Dornier Do 217
The Dornier Do 217 was a World War II medium bomber designed from scratch as a replacement for the venerable Dornier Do 17.
Dornier recognized shortcomings of its fast Dornier Do 17 well before the war. With Junker's new Junkers Ju 88 prototype being superior to the Do 17 in every way, Dornier decided to make a new bomber better then its Do 17, and its Ju 88 competition. The new aircraft, the Do 217, was externally similar to the Do 17, but was in fact a completely different aircraft. It first flew in 1938. The combat version flew in late 1939, and it entered combat duty in the closing days of the Battle of Britain.
In almost every way, the Do 217 was a success. It could carry double the bomb load further than both the Ju 88 and the He 111. It was also very fast, matching the speed of the Ju 88. It was Germany's largest bomber for several years until the Heinkel He 177 was finally safe enough to use. Do 217's sank the Italian battleship Roma with Fritz X missiles when it fell into Allied hands.
However, the Do 217 had some quite serious flaws. It was at the limit in terms of size that a twin engined bomber could be with the engines available. Unlike its agile cousin Do 17, this aircraft was difficult to fly. Stability issues were always a problem, and it always seemed to lack powerful engines.
Like its cousin and Ju 88, it was used in a variety of different variants and roles, including night fighter, another sign that Germany desperately needed fighters over bombers, something the Ju 88 was better at doing. Production stopped in late 1944 in favour of fighters.
Today, only a few fragments of the Do 217 exist . Like its younger cousin, this major type in the service of the Luftwaffe is a fading memory.
