VG+PH
"PFEIL" (ARROW)
CFS3 - V4.00.164
This aircraft was built by GregoryP using the Version 4.00.164 AvHistory 1% Assembly Line process. The 1% version of this plane is based on the stock MS/CFS3 visual which has been repainted.
John BRAVO/4 Whelan's excellent historical paint represents the Do 335A-O, W.Nr 240102, VG+PH. This aircraft was the second pre-production A series to be completed. It is also the only surviving example of the Do 335. The Arrow VG+PH is currently in storage at the Paul Garber facility of the Smithsonian Institute NASM in the USA. The aircraft, due to its size, has been disassembled for ease of storage due to the limited space available at the facility.
The Dornier Do 335 Arrow was one of the most unusual fighters of the Second World War.
Equipped with two Daimler-Benz V-12 engines, the most powerful available at the time, it was probably the fastest propeller driven aircraft of the period. With one engine mounted conventionally in the nose driving a propeller at the front of the aircraft and one engine buried mid-fuselage driving a rear mounted propeller, it had the aerodynamic characteristics of a single-engine fighter yet the power of a twin.
The prototype Do 335 V1, W.Nr 230001, CP+UA, made its maiden flight from Dornier's Friedrichhafen plant on 26 October 1943. On the fourth flight the Do 335 V1 attained a speed of 600km/h (373mph) at sea level, it was found that the aircraft could fly faster with the forward engine stopped, than with the rear engine stopped. A speed of 560km/h (348mph) was possible in the former condition.
Perfecting the Pfeil proved to be a long and laborious task and was probably delayed by the skepticism of authorities toward its unusual design. Overheating in the rear engine was but one of the early development problems.
The small production run included 3 versions--a single-seat fighter (335A-1); a 2-seat night fighter (335A-6); and "heavy" fighter (335B- series). Toward the end of the war, a night fighter was also produced. Take-off weight was 21,160 pounds, a little less than P-38's 21,600 pounds. First production version A-1 appeared in late 1944, but the course of the war prevented further development.
Do 335s never saw combat service, though operational evaluation of the Do 335A was carried out from autumn 1944 by Erprobungskommando 335.
BEAR
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