Design and development Dornier Do 335

do-335s on apron @ oberpfaffenhofen @ war s end, including unfinished two-seat versions

the use of nose-mount annular radiator forward engine (much jumo 211-powered ju 88, or jumo 213-powered focke-wulf fw 190d-9) , ventral-fuselage mount airscooped radiator installation cooling rear engine (appearing on p-51 mustang) distinctive. when fitted db 603a engines delivering 1,750 ps (1,287 kw, 1,726 hp) @ takeoff had pair of largest displacement (at 44.52 litres) inverted v12 aircraft engine design mass-produced during third reich s existence. 335 v1 first prototype, bearing stammkennzeichen (factory radio code) of cp+ua, flew on 26 october 1943 under control of flugkapitän hans dieterle, regular heinkel test pilot , later primary dornier test pilot. however, several problems during initial flight of 335 continue plague aircraft through of short history. issues found weak landing gear , maingear s wheel doors, resulting in them being removed remainder of v1 s test flights. 335 v1 made 27 flights, flown 3 different pilots. during these test flights v2 (w.nr 230002), stammkennzeichen cp+ub completed , made first flight on 31 december 1943, again under control of dieterle. new v2 upgraded db 603a-2 engines, , several refinements learned test flights of v1 further windtunnel testing. on 20 january 1944, 335 v3 (w.nr. 230004), stammkennzeichen cp+uc completed , flown first time werner altrogge. v3 powered new pre-production db 603g-0 engines produce 1,900 ps (1,400 kw) @ take-off , featured redesigned canopy included twin rear-view mirrors in blisters, 1 in each of 2 matching side panels of well-framed, eleven-panel main canopy s openable section. following flights of v3, in mid january 1944, rlm ordered 5 more prototypes (v21–v25), built night fighters. time, more 60 hours of flight time had been put on 335 , reports showed handling, more importantly, fast aircraft, described generalfeldmarschall erhard milch himself ...holding own in speed , altitude p-38 , not suffer engine reliability issues . 335 scheduled begin mass construction, initial order of 120 preproduction aircraft manufactured dwf (dornier-werke friedrichshafen) completed no later march 1946. number included number of bombers, destroyers (heavy fighters), , several yet developed variants. @ same time, dwm (dornier-werke münchen) scheduled build on 2000 335s in various models, due delivery in march 1946 well.

on 23 may 1944, hitler, part of developing jägernotprogramm directive, took effect on 3 july, ordered maximum priority given 335 production. main production line intended @ manzell, bombing raid in march destroyed tooling , forced dornier set new line @ oberpfaffenhofen. decision made, along rapid shut-down of many other military aircraft development programs, cancel heinkel 219 night fighter, used db 603 engines, , use production facilities 335 well. however, ernst heinkel managed delay, , ignore, implementation, continuing produce examples of 219a.

at least 16 prototype 335s known have flown (v1–v12, w.nr 230001-230012 , muster-series prototypes m13–m17, w.nr 230013-230017) on number of db603 engine subtypes including db 603a, a-2, g-0, e , e-1. first preproduction 335 (a-0s) starting w.nr 240101, stammkennzeichen vg+pg, delivered in july 1944. approximately 22 preproduction aircraft thought have been completed , flown before end of war, including approximately 11 a-0s converted a-11s training purposes. 1 such aircraft transferred royal aircraft establishment in farnborough, , later, after rear-engine fire burnt through elevator controls during flight, crashed onto local school.