Dornier Do J

Do J Wal

Spanish Dornier Do J "Plus Ultra"
Role	Flying boat
Manufacturer	Dornier Flugzeugwerke
First flight	6 November 1922
Introduction	1923
Retired	1950
Primary user	Spain
Number built	> 250

The Dornier Do J Wal ("whale") was a twin-engine German flying boat of the 1920s designed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The Do J was designated the Do 16 by the Reich Air Ministry (RLM) under its aircraft designation system of 1933.

Design and development

The Do J had a high-mounted strut-braced monoplane wing with two piston engines mounted in tandem in a central nacelle above the wing; one engine drove a tractor and the other drove a pusher propeller. The Do J made its maiden flight on 6 November 1922. The flight, as well as most production until 1932, took place in Italy because of the restrictions on aviation in Germany after World War I under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Dornier began to produce the Wal in Germany in 1931; production went on until 1936.

In the military version (Militärwal in German),^[1] a crew of two to four rode in an open cockpit near the nose of the hull. There was one machine gun position in the bow in front of the cockpit and one or two amidships. Beginning with Spain, military versions were delivered to Argentina, Chile and the Netherlands for use in their colonies; examples were also sent to Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and to the end of production Italy and Germany. The main military users, Spain and the Netherlands, manufactured their own versions under licence. Several countries, notably Italy, Norway, Portugal, Uruguay, Great Britain and Germany, employed the Wal for military tasks.

The civil version (Kabinenwal or Verkehrswal) ^[1] had a cabin in the nose, offering space for up to 12 passengers, while the open cockpit was moved further aft. Main users of this version were Germany, Italy, Brazil and Colombia.

The Do J was first powered by two 265 kW (355 hp) Rolls-Royce Eagle IX engines. Later versions used nearly every available engine on the market from makers like Hispano-Suiza, Napier & Son, Lorraine-Dietrich, BMW, and even the US-built Liberty Engine. The 10 to-Wal used by Deutsche Lufthansa for their mail service across the South Atlantic from 1934 to 1938 had a range of 3,600 km (2,200 mi), and a ceiling of 3,500 m (11,480 ft).

Over 250 Wals were built by CMASA and Piaggio in Italy, CASA in Spain, Kawasaki in Japan, Aviolanda in the Netherlands and Dornier in Germany.

Numerous airlines operated Wals on scheduled passenger and mail services with great success. The source Robert L. Gandt, in 1991,^[2] (pages 47–48) lists the following carriers: SANA and Aero Espresso of Italy; Aero Lloyd and Deutsche Luft Hansa of Germany; SCADTA of Colombia; Syndicato Condor of Brazil; Nihon Koku Yuso Kaisha of Japan. According to Nicolaou,1996 ^[3] the Dornier Wal was "easily the greatest commercial success in the history of marine aviation".

The Colombian Air Force used Wals in the Colombia-Peru War in 1932-1933.

N-24 landed on the ice at New Ålesund

Amundsen's Dornier Do J flying over the Oslofjord, 1925

A Wal at Slite, Gotland, en route to Gdańsk-Stockholm in 1925

Pioneering flights

The Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen accompanied by Lincoln Ellsworth, pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, and three other team members used two Dornier seaplanes in his unsuccessful attempt to reach the North Pole in 1925. His two aircraft, N-24 and N-25, landed at 87° 44' north. It was the northernmost latitude reached by any aircraft up to that time. The planes landed a few miles apart without radio contact, yet the crews managed to reunite. One of the aircraft, the N-24, was damaged. Amundsen and his crew worked for over three weeks to prepare an airstrip to take off from the ice. They shoveled 600 tons of ice while consuming only one pound (454 g) of daily food rations. In the end, six crew members were packed into the N-25. Riiser-Larsen took off, and they barely became airborne over the cracking ice. They returned triumphantly after widely being presumed dead.

