240165
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240166
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240167
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240168
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240169
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code:
Werk Nr: 240170
Notes: Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 01
Werk Nr: 240301
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 02
Werk Nr: 240302
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 03
Werk Nr: 240303
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 04
Werk Nr: 240304
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 05
Werk Nr: 240305
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 06
Werk Nr: 240306
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 07
Werk Nr: 240307
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 08
Werk Nr: 240308
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-1
Code: 09
Werk Nr: 240309
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-2
Code:
Werk Nr:
Notes: project only

Model: Do 335A-3
Code:
Werk Nr:
Notes: project only

Do 335A-4 10 aircraft scheduled Jan-Feb 1945, only 4 part assembled at Oberpfaffenhofen.

Model: Do 335A-4
Code: 10
Werk Nr: 240310
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-4
Code: 11
Werk Nr: 240311
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-4
Code: 12
Werk Nr: 240312
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Model: Do 335A-4
Code: 13
Werk Nr: 240313
Notes: Partly assembled Captured by US

Do 335A-6 none assembled, Heinkel Vienna factory bombed out.

Do 335A-10 aircraft built at Oberpfaffenhofen.

Model: Do 335A-10
Code: 111
Werk Nr: 240111
Notes: flew late Nov 1944. Captured by US at Oberpf.

Model: Do 335A-10
Code:
Werk Nr: 240114
Notes: not completed

Do 335A-12. 2 aircraft built at Oberpfaffenhofen, plus 2 aircraft part assembled.

Model: Do 335A-12
Code: 112
Werk Nr: 240112
Notes: Air Min 225, to RAE, w/o 18 Jan 1946

Model: Do 335A-12
Code: 121
Werk Nr: 240121
Notes: to England, w/o 13 Dec 1945

Model: Do 335A-12
Code: 122
Werk Nr: 240122
Notes: not completed, scrapped by US

Model: Do 335A-12
Code:
Werk Nr:
Notes: Partly assembled

Do 335B series prototypes. 6 aircraft part assembled at Oberpfaffenhofen.

Model: Do 335B-2
Code: RP+UB 14/18
Werk Nr: 240118
Notes: B-2 replacement proto, to France with CEV until 4.6.48

Model: Do 335V-15
Code: RP+UC 15/19
Werk Nr: 240119
Notes: B-1 2nd prototype to Lwe 2.45

Model: Do 335V-16
Code: RP+UD 16/20
Werk Nr: 240120
Notes: B-2 2nd prototype night ftr with FuG 218

Model: Do 335V-17
Code: RP+UE 17/16
Werk Nr: 240116
Notes: B-6 prototype to France w/o Autumn 45

Model: Do 335V-18
Code: RP+UF 18/17
Werk Nr: 240117
Notes: B-6 2nd prototype night ftr to Lwe 2.45

Model: Do 335V-19
Code: RP+UG 19/15
Werk Nr: 240115
Notes: B-3 prototype not completed

Model: Do 335V-20
Code:
Werk Nr:
Notes: B-7 prototype not completed

Model: Do 335V-21
Code:
Werk Nr:
Notes: B-8 prototype not completed

Model: Do 335V-22
Code:
Werk Nr:
Notes: B-8 2nd prototype not completed

The Do 217 was one of the few completely new bombers to enter service with the Luftwaffe after the start of the Second World War. Though similar in configuration to the much earlier Do 17 series, it had a totally different structure and was much larger and more powerful. Like the contemporary Fw 190, the Do 217 was an all electric aircraft.

Dornier Do-217 Article

The first prototype, the Do 217 VI, first flew in August 1938. Developed from the basic Do 17 design but was stressed for heavier loads and had a dive brake fitted in the tail which opened out like an umbrella when the aircraft was used as a dive bomber but, With two 1150 hp DB 601 engines, was underpowered. Several prototypes followed, with the Jumo 211 of similar power, until the V7 of 1939 found more power with two of the 1550 hp BMW 139 radials. The Do 217 V7 abandoned the dive brake fitted in the V1 which had rarely been used since the bomber was better suited for level attacks than dive bombing. This engine was not put into production and the Do 217 changed to the heavier but more powerful BMW 801, rated at 1600 hp. Dornier had prolonged difficulties in achieving acceptable flying qualities and clearing the Do 217 for level and dive bombing, torpedo dropping, minelaying and later, reconnaissance, ground attack, anti-shipping strike and night fighting. The problem of poor handling was partially solved by the addition of fixed slots along the leading edges of the twin fins.

