Dornier Do335- fastest piston engined fighter WW2

[Rick W]

Came across this last night, never heard of it before. Interesting piece of kit.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK8ydLY5Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK8ydLY5QHQ&feature=youtu.beHQ&feature=youtu.be

Edited March 9, 2013 by Rick W
Operator error

[Rick W]

[Pzkpfw-e]

It was fast - 475mph- but very prone to the rear engine overheating & bursting into flame.

The one pictured, the sole survivor, is on display at the NASM.

37 were constructed to some degree, probably 13 completed and a few flown in tests post war.

[timbo]

Also known as the 'Pfeil' which is German for arrow.

 

The Germans came up with some really remarkable (and some downright wacky) designs towards the end of the war, He162, Me163 and 262, and probably most scary of all the vertically launched rocket powered 'natter'.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachem_Ba_349

[Enigma]

Years ago I built a m odel kit of the 335.

Well, I built allmost any experimental German jet/rocket fighter kits available.

[AlienFTM]

I am clearing my recently-deceased father-in-law's estate. He did his National Service in the RAF. He had one or two interesting books that I have borrowed and read, one being about TSR2 and its development and cancellation and various weapon systems, some intended for TSR2 which eventually led to the Tornado GR4; another looks at how close the UK came (weeks) to breaking the sound barrier and 1000 mph in 1946 using the Miles M52, a year before the Americans got through the sound barrier (having acquired their technology by looking at the M52) and ten years before the FD2 (which F-I-L worked on as a plastics scientist) broke 1000 mph. The third book is "Wings on my Sleeve" an autobiography of Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown RN, tagged by Amazon as "The World's Greatest Test Pilot". The latter two are both signed by the author, Eric Brown to F-I-L. But that's neither here nor there.

 

Eric Brown is certainly a legend having flown iirc 487 different types of aircraft, a Guinness World Record (note variants, for example dozens of variants of Spitfire and Seafire count as 1). Not to mention first man to land a jet on a carrier, etc.

 

He went to university in Germany and was interned (briefly) by the Gestapo in 1939. While in Germany he met Hanna Reitsch and Ernst Udet, which ensured his love would always be the aeroplane. When the war started he went straight to join up and by quirk of fate found himself in the Fleet Air Arm. He was a natural for deck landings. When his only (wartime) operational tour was brought to an end by the sinking of his carrier, his obvious skills ensured he was transferred to become a test pilot.

 

At war's end he was sent to the Reich to grab as many German aircraft, technologies, secrets, whatever as possible. And he did tours in the USA. So he flew just about everything, up to at least the F104G.

 

He comments on the Do335. Istr that it had a pilot ejection system that included charges to blow off the tail propellers and part of the cruciform tail so that the pilot did not get decapitated on ejection.

 

I commend the book.

[Enigma]

By the way

The idea of a front and rear propellor was allready tested by Fokker before the war;

http://www.google.nl/#hl=nl&sclient=psy-ab&q=fokker+d23&oq=fokker+d23&gs_l=hp.3..0l2j0i10i30j0i30.2587.7207.0.7413.12.11.1.0.0.0.568.1725.5j4j1j5-1.11.0...0.0...1c.1.5.psy-ab.j-7MXyh9yNc&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43287494,d.d2k&fp=c19cbe147a55f41e&biw=1536&bih=759

 

I own several photo postcards of it.

[mat777]

Interesting. I knew about the aircraft, but didnt know it was faster than an a Hawker Typhoon/Tempest (what is normally touted as the fasted piston plane of WW2)