Customer Reviews

Dornier Do 335: The Luftwaffe's Fastest Piston-Engine Fighter (Classic)

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At the beginning of World War II the ME-109 fighter was arguably the best fighter in the world. (Arguably because of the Spitfire.) Because Hitler believed that the war was going to be short and of course victorious, he didn't push for the development of new and advanced aircraft. It was only when the war progressed in ways that he couldn't have imagined that he began to allow for the development of more advanced aircraft. One of these was the Do 335, a plane with a tractor engine in front and a pusher engine in the rear. The plane never got into volume production with only about 40 prototypes having been produced. It was the fastest piston engine/propeller aircraft produced. This book is its story. While the plane flew, it was never quite finished with problems remaining with rear engine fires, a weak landing gear, an ejection seat that didn't work being the major of it's failures. The war ended before these got fixed, and by then the development was on jet fighters rather than piston powered.

The interesting part about this book is that it is the story of the development of the plane. You see the problems, their solution, the reaching toward a working version.

If you want to see the one remaining plane, it is at the new Smithsonian museum at Dulles Airport.

This latest book on the Do 335 is a concise and interesting look at the development of the what was the world's fastest piston engine fighter. In addition to the expected discussions of mechanical details, a careful reading gives several key reasons as to why such a formidable looking plane, unlike the hopeful and dangerous He 162, was never flown in combat despite all the years of creative effort. The opinion of Adolf Galland, the General der Jagflieger of the Luftwaffe is also noted. Additional discussion of the plane's flying characteristics and reasons behind them would have added significantly to appeal of the book.
For a book like this to be truly successful it must abound in photographs of the featured aircraft, which this one certainly does. In fact, contained within is a high quality print of evidently the only WWII era color photograph of the Do 335 that has yet been published. In this reviewer's opinion the camoflage colors match almost exactly the RLM brown 81 and leaf green 82 as seen in the paint chip samples published in the recent books, Luftwaffe Camouflage & Markings, Volumes 1 and 2 by K. A. Merrick and J. Kiroff. The underside color of the plane however looks to be a pale farbton 76 and not the RLM 65 that was officially designated. Interestingly enough, black and white photos of the same plane show a lot less contrast between the two top shades than one might expect. Check it out!

A book which came after "Monogram Monarch - 2: Dornier Do 335 Arrow", this first Arrow/Pfeil reference book is much more hard to find now.
Written by the same author with an new collaborator, this new book (2006) is a complete history of this astonishing aircraft.
Firstly, Dr Dornier and his first aircrafts with aerodynamic interest for pusher engines, then it describes the complete genesis and known history of every builded Do335 aircrafts till ravings to use new engines,to go farther and faster.
Then, you should be interested by foreign testing and, in the eighties, rebuilding of the last survivor in Dornier factory at Oberpfaffenhofen. The modeler should learn choosing the right colors, the right scheme and what about the few markings visible on this subtle aircraft.
About artworks, I can say that this book present every photo I knew PLUS a (big) lot more which show complete aircrafts or technical/structural details to show/prove what was the reality. You should also find copies of original documents and tables to summarize versions, specifications, production,
The last two chapters are purely technical about structure, mechanisms and equipments. Again some nice shots, a complete handbook's copy and 7 pages of 1/72 drawings come to ascertain, synthesize what is said.

J.Richard Smith had written a clearly reference book about this aeronautic oddness and if you want to know more, the next step for you, should be some work relative to the 120 references he says have been used.

Good coverage on a subject where it is undoubtedly hard to find good material. Should be combined with other books on the Do335 to provide a more comprehensive history.

This entry in the Luftwaffe Classic series (this is #13) is by veteran authors J. Richard Smith and Eddie J. Creek helped out by Gerhard Roletschek. The subject this time is the odd and intriguing Dornier Do 335 fast bomber/heavy fighter/night fighter push/pull aircraft. An unusual choice, since Smith and Creek authored the highly regarded Monogram volume on the same plane but, as always, there is still more to tell.

The books 176 pages follow the standard Classic pattern. It begins with a few pages outlining the career of Claudius Dornier and the company he founded and aircraft he developed. Then the meat of the book - 80 pages describing the development, testing, production, and planned deployment of the aircraft virtually on a plane by plane and day by day basis. There follow brief chapters on related follow on projects, testing by the victorious allies, camouflage and markings, and detailed description. Appendices include reproduction of the original Do 335 flight handbook, some superb scale/perspective/interior arrangement drawings by the wonderful Arthur Bentley, and plastic model kits. Finally, if case you want to dispute any of the authors' conclusions, the text is extensively referenced.

Luftwaffe aircraft do very well in terms of books devoted to them; obscurity seems to make them only more attractive to author and reader alike. If you're interested in German aircraft of the WWII era, you'll love this book. The only caveat is that, along with most books in this series, it presumes a certain familiarity with the way Nazi Germany in general and the Luftwaffe in particular were organized and run; this is not for the complete tyro.

Even if you have the earlier Monogram Smith/Creek Do 335 book you'll want this one as well.