The first production version was the Do 217E, which was powered by two BMW 801A engines and armed with one fixed MG 151 and one flexible MG 151 machine-gun in the nose; one MG 131 in a manually operated dorsal turret; one MG 131 in a lower rear-firing position; and two MG 15s in lateral-firing positions.

In most versions a crew of four was accommodated, close together but in fair comfort, in the nose compartment. The wing had hot air de icing and accommodated flexible fuel cells between the spars, which passed through the top of the fuselage above the extremely large bomb bay. Early sub-types had a unique petal type dive bombing airbrake forming a long tailcone, but this was fairly soon abandoned.

The E-2 sub-version was similar but had an electrically operated turret, while the E-5 had attachments under the outer wings for two Hs 293 glider bombs for attacking convoys – special equipment for controlling these bombs was installed in the fuselage. Various armament schemes were fitted to prototypes and the E 0 and E 1, but the first major sub type, the E 2, had a fixed MG 151/15 forward firing cannon, an MG 131 in the dorsal turret, an MG 131 aimed manually from the lower rear and two to four 7.92 mm (0.312 in) MG 15 aimed from nose and beam windows. The Do 217E 2 was initially intended as a dive bomber and was fitted with an umbrella dive brake, and carried a 1000 kg (2200 lb) bombload.

Subsequent bomber versions had MG 81 machine guns in place of the MG 15, often in neat pairs; the R19 Rfistsatze pack (field modification kit) added four MG 81 firing aft in the tail. The bombload was typically 4000 kg (8818 lb), including about 1500 kg (3307 lb) hung externally. Most versions had a bomb bay long enough to accommodate two torpedoes internally. All early versions had 1580 hp BMW 801A or 801M engines with fan cooling and multiple fishtail exhausts.

A handful of E 0, E 1 and E 2 versions saw action over Britain in 1940 41, mainly with KG 40. The impressive capability of the 217 was marred by the structural and control hazards attendant upon steep dive bombing, and this technique was soon erased from the 217’s repertoire. The elimination of this role tended to accentuate the importance of the work already in hand in early 1941 for the development of air launched guided missiles for use against ships and similar important targets.

A Dornier Do 217E-4 was equipped with a Gerat 104 (104 device), prewar experimental design for an airborne anti-shipping gun. It was a recoilless gun firing a 635 kg (1400 lb) armour piercing shell. The gun was slung in the bomb bay and could be swung out when the Do 217 went into an attack.

The Dornier Do 217E 5 was the final production model of the E series and was designed to carry the Henschel Hs 293 rocket powered radio controlled glide bomb on pylons outboard of the engine nacelles. Do 217E 5s saw action with the Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean against the Royal Navy, US Navy and co belligerent Italian warships

The first missile to reach operational service was the Henschel Hs 293, weighing 1045 kg (2304 lb), which became operational with 11/KG 100 based at Cognac in August 1943.The Henschel missile was carried, two at a time, by the Do 217E 5, which was otherwise changed only by addition of the radio guidance equipment. Two days after the introduction of the missile, 11/KG 100 attacked and sank the corvette HMS Egret. Substantial numbers of E series bombers served on the Eastern Front from 1942, while the only Do 217 Geschwader(wing) to remain in the West, Kg 2, lost 65 of its original 88 crews between May and September of that year in sporadic missions against Britain.

On 9 September 1943 Italian Admiral Bergamini’s battleship and flag ship Roma (46,215 tons) was intercepted by 12 Do.217K-2 carrying Fritz X (SD 1400X) glide bombs. Shortly after 3:30pm the Roma was hit by two FX 1400 and torn in two. Admiral Bergamini and the 1254-man crew went down with the ship. Hitler and Goring were not informed of the FX 1400 because General Adolf Galland did not want Hitler any further pretext for increasing bomber production at the expense of fighter planes.

