Role Fighter-bomber
National origin Nazi Germany
Manufacturer Dornier Flugzeugwerke
First flight 26 October 1943
Introduction 1944
Retired 1945
Status Retired
Primary user Luftwaffe
Produced 1944–1945
Number built 37
The origins of the Do 335 trace back to World War I when Claude Dornier designed a number of flying boats featuring remotely driven propellers and later, due to problems with the drive shafts, tandem engines. Tandem engines were used on most of the multi-engine Dornier flying boats that followed, including the highly successful Do J Wal and the gigantic Do X. The remote propeller drive, intended to eliminate parasitic drag from the engine entirely, was tried in the innovative but unsuccessful Do 14, and elongated, tubular drive shafts as later used in the Do 335 saw use in the rear engines of the four-engined, twinned tandem-layout Do 26 flying boat..
The first 10 Do 335 A-0s were delivered for testing in May. By late 1944, the Do 335 A-1 was on the production line. It was similar to the A-0 but with the uprated DB 603E-1 engines of some 1,324 kW (1,776 hp) take-off power rating apiece on 87 octane "B4" lignite-derived synthetic fuel, and two underwing hardpoints for additional bombs, drop tanks or guns. It had a maximum speed of 763 km/h (474 mph) at 6,500 m (21,300 ft) with MW 50 boost, or 686 km/h (426 mph) without boost, and climbed to 8,000 m (26,000 ft) in under 15 minutes. Even with one engine out, it reached about 563 km/h (350 mph).
Delivery commenced in January 1945. When the United States Army overran the Oberpfaffenhofen factory in late April 1945, only 11 Do 335 A-1 single-seat fighter-bombers and two Do 335 A-12 trainers had been completed. The two-seater trainer version was called Ameisenbär ("anteater").
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Only one Do 335 survives, the second preproduction Do 335 A-0, designated A-02, with construction number (Werknummer) 240 102, and factory radio code registration, or Stammkennzeichen, of VG+PH
The first 10 Do 335 A-0s were delivered for testing in May. By late 1944, the Do 335 A-1 was on the production line.
Conceived as a competitive aircraft the Bf 108 would take part in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.