Dornier Do-26

Do 26 V6

The Do 26 was originally produced for Lufthansa as a mailplane cap-able of flying non-stop between Lisbon and New York. A complete break with previous Dornier flying boat designs, the Do 26 VI, which flew for the first time on May 21, 1938, used a cantilever wing housing retractable stabilizing floats and four 600-hp Jumo 205C diesel engines in tandem pairs. The forward engines drove normal tractor propellers, but the rear pair drove pushers by means of extension shafts which could be raised through 10 degrees to keep the three-blade metal propellers clear of spray during takeoff. The V2, with 800-hp 205D engines, was completed by early 1939, and together with the V1 underwent extensive trials with Lufthansa. Three Do 26s, stressed for catapult launching from support ships, had been ordered by Deutsche Lufthansa in 1937, and the first of these was flown on 21 May 1938. Two of the three were completed before the outbreak of World War II and delivered to the airline under the designation Do 26A. They were never used as intended, across the North Atlantic, and made just 18 crossings of the South Atlantic.

The four-passenger B-series prototype, the V3, was still under construction at the start of the Second World War in September 1939 and was taken over by the Luftwaffe along with three eight--passenger C-series prototypes, the V4, V5 and V6.

The Luftwaffe ordered the last four to be adapted as Do 26D dual-role long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, with a 20-mm (0.79-in) MG 151 cannon in a powered bow turret, two glazed blisters amidships each mounting a single MG 15 machine-gun, and a third MG 15 below the rear hull. Along with the V2 prototype, the four converted machines were used during the invasion of Norway on supply and communications oper-ations in and out of the narrow fjords. On May 28, 1940, two Do 26s were shot down by Hurricanes of 46 Squadron, RAF, in Rombaksfjord while attempting to land. No further Do 26s were built. After the operations in Norway the remaining Do 26s were withdrawn from front-line service. They continued to operate on communications tasks until the lack of spares and servicing problems necessitated their withdrawal from service.

The V1 and "A" model had 205E engines. The sole "B" model, which was destroyed by RAF Hurricanes early in the war, had 205Ea engines and the "C" model had 205D engines.

Do 26 V6
Engines: 4 x Jumo 205C, 440kW / 600 hp
Wingspan: 30.0 m / 98 ft 5 in
Length: 24.5 m / 80 ft 5 in
Height: 6.9 m / 22 ft 8 in
Wing area: 120.0 sq.m / 1291.67 sq ft
Gross weight: 22 500 kg (49 604 lb)
Empty weight: 10200 kg / 22487 lb
Maximum speed: 324 km/h (201 mph)
Cruise speed: 310 km/h / 193 mph
Ceiling: 4600 m / 15100 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 9000 km / 5592 miles
Crew: 4