The Do 217K V1, the prototype of the K series which was flown with a single fin and rudder assembly. The K1 had an R25 tail housing to take the Perlon braking parachute which became a standard feature in later models. Though intended as a night bomber the K series could carry four L5 torpedoes or FX 1400 Fritz X stand off glider bombs. With the Do 217K 1 a more capacious crew compartment was introduced, being a redesigned deeper and more rounded nose. Most of this series had the 1700 hp BMW 8011), and the extra power enabled the wing of the K 2 version to be extended to 24.8 m (81 ft 41 in) to lift two of the formidable 1567 kg (3455lb) FX 1400 radio controlled free fall missiles on racks under the inner wings. The K was the fitting of a battery of four fixed rearward-firing MG 81 machine-guns in the tail-cone. Major Bernhard Jope’s III/KG 100 became operational with the FX missile on the Do 217K 2 in the late summer of 1943. They worked up at Graz, moved to Istres (Marseilles) and were ready when the Italian fleet sailed from La Spezia to join the Allies on September 9, 1943. Six K 2s sank the flagship, Roma, which went down with all 1255 men, and crippled Italia. Later Jope himself hit HMS Warspite and his unit sank or damaged other Allied ships during the Salerno landings.

The Do 217J was a somewhat hastily contrived night fighter, some being rebuilt ‘E’ series bombers with heavy nose armament and with light bombs in the rear bomb bay. The J 2 had Lichtenstein FuG 202 (sometimes and/or FuG 212) airborne radar, with a different arrangement of guns and the bomb bay filled with ammunition. The Do 217J 2 had a solid nose mounting four 20mm MG FF cannon, four 7.92mm MG 17 machine guns. The upper and lower rear guns of the E-2 were retained. Most of the ‘J’ series were passed to the Italian Regia Aeronautica (later Aviazione della RSI, after the September 1943 armistice) to help defend Milan and Turin by night.

A modest production run of Do 217M bombers in 1943 had the 1750 hp DB 603A engine, while a nightfighter conversion of this model was the 217N. Some of the N series, such as the N 2/R22, had four MG 151 cannon firing steeply upwards at an angle usually near 70′ in the so called ‘Schrdge Musile’ scheme.

The Do 217P was planned as a high altitude reconnaissance bomber with pressurized cabin for the crew of four and two DB 603B engines fed with boosted mixture by a vast supercharger in the fuselage driven by a DB 605T. The Do 217P O was a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, though it could carry two 500 kg (1100 lb) bombs on underwing racks or two 900 litre (198 Imp gal) auxiliary tanks. It carried one Rb 20/30 camera and two Rb 75/30 as a reconnaissance aircraft, but a minimum of defensive armament principally because it flew out of range of enemy fighters. Although the P looked knobbly and bristled with engine inlets, radiators and intercoolers, it could fly at over 15 240 m (50 000 ft) and exceed 585 km/h (363 mph). The remaining 217P development aircraft were stripped of their pressurization and put into service as Do 217R missile carriers armed with the Hs 293. First flown in June 1942, this version failed to enter production.
Total production of the Do 217 was only 1905. Of these, 1541 were offensive, the other 364 being night fighters.

Gallery

Do 217 E
Engines: 2 x BMW 801
Span: 19 m (62 ft 4 in)

Do 217 E-2
Engines: 2 x BMW 801
Span: 19 m (62 ft 4 in)
Gross weight: 15000 kg (33069 lb)
Maximum speed: 515 km/h (320 mph)

Do 217 J
Engines: 2 x BMW 801
Span: 19 m (62 ft 4 in)

Do 217 K
Engines: 2 x BMW 801
Span: 19 m (62 ft 4 in)

Do 217 K-2
Engines: 2 x BMW 801

Do 217 M
Engines: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 603
Span: 19 m (62 ft 4 in)

Do 217N
Prop: four blade
Wingspan: 62 ft 4 in
Length: 58 ft 9 in
Speed: 320 mph at 18,700 ft
Ceiling: 31,170 ft
Range: 1550 miles
Armament: 4 x 20mm cannon, 4 x 7.9mm mg, 1 x 13mm mg
Crew: 3

Do.217N-2
Engines: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 603A, 1720 hp
Wingspan: 62 ft 4 in
Length: 62 ft
Height: 16 ft 4.75 in
Empty weight: 22,665 lb
Combat weight: 29,101 lb
Max speed: 320 mph at 19,685 lb
Cruise: 264 lb
Service ceiling: 29,200 ft
Range: 1090 mi
Armament: 8 x 20mm MG 151 cannon / 4 x 7.9mm MG 17
Radar: FuG 202/212 or SN-2