Once again, apparently simple questions turn out not to have simple answers. Like just about everything else these days, Dornier Do217 references have a few gaps and a fair amount of ambiguous information. In various languages, including German and Japanese.
Looking for a few pictures of the real aircraft modelled by Airfix and a few odd bits of information about the Do217E turned into a real rabbit hole. I now have a small but growing collection of Do217 books, each with its own distinct pieces of the (incomplete) puzzle.
Big in Japan
Let’s start with ‘Famous Airplanes of the World’ No. 145 from Bunrin-Do. Predictably it’s in Japanese, which I can’t read and can’t be arsed to learn. Even though this book might have all the answers, if only I could read the extensive text. Lots of good pictures though, including some nice colour artwork of the cockpit.
I’ve loved FAOW long time, from the first series onwards – they updated some books for the bigger format second series, others unfortunately missed out. A gateway to Koku-Fan magazine, which had unbeatable colour photography in the days when computers had black screens and fuzzy green letters.
Whatever happened to Werk Nummer 1136?
The original Airfix kit had markings RH+EJ – corresponding to this much-photographed early production aircraft with Werk Nummer 1136. According to Aviation Safety Network, an aircraft with this Werk Nummer ended up as a Do217E-4 with 5./KG2, U5+DN. It came down in the sea near (posh) Frinton-on Sea in 1943.
Probably shot down by a nightfighter according to ‘Der Luftkrieg in Europa Teil 2, 1941 – 1945’ by Ulf Balke, which seems to be based on Luftwaffe KG2 records:
There are even some books in English…
‘Do217-317-417’ by Manfred Griehl looks about the best book overall, there’s loads of useful information – in English, which helps. Lots of pictures, interesting stuff about dive brakes etc. Unfortunately this information does not always appear in the most helpful order.
It says here and elsewhere that Do217E-2 aircraft were converted to E-4 standard, but how and when isn’t so clear. And it’s hard to find a straightforward explanation of the E-2 vs E-4 differences, many of which seem to be internal. Like the balloon cable cutter – a reinforced structural element just behind the wing leading edge. Plus a very small ridge below the cockpit and a bit of extra framing on the nose. Easy to spot if you know what you’re looking for and have a good photo of the nose… It describes the E-2 as a bomber while the E-4 is more maritime combat with different armament (typically the MG FF cannon in the nose), extra armour etc. But it’s not 100% clear and there are suggestions that some E-2 aircraft had the MG FF fitted. The author says that a lot of information has yet to be found. No doubt.
‘Warpaint Series No. 24 Dornier Do217’ is in the usual Warpaint format A good selection of b/w photos of all variants, colour side views plus three-view colour pictures of one aircraft, 1/72 plans and a brief history.
Then if you want to go proper old school, there’s ‘Aircraft in Profile’ No. 261, which crams a lot of information into a few pages:
There are rumours of a definitive new Dornier Do217 reference coming soon from Classic. At which point some or all of this may become irrelevant, as long as one has £50 or so to spare.