Warbird Information Exchange

Are any Do 335's on display. The NASM website seemed to indicate they have one, but were unclear if it was on display or storage. Gotta love CLT!

I saw it in storage at the Garber facility about 8 years ago. It wasn't restored or anything else at that time. Very rough shape.

Here's some info,

Today, the sole remaining example of this unique type is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Do 335A-0 VP+GH (Wk Nr. 240102) was one of the two examples evaluated at the US Navy's Patuxent River Test Center in 1945. Thereafter, it languished in open storage for 27 years in the grounds of the NASM storage facility at Silver Hill. In October 1974 the decaying airframe was flown back to Munich, for a complete restoration by Dornier Aircraft at Oberpfaffenhofen (then building Alphajets). The magnificently restored aircraft was first displayed at the Hannover Airshow, 1-9 May 1976, and then loaned to the Deutches Museum, Munich, for a several years before returning to the NASM.

http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/profile/d335top.htm

http://www.squadron13.com/do335/DO335.htm

Regards,
Mike

against the scale of the people in the pic, i didn't realize it was so big, let alone so tall!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

It's an impressive beast, here is a shot I took when it was on display in Munich about 1984.
It is now at the new Dulles facility and I will be doing a page on it, including period photos for the next CW.

Dave

Back in the sixties the plane was in giant crate with most of the fusalage exposed. The best part was that you could see the swastikaon the tail very clearlyIt was very exciting to a group of 11 year olds. It resided alongside one of the buildings that was behind a row of stores in Silver Hill. We used to ride our bikes over and stare at it through the fence. You could also see the nose section of a B-24 in the weeds and the plane (Caroline) that JFK used in his 60s campaign.

It always perplexed me why the nazis and or germans (not necessarily one an the same) kept the radial cowling concept with an inline engine. (eg. do335., FW190D-9 and above/TA-152).

You think after developing the me-262 they would have incorporated better aerodynamics

regards,

t~

Is it not an annular radiator? As on the FW190D-9?

I found this full-scale replica being built in Germany on airliners.net - I wonder if they've finished it yet??

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/674218/L/

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Cheers

Daz

Spitfire replicas - http://www.spitfirebuilder.4t.com

Spitfire replica discussion group -
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I found this page which gives quite a good insight into the history of the 335.

I remember reading about it in Pierre Clostermann's The Big Show some years ago, and wondering how scary this thing would be in combat - its performance was said to be staggering for a prop-driven fighter of the period!

http://aeroflt.users.netlink.co.uk/profile/d335top.htm

_________________
Cheers

Daz

Spitfire replicas - http://www.spitfirebuilder.4t.com

Spitfire replica discussion group -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spitfirereplicas/

Look at the numbers - round fronts are fastest. Depending on sources, there's argument about what was absolute fastest, but as the Bearcat, Sea Fury and Dornier Do-335 were all at the top end of the speed and performance stakes for piston fighters (the Dornier may be arguable on dogfighting, as it was never properly tested in this field, but it's straight line speed was among the best) round fronts were obviously OK.

What 'better' aerodynamics for pistons are there? Even today at Reno, there's little to choose between Sea Furies, Bearcats and Mustangs. In fact, the pointy Mustang is the most aerodynamically modified airframe (at Reno) of the three.

Regards

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Raven

Weren't Mustangs in the minority on the leaderboard this year?

_________________
Cheers

Daz

Spitfire replicas - http://www.spitfirebuilder.4t.com

Spitfire replica discussion group -
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raven quote


huh, interesting. I guess if you put enough horsepower infront (or behind to as in the case of the DO) of anything than it would be faster. Bearcat does have more hp and empty weight is less than p-51. Sea Fury is q pig but look at the ponies and yet the P-51 top end is still listed as the highest.

One could only think that IF an inline put out those same HP levels with the aid of better aerodynamics then it would outperform the radials. Just an assumption as I'm no engineer or "rocket scientist" by far!

Specs graciously taken from www.warbirdalley.com.

Specifications (F8F-1B):
Engine: 2,100hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W Double Wasp 18-cylinder radial piston engine
Weight: Empty 7,070 lbs., Max Takeoff 12,947 lbs.
Performance:
Maximum Speed at 19,700ft: 421mph
Cruising Speed: 163mph
Initial Climb Rate: 4570 feet per minute

Specifications (P-51D):
Engine: One 1,695-hp Packard Merlin V-1650-7 piston V-12 engine
Weight: Empty 7,125 lbs. Max Takeoff 12,100 lbs.
Wing Span: 37ft. 0.5in.
Length: 32ft. 9.5in.
Height: 13ft. 8in.
Performance:
Maximum Speed: 437 mph

Specifications (Sea Fury FB.Mk 11):
Engine: One 2,480-hp Bristol Centaurus 18, 18-cylinder radial piston engine.
Weight: Empty 9,240 lbs., Max Takeoff 12,500 lbs.
Wing Span: 38ft. 4.75in.
Length: 34ft. 8in.
Height: 15ft. 10.5in.
Performance:
Maximum Speed: 435 mph

Anyone have the drag coef. for the above mentioned?

regards,

t~

I'm personally wary of published numbers. The numbers I'm thinking of are Reno winners, and what was achieved in service. Messy, but real.

Given that the Tempest was available in radial Mk.II version as well as inline (with a darn great rad, admittedly) and there wasn't much performance advantage...

And the P-47 had an inline version...

And the CAC CA-15 was designed with a radial but switched to inline for reasons of convenience...

And Mustangs are topping out (it seems) at Reno, while Bears and Furies are good for a bit more (again, it seems)...

And there's a few other top end piston fighters that switched either way (such as the Ki-61 / Ki-100) I think that in reality, there's not a lot in it. It's what you did with what you had, rather than round or pointly front.end.

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Raven

None of this really matters since these aircraft were not designed exclusively for top speed.

Neither for that matter are the Reno racers. They must turn as well without losing too much speed.

Cooling drag (and thrust) is much easier to control with a liquid cooled engine and inline engines typically have a smaller frontal area than a radial. A smaller airframe takes a lot less power to drag though the air.

The radials keep up by brute force alone due to their larger displacement. They make horsepower much more easily.

Also, since money and preparation are big factors in air racing, that is probably more important than is whether a radial or inline engine is used.

An aircraft that came with both a radial and an inline engine is probably not a fair assessment either since it was originally designed/optimized for one type then fitted with the other. Think of putting an R-2800 on a Mustang- how would that look? Could you optimize that airframe for the new engine? Probably not in my opinion.

Here is a shot I took at Silver Hill back in the summer of 1972.

PeterA