Reconstructed Dornier Wal N25 in the Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen

On 18 August 1930, Wolfgang von Gronau started on a transatlantic flight in the same Dornier Wal (D-1422) Amundsen had flown, establishing the northern air route over the Atlantic, flying from Sylt (Germany)-Iceland-Greenland-Labrador-New York 4,670 mi (7,520 km)) in 47 flight hours. In 1932 von Gronau flew a Dornier Wal (D-2053) called the "Grönland Wal" (Greenland Whale) on a round-the-world flight.

In 1926 the captain Ramón Franco became a national Spanish hero when he piloted the Plus Ultra on a trans-Atlantic flight. His co-pilot was Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz; the other crew members were Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant) Juan Manuel Duran and the mechanic Pablo Rada. The 'Plus Ultra' departed from Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, Spain on 22 January and arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 26 January. It stopped over at Gran Canaria, Cape Verde, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. The 10,270 km journey was completed in 59 hours and 39 minutes.

The event appeared in most major newspapers worldwide, although some of them underlined the fact that the airplane itself, plus the technical expertise were foreign. Throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the Spanish aviators were wildly acclaimed, particularly in Argentina and Spain where thousands gathered at Plaza de Colón in Madrid.

In 1929 Franco attempted another trans-Atlantic flight, this time crashing the airplane in the sea near the Azores. The crew was rescued days later by the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle of the British Royal Navy.

The Portuguese military aviator Sarmento de Beires and his crew made the first night aerial crossing of the South Atlantic in a Dornier J named Argos. The crossing was made on the night of 17 March 1927 from Portuguese Guinea to Brazil.

Two Dornier Wals (D-ALOX Passat and D-AKER Boreas) also played an important role in the Third German Antarctic Expedition of 1939.

South Atlantic air mail

A Luft Hansa Dornier Do J II f Bos, registered D-AFAR and named Samum in Bathurst (1938)

The biggest and last versions of the Wal, the eight and ten tonne variants (both versions also known as Katapultwal ^[1] ), were operated by Lufthansa on their South Atlantic airmail service from Stuttgart, Germany to Natal, Brazil.^[4] On route proving flights in 1933, and a scheduled service beginning in February 1934, Wals flew the trans-ocean stage of the route, between Bathurst, the Gambia in West Africa and Fernando de Noronha, an island group off South America. At first, there was a refueling stop in mid-ocean. The flying boat would land on the open sea, near a converted merchant ship. This vessel was equipped with a "towed sail" onto which the aircraft taxied. From there it was winched aboard by a crane, refueled, and then launched by catapult back into the air. However, landing on the big ocean swells tended to damage the hull of the flying boats, especially the smaller 8-tonne Wal. From September 1934 a second merchantman was available, so that Lufthansa now had a support ship at each end of the trans-ocean stage, providing radio navigation signals and catapult launchings. When they did not have to take off from the water under their own power, the flying boats could carry more fuel. Once the incoming mail from Europe had arrived in West Africa (also by Wal from the Canary Islands), the support ship would steam out to sea in the direction of South America for 36 hours before launching the airplane with its catapult. On the return trip a Wal would fly the stage from Natal to Fernando de Noronha, and then be carried out to sea overnight. The same airplane was then catapulted off to fly to West Africa the following morning, i.e. after twelve hours travel on the ship. From April 1935 the ships no longer carried the flying boats out to sea. The Wal was launched offshore, and flew the entire distance across the ocean. This cut the time it took for mail to get from Germany to Brazil from four days down to three.

The first ship converted to a mid-Atlantic refueling stop was the SS Westfalen, a freight and passenger liner which became out-dated for carrying mail and passengers shortly after World War I due to its small size and low cruising speed. The second vessel was the MS Schwabenland. In 1936 a new support ship went into service, the MS Ostmark, which Lufthansa had purpose-built as a seaplane tender.

Wals made over 300 crossings of the South Atlantic in regular mail service (Gandt, 1991, pages 47–48).^[2] The 8-tonne Wal was not a success, only two being built. The six 10-tonne Wals flew the South Atlantic from 1934 until late 1938, although aircraft of more recent design began replacing them from 1937.

