Let Let Let – Warplanes

Next it was used for a large promotional tour covering Europe, the Atlantic Ocean and South and North America and back to Europe again. This tour was started on 5 November 1930 from Lake Constance to Amsterdam where the plane landed late in the afternoon just before sunset at Schellingwoude. From here it flew to the naval air base at Calshot on the south coast of England. Next, it flew to Lisbon but here the plane’s left wing was destroyed in a fire. It was repaired locally by Dornier technicians and it resumed its flight tour on 31 January 1931 to the Canary island Las Palmas. From here it made a further flight to the African coast and next a trans-pacific crossing to Rio de Janeiro where it arrived on 20 June 1931. From Brazil the Do-X continued its flight following the coast of the continent and later it crossed the Caribbean to Miami -Florida. It arrived here on 22 August 1931. Four days later it reached the harbour of New York. From here another trans-pacific crossing was made via the Azores to Portugal again and finally back to Berlin where it arrived on 24 May 1932. After another promotional tour in Germany in 1932 the Do-X was damaged after a hard landing on the Donau river near Passau. Instead of being repaired and made airworthy again, it was partly dismantled and transported to Berlin for permanent display in the Deutsches Museum. It was destroyed here during the last period of the war by an allied bombing raid.

A rare and never published private shot of the Do-X with a Dutch fishing boat sailing on the background during its visit on 5 and 6 November at Amsterdam-Schellingwoude

During the promotional world flight of the Do-X it raised much interest of the Italian government. Italy placed an order for two additional Do-X boats, known as Do-X2 and Do-X3. They only differed from the first one with their engines, for which the 610 hp Italian Fiat A.22R liquid-cooled engine was selected. The Do-X2 made its first flight from Altenrhein on 16 May 1931. On 28 August 1931 it was flown to Italy by a mixed German/Italian crew. The Do-X3 followed on 13 May 1932. Both planes were based at the Cadimare seaplane station near La Spezia where they were flown under the supervision of the Italian Air Ministry. After some demonstration flights in Italy, they were used for training and transport flights. They were withdrawn from flying status in 1935 and later scrapped. Do-X2 carried the civil registration I -REDI and was named ‘Umberto Madalana’ ; Do-X3 was registered as I-ABBN and carried the name ‘ Alessandro Guidoni’.

The Do-X in flight near Schiphol airport. This photo was taken from the Fokker C-V reconnaissance plane \'618\' flown by Lt. F. van Bremen and Lt. D.S. Asjes, who escorted the flying boat

Technical details first Do-X:

Engines: 12 Siemens Jupiter radial engines of 525 hp each; later replaced by 12 Curtiss Conqueror liquid-cooled engines of 640 hp
Wing span: 48.00 m
Length: 40.10 m
Height: 10.10 m
Max. speed: 210 km/h
Service ceiling: 400 m in fully loaded condition.
All-up weight: 48 000 kg

Dornier Do-S

Initiated as a successor of the 4-engine Superwal and as a more realistic smaller version of the giant Do-X propaganda flying boat the Dornier Do-S was of all-metal construction with for engines placed in tandem nacelles on top of the high wing. Only the vertical fin, rudder and control surfaces were fabric covered. The hull was divided in two levels. The lower level was for the passengers. In total the Do-S had a capacity for up to 30 passengers. The flight deck for the crew of four was at the second level in the centre section of the hull. The pilot and co-pilot were stationed in an open cockpit. The board mechanic and navigator-wireless operator had a fully enclosed accommodation. The Do-S made its first flight on 23 September 1930. It was exhibited at the Paris air show in December 1930 and made an extensive promotional tour after the exhibition but in spite of its modern looks Dornier failed to find any customers and only one was built carrying the civil registration D-1967. The single Dornier S was finally delivered to the Verkehrsfliegerschule at List on the isle of Sylt, who also operated the single Heinkel He-57 Heron.

The lesser known Dornier Do S

Related posts:

1. German flying boats Part 2: 1935-2000
2. Dutch flying boats and amphibians
3. French flying boats and amphibians
4. Dornier Do-28 amphibian for the MLD
5. Vanneau history

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