Leviathans and Behemoths

CXXI

Claude Dornier

Claude Dornier (1884-1969) was a major designer of German aircraft. Born of a French mother and a German father, Claudius Honore Desire Dornier was raised in Germany, attended school in Germany, and largely ignored his French roots. As a young man he studied engineering and metallurgy, eventually going to work for Zeppelin Luftschiffbau Gmbh., under the personal direction of Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin himself. Dornier provided von Zeppelin with much of the research on early duraluminium (later duralumin) and helped perfect the strong and supportive cruciform tail structure that was a signature of DELAG’s Luftschiffen. 

When DELAG began to expand its interests into fixed-wing heavier-than-air-craft, Dornier led the way, eventually establishing an eponymously-named independent corporation. Dornier Aircraft Works shared space with DELAG in Friederichshafen, shared resources and workers, and shared testing grounds like Lake Constance (Bodensee).   Dornier was thus drawn into designing flying boats, the first of which, the Dornier Gs, saw combat duty in World War I. Dornier also built numerous War Zeppelins in conjunction with DELAG.  

The Dornier Gs was a World War I-era flying boat. The Allies destroyed all the Gs aircraft in 1919, shortly after World War I

Claude Dornier, who had been a protégé of Graf von Zeppelin, helped build war zeppelins during World War I

Under the terms of the postwar Treaty of Versailles, Germany could have very limited heavy manufactures. This crippled DELAG, which was expressly forbidden from building any more zeppelins. Wisely, Dornier moved his factories to Italy and Spain (though his headquarters remained in Friederichshafen) and he was able to continue to develop aircraft, all of which were civilian but most of which could easily be converted to military use.  

The first and most successful successful Dornier flying boat was the Do. J, of 1922, usually called the Wal (“Whale”) which went through numerous iterations. It was used for expeditionary flights, military purposes, and commercial flights by sixteen separate countries. Germany used the interwar Wals to provide international passenger flights to cities like Copenhagen, Christiana (Oslo), Riga, Tallinn, and Memel (Klaipeda)  after DELAG pulled its smaller zeppelins from service in the face of the Great Depression.

The last Wals were retired at the incredibly late date of 1950, meaning that the Wal had served, dependably, for nearly three decades, all around the world. 

The Wal was a surprisingly advanced aircraft for its day. Dornier set the engines back-to-back in a housing above the wing and used huge three-bladed propellers in his 1922 prototype. He also replaced pontoons with seawings or sponsons. They doubled as fuel tanks and floatation devices, gasoline being lighter than water

Roald Amundsen used a Wal during his 1925 North Pole expedition. The Wal could land on sea or ice

Wals were amazingly adaptable, which is why they were used everywhere from the Amazon basin to the Arctic sea. Here, a Wal is being sailed to safety after a dual engine failure

As the Wal evolved, it grew additional engines (here, four).  Four-engine models were called “Sperm Whales” or “Super Whales.”  The engine housing grew larger too. On some Wals the housing actually had space for the flight engineers to monitor the engines

A six-engine Do. 24, designed for air-sea rescue. It was, in all respects, another iteration of the Wal.  Dornier claimed that 12,000 lives were saved by the Do. 24. It was also used as a fighter-bomber by Nazi Germany

The Do. 26 “Sea Eagle” was used exclusively by Nazi Germany as a support craft in seaborne invasions like that of Norway

The Graf Zeppelin and a Wal at Lake Constance (Bodensee), near DELAG’s and Dornier’s shared headquarters

For most men, the success of the Wal would have been sufficient, but Dornier wanted more. Specifically, he wanted a flugschiff , a flying ship that could carry at least 100 passengers in ocean liner or zeppelin-like comfort across the seas.

The Dornier X (Do. X) lifting off from Biscayne Bay in Miami

A cutaway view of the Do. X

Dornier’s Do. X (the "X" stood for "Experimental" not "Ten") was the result. The largest flying boat constructed in the interwar period, the Do. X carried 169 passengers (including seven stowaways) on its maiden voyage in 1929. Her length overall was 131’ 4”. Her wingspan was 157’ 5”. The Do. X had twelve engines arranged back-to-back in a pusher-puller configuration. She had three full decks. She was furnished throughout in an opulent style, including smoking rooms, lounges, and several private cabin suites complete with lavatories. 

Two views of the main passenger lounge aboard the Do. X

Dornier was clearly attempting to compete with Britain’s Imperial Airways, with Cunard, and even with DELAG in terms of opulence, and in that regard he succeeded. But despite his desire that the Do. X be the largest, most powerful, most far-ranging flying craft in the world with the largest passenger capacity, the Do. X fell far short of its promise.