From 1925 the French airline Compagnie Générale Aéropostale operated an airmail service on much the same route, from France to Brazil. The mail was flown only as far as Dakar in Senegal, West Africa, and then shipped across the South Atlantic to Natal aboard converted destroyers. The ocean crossing alone took five days, the whole trip eight days. From 1930 Aéropostale began trying to make the ocean crossing by air, but kept on losing planes and crews. Air France, which Aéropostale had become a part of, only began operating an all air service between Europe and South America in January 1936,^[5] nearly two years after Lufthansa. That the Germans had succeeded in establishing the world's first regular intercontinental airline service where Aéropostale had failed, was due in no small part to the sturdy and seaworthy Wal and its reliable BMW engines.

(This section is based on 'Graue & Duggan',^[6] Gandt ^[2] and Nicolaou.^[3] )

Variants

Data from:^[7]

Do J Kas Wal: 2x Hispano-Suiza engines. Transport and military flying boat.
Do J Wal: 2x Rolls-Royce Eagle IX engines. Transport and military flying boat. Exported to Argentina, Chile and the Soviet Union.
Do J Wal: 2x Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines. Transport and military flying boat. Exported to Yugoslavia.
Do J Wal: 2x Lorraine-Dietrich engines. Transport and military flying boat. Used in the Netherlands East Indies
Do J Wal: 2x Renault engines
Do J Wal: 2x Farman 12Wer engines.
Do J Wal: 2x Napier Lion V engines
Do J Wal: 2x Rolls-Royce Eagle engines. Passenger carrying flying boat.
Do J Wal: 2x Isotta-Fraschini Asso
Do J Wal: 2x Fiat A.22 R engines.
Do J Gas Wal: 2x Gnôme-Rhöne Jupiter engines.
Do J Bas Wal: 2x BMW VI engines
Do J II Wal: 2x BMW VI engines
Do J II Wal: 2x Siemens Jupiter engines
Do J II Bas Wal: 2x BMW VI engines. Passenger carrying flying boat.
Do J IIa Bos Wal: 2x BMW VI engines. Post carrying flying boat.
Do J IIaK Bos Wal: 2x BMW VI engines. Used for catapult-launched Atlantic crossings.
Do J IIb Bos Wal: 2x BMW VIIa engines. "Grönland"-Wal.
Do J II Ses Wal: 2x Siemens Sh 20 engines. Wal
Do J IId Bis Wal: 2x BMW VI engines.
Do J IId Bis Wal: 2x Curtiss Conqueror To Colombia
Do J II 16a Bis Wal: 2x BMW VI engines. - Dornier Do 16
Do J IId Wal: 2x BMW VI engines. - Militär-Wal
Do J IIe 16 Bos Wal: 2x BMW VI engines
Do J IIf Bos Wal: 2x BMW VI U engines
Do O Wal: "Atlantico" c/n 34 and "Pacifico" c/n 35 built by CMASA in Italy. Used for an expedition to South America in 1924. Shipped to and assembled on the island of Curaçao. Sold to Sindicato Condor and later to Varig. Still in use, 1936.
Do 16: re-designation of J II military Wal aircraft

Operators

Argentina

Argentine Naval Aviation

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Denmark

Royal Danish Navy

Germany

Condor Syndikat

Italy
Japan
Netherlands

Dutch Naval Aviation Service

Norway
Portugal

Portuguese Air Force

Soviet Union

Soviet Air Force

Spain

Switzerland
United Kingdom
Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Yugoslav Royal Navy

Accidents and incidents

3 December 1928: a Syndicato Condor Dornier Wal registration P-BACA, crashed in Guanabara Bay while attempting to avoid a collision with another aircraft of the same company, during a celebratory flight upon the arrival of Alberto Santos Dumont in Rio de Janeiro. Ten passengers and four crew members died. This was the first accident with an aircraft registered in Brazil that had victims other than the crew and that received wide media coverage.^[8]^[9]
11 September 1931: a Syndicato Condor Dornier Wal registration P-BALA, while taking-off from Potengi river in Natal, collided with a boat. Three crew members died.^[8]^[10]

Specifications (Do J Wal RR Eagle engines)