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Dornier Do J
The Dornier Do J was a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke.
Contents
Design and development
The Dornier Do J (later designated Do 15 and Do 16 by the Reich Air Ministry) was better known as the Wal ("whale").
The Do J was a fairly modern (compared to World War I types) flying boat with a high-mounted strut-braced monoplane wing. Two piston engines were mounted in tandem in a nacelle above the wing and in line with the hull; one engine drove a tractor propeller and the other drove a pusher propeller. The Do J made its maiden flight on 6 November 1922. The flight, as well as most of the production until 1932, took place in Italy because a lot of aviation activity in Germany was prohibited after World War I under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Dornier started producing Whales in Germany in 1931, with the production lasting to 1936.
In the military version, a crew of two to four rode in an open cockpit near the nose of the hull. There were one MG-position in the bow in front of the cockpit and one to two amidships. Beginning with Spain military versions were delivered to Argentina, Chile, the Netherlands for use in their colonies, Yugoslavia, the Sovietunion and to the end of the production Italy and Germany. The main military users -Spain and the Netherlands- build up a license-production in their countries. In other countries the Wal was used for raids as in Italy, Norway, Portugal, Urugay, Great Britain and Germany.
The civil version (Kabinenwal) initially had a cabin in the nose of the hull, with space for up to 12 passengers, and the open cockpit was further aft. Main users of this version were Germany, Italy, Brazil, Colombia.
The Do J was first powered by two 265 kW (355 hp) Rolls-Royce Eagle IX engines. Later versions used nearly every available engine on the market as Hispano-Suiza-, Liberty-, Napier Lion-, Lorraine-Dietrich- und BMW-engines.
The 10 to-Whales Lufthansa used for their mail service across the South Atlantic fom 1934 to 1938 had a range of 3,600 km (2,240 mi), and a ceiling of 3,500 m (11,480 ft).
Operational history
The Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen accompanied by Lincoln Ellsworth, pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, and three other team members used two Dornier seaplanes in his unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole in 1925. His two aircraft, N-24 and N-25, landed at 87° 44' north. It was the northernmost latitude reached by any aircraft up to that time. The planes landed a few miles apart without radio contact, yet the crews managed to reunite. One of the aircraft, the N-24 was damaged. Amundsen and his crew worked for over three weeks to clean up an airstrip to take off from ice. They shoveled 600 tons of ice while consuming only one pound (400 g) of daily food rations. In the end, six crew members were packed into the N-25. In a remarkable feat, Riiser-Larsen took off, and they barely became airborne over the cracking ice. They returned triumphant when everyone thought they had been lost forever.
In 1926 Ramón Franco became a national Spanish hero when he piloted the Dornier Plus Ultra on a trans-Atlantic flight. His co-pilot was Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz; the other crew members were Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant) Juan Manuel Duran and the mechanic Pablo Rada. The Plus Ultra departed from Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, Spain on 22 January and arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 26 January. It stopped over at Gran Canaria, Cape Verde, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. The 10,270 km journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes.
The event appeared in most of the major newspapers world wide, though some of them underlining the fact that the airplane itself plus the technical expertise were foreign. Throughout the Spanish-speaking world the Spanish aviators were glamorously acclaimed, particularly in Argentina and Spain where thousands gathered at Plaza de Colón in Madrid. (Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plus Ultra - see below.)
In 1929 Franco attempted another trans-Atlantic flight, this time crashing the airplane to the sea near the Azores. The crew was rescued days later by the aircraft carrier Eagle of the British Royal Navy.
The Portuguese military aviator Sarmento de Beires and his crew made the first night aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in a Dornier J named Argos. The crossing was made on the night of 17 March 1927 from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil.
Two Dornier Wals (named Passat and Boreas) also played an important role in the Third German Antarctic Expedition of 1939.
Over 250 Wals were built by CMASA and Piaggio in Italy, CASA in Spain, Kawasaki in Japan, Aviolanda in the Netherlands, and Dornier in Germany.
The Colombian Air Force used Dornier Wals in the Colombia-Peru War in 1932-1933.
Operators
- Template:BRA ( Varig, Syndicato Condor )
- Template:CHI
- Template:COL ( SCADTA, Colombian Air Force )
- Template:DEN
- Template:Country data Germany
- Template:Country data Italy
- Template:JPN
- Template:NLD: Dutch Naval Aviation Service
- Template:NOR
- Template:POR
- Template:USSR
- Template:Country data Spain
- Template:SUI
- Template:UK
- Template:Country data Yugoslavia
Specifications Dornier Do J Wal
This aircraft article is missing some (or all) of its specifications. If you have a source, you can help Wikipedia by adding them.General characteristics
- Crew: 3
- Capacity: 8-10 passengers
- Length: 17.25 m (56´ 7`` ft)
- Wingspan: 22,50 m (73´10´´ ft)
- Height: 5.20 m (17´ft)
- Wing area: 96,00 m² ()
- Empty weight: 3.630 kg (8000 lb.)
- Max takeoff weight: 5.500 - 7.000 kg (12.570 -15.400 lb)
- Powerplant: 2× Rolls-Royce Eagle IX V 12-engine, 265 kW (360 hp) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 170 - 185 km/h
- Cruise speed: 145 km/h (91 mph.)
- Range: 800 km normal (500 M.)
- Service ceiling: 3.500 m (11.450 ft.)
- Rate of climb: 33´ to 3.000 m ()
Note and References
Books
- M. Michiel van der Mey: "Dornier Wal a Light coming over the Sea". LoGisma editore, 2005, english, ISBN 88-87621-51-9
- M. Michiel van der Mey: "Dornier Wal Vliegboot". 1986, dutch, ISBN 90-9001445-4
- M. Michiel van der Mey: "Der Einsatz der Heinkel Katapulte". 2002, german
External links
Template:Dornier aircraft Template:RLM aircraft designations
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de:Dornier Wal es:Dornier Do J fr:Dornier Do J it:Dornier Do J ja:Do J no:Dornier Do J pl:Dornier Do J pt:Dornier Do J fi:Dornier Do J vi:Dornier Do J
| This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dornier Do J". |
- Pages with broken file links
- Aircraft without specifications
- German airliners 1920-1929
- German mailplanes 1920-1929
- German patrol aircraft 1920-1929
- Seaplanes and flying boats
- High wing aircraft
- World War II German patrol aircraft
- Dornier aircraft
- Propeller aircraft
- Multiple engine aircraft
- Pusher aircraft
- Push-pull aircraft
- Articles sourced originally from Wikipedia
