Dornier Do 417

Twin-Engine Medium Fast Bomber [ 1943 ]

Much worked against the Dornier Do 417 medium bomber proposal of 1942 - so much so that the Junkers Ju 188 eventually took its place.

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Envisioned as the Luftwaffe's next standard twin-engine medium bomber during the World War 2 period (1939-1945), the Dornier Do 417 of 1942 did not evolve beyond the paper stage. The service, instead, chose to go the route of the Junkers Ju 188 (which originated as the "Ju 88E") which left the Dornier attempt as nothing more than a footnote in wartime aviation history. Other competing designs by Blohm & Voss (promoting their "Bv P.163") and Heinkel (the "He P.1065") also ended up by the wayside during this same competition.

The Do 417 was to be powered by a pair of BMW 801G series air-cooled piston engines developing 1,770 horsepower each, these used to drive three-bladed propeller units in a conventional arrangement. The whole of the aircraft was rather traditional by mid-war standards with a rounded-edge, slab-sided fuselage, straight mainplane wings, and conventional single-finned rudder tail unit. The mainplanes were shoulder-mounted along the fuselage sides, positioned ahead of midships, and each held an engine nacelle which protruded from the leading edges, terminating just aft of the trailing edges. The wings were capped by rounded tips, a design quality carried across to each of the three tailplanes appendages. A "tail-dragger" undercarriage was to be featured for ground running with all three legs retracting into the aircraft - the main legs at each engine nacelle and the tailwheel under the empennage.

The cockpit was integrated to the fuselage (as in the later production forms of the Heinkel He 111) as opposed to stepped (as in the Focke-Wulf Fw 200). This allowed for exceptional vision out-of-the-cockpit due to the extensive windowed greenhouse framing proposed. Armament positions were planned at the dorsal fuselage line, the ventral fuselage line, and the tail - all emplacements being enclosed. The dorsal and ventral stations were to be fully-fledged turrets (the ventral position possible being remote-controlled) with 360-degree traversal while the tail emplacement would have a pair of flexible gun mountings to thwart attacks originating from the vulnerable rear of the aircraft. In all, the proposed bomber would have been defended by two guns at the dorsal positions, two guns ventrally, and two guns at the tail - for a total of six automatic-firing weapons in any one direction, giving near-complete coverage.

Though technically conceived of for the medium-bomber role, the airframe was to be able to fulfill a variety of over-battlefield roles including fast-reconnaissance at both medium and long ranges, torpedo bombing, and possible as a missile carrier - in essence a multirole design.

Solutions such as torpedoes would have been held in an internal bomb bay with missiles carried externally. For the reconnaissance role, the bomb bay would have been converted to carry a bevy of camera equipment.

While no fixed performance stats of the bomber were recorded (due to it never being built and flown), it was estimated with a top speed of 373 miles-per-hour by its creators.

German authorities thought enough of the promising Do 417 that it selected the Dornier design ahead of the others before the end of 1942. The intent was to construct and test a prototype (the Do 417 V1) at-speed and have the specimen flying as early as August of 1943. The first prototype was to carry BMW 801G engines with the second (V2) to be powered through the proven Daimler-Benz DB 603A type. Barring any catastrophic delays, the aircraft would then enter serial production as soon as April 1944 in an effort to ensure a German victory.

However, all of this came to naught when it was reasoned that an evolved form of an existing design made more sense against the backdrop of a stressful war situation for Germany. The financial and production commitment required to bring about an all-new bomber design held little hope within the confines of Total War. As such, the Junkers Ju 88E took its place and subsequent work on this aircraft begat the Ju 188 (detailed elsewhere on this site).©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Dornier - Nazi Germany
Manufacturer(s)

Nazi Germany (cancelled, not selected)
Operators

1943
Service Year

Nazi Germany
National Origin

Cancelled
Project Status

4
Crew

0
Units

GROUND ATTACK
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

SPECIAL-MISSION: ANTI-SHIP
Equipped to search, track, and engage enemy surface elements through visual acquisition, radar support, and onboard weaponry.

INTELLIGENCE-SURVEILLANCE-RECONNAISSANCE
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

X-PLANE
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.

RUGGED AIRFRAME
Inherent ability of airframe to take considerable damage.

INTERNAL BAY
Fuselage volume includes space for internally-held weapons or special-mission equipment.

HIGH-SPEED PERFORMANCE
Can accelerate to higher speeds than average aircraft of its time.

HIGH-ALTITUDE PERFORMANCE
Can reach and operate at higher altitudes than average aircraft of its time.

EXTENDED RANGE PERFORMANCE
Capability to travel considerable distances through onboard fuel stores.

SUPER PERFORMANCE
Design covers the three all-important performance categories of speed, altitude, and range.

MARITIME OPERATION
Ability to operate over ocean in addition to surviving the special rigors of the maritime environment.

BAILOUT PROCESS
Manual process of allowing its pilot and / or crew to exit in the event of an airborne emergency.

CREWSPACE PRESSURIZATION
Supports pressurization required at higher operating altitudes for crew survival.

CREW-MANAGED
Beyond a pilot, the aircraft takes advantage of additional crew specialized in specific functions aboard the aircraft.

GUN POSITIONS
Defensive gun positions for engagement / suppression.

RETRACTABLE UNDERCARRIAGE
Features retracting / retractable undercarriage to preserve aerodynamic efficiency.

TORPEDO ARMAMENT
Ability to launch / release torpedoes against ocean-going threats / targets.

CAMERA EQUIPMENT
Payload supports photographic equipment providing still and / or real-time image / video results.

48.4 ft
(14.75 meters)
Length

68.9 ft
(21.00 meters)
Width/Span

15.3 ft
(4.65 meters)
Height

30,865 lb
(14,000 kilograms)
Empty Weight

47,917 lb
(21,735 kilograms)
Maximum Take-Off Weight

+17,053 lb
(+7,735 kg)
Weight Difference

monoplane / shoulder-mounted / monoplane
Mainplane Arrangement

Monoplane
Design utilizes a single primary wing mainplane; this represents the most popular modern mainplane arrangement.

Shoulder-Mounted
Mainplanes are mounted at the upper section of the fuselage, generally at the imaginary line intersecting the pilot's shoulders.

2 x BMW 801G air-cooled piston engines developing 1,770 horsepower each driving three-bladed propeller units.
Propulsion

373 mph
(600 kph | 324 knots)
Max Speed

311 mph
(500 kph | 270 knots)
Cruise Speed

+62 mph
(+100 kph | 54 knots)
Speed Difference

31,168 ft
(9,500 m | 6 miles)
Ceiling

1,118 miles
(1,800 km | 972 nm)
Range

1,000 ft/min
(305 m/min)
Rate-of-Climb

MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

ASSUMED:
2 x 13mm heavy machine guns at dorsal turret.
2 x 13mm heavy machine guns at ventral turret (possibly remote-controlled).
2 x 13mm heavy machine guns at flexible tail position.

Internal bomb bay for conventional drop bombs, aerial torpedoes or similar. External hardpoints planned for air-launched air-to-ground missiles.

4
Hardpoints

- - -

X

Hardpoints Key:

Centerline

Wingroot(L)

Wingroot(R)

Wing

Wingtip

Internal

Not Used

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