Lady Grace Drummond-Hay and Kurt Wiegand were habitual zeppelin travelers. They made every one of the Hindenburg’s 1936 flights and the 1929 Worldflight of the Graf Zeppelin. They also flew the Do. X, but not on its own much-publicized, unlucky and incomplete 1930-1932 Worldflight

Sadly, the thing flew like an anvil. The Do. X could lift 123,400 pounds, and she could cruise at a comfortable 122 miles per hour, but fully equipped and fueled, her load-to-tare ratio was a pathetic 27:73 (she was officially rated at 52:48, but this was without her machinery and interiors installed). Despite her engine array she was grossly underpowered and she strained to stay aloft. Most of her useful weight was consumed by aviation fuel, which her twelve thirsty engines drank like a stew bum on a New Year’s Eve bender. The engines themselves had a bad tendency to overheat and catch fire in flight, and her canvas-covered wing always risked destruction. Dornier built the wing with access crawlspaces for the mechanics so that they could make repairs to the engines while in flight. Touted as a safety feature, this really indicated how unsafe the Do. X could be. Her LOA-to-Wingspan ratio gave her a nearly ovoid top silhouette, and she had a range of 1,056 miles --- certainly not enough for transoceanic flight.

A Do. X passenger cabin. The couches could unfold, futon-style, for sleep

Dornier wanted to prove however that the Do. X was suitable for long-range travel, so he reconfigured the interior on one of his three Do. X’s. He added additional fuel tanks, as well. 

Aping Dr. Hugo Eckener of DELAG, who had circumnavigated the Graf Zeppelin in 1929, Dornier announced his own Worldflight in 1930. 

It was hardly a Worldflight worthy of remembrance. The Do. X took off from Friedrichshafen on November third of 1930. The planned route took the Do. X to the Netherlands, England, France, Spain, and Portugal. The plane suffered the first and most major of several wing fires while in Lisbon.Grounded for repairs, she did not cross the bar of the Tagus until January.  

The bridge of the Do. X resembled that of a ship or a zeppelin (below)

 

The Chief Engineer’s panel managed all twelve engines. The pilots communicated with the engineer via telegraph as on a ship or a zeppelin

Winter weather, hull damage, and a series of other more minor mishaps and equipment failures further delayed her flight. It took the Do. X until June of 1931 to reach the Cape Verde Islands, only 1,800 miles away (and three hours flying time today). 

From Praia in the Cape Verdes, the Do. X hopped over to Natal in Brazil, a distance of 1603 miles during which the Do. X rarely exceeded 100 feet in altitude. Skimming just above the wave tops, the flying ship could take advantage of the ground-effect cushion of air beneath it to aid its lift and save on fuel. The few times she climbed higher than 100 feet were the few times she crossed paths with sea vessels --- to avoid collisions. 

The huge Do. X drew huge crowds wherever it flew. The crew conducted constant tours. There were less than 30 passengers on most legs of the Worldflight

The Do. X in Rio de Janeiro

In Natal and in Rio de Janeiro, the crewmembers of the Do. X were treated as conquering heroes, due in large part to the enthusiastic response of local German emigres.  She spent a long time in Rio, due mostly to an engine fire which necessitated extensive repairs. She then lumbered northward via San Juan and Miami, reaching New York on August 27, 1931, nine months after leaving Frederichshafen.

The Do. X on the Miami waterfront

The Do. X crosses The Battery in New York. Claude Dornier had hoped to sell the Do. X to Pan American and other U.S.-based airlines. Juan Trippe, for one, was utterly disinterested in the Germans' flying ship. No one else placed any orders either

The big plane wintered in New York, open to tours and undergoing replacement of all twelve engines. It did not return to Berlin until May 24, 1932, via Newfoundland and the Azores. It had taken 17 months to circuit the North Atlantic, and the rest of the world remained beyond the reach of the Do. X. 

The Do. X in the East River, New York

The Do. X passes the Statue of Liberty

Of the three Do. X models, the first was the smallest and the lightest. Both the Do. X2 and Do. X3 as they were designated were flagged in Italy (where they were built) and they were used mostly as display planes. Both were scrapped in 1937.  The first Do. X ultimately became the last. She was destroyed in 1943 during an RAF bombing raid. 

By that time, she was a white elephant, and Dornier was building fighter planes and bombers for the Luftwaffe.

 

The Do. X spent nine months in New York City at North Bay Field (now LaGuardia Airport) being refitted for her flight home. Note that all twelve engines have been removed

After World War II, Dornier continued building planes. In 1984, Claude Dornier’s grandson Conrado Dornier created the Seastar, a direct descendant of the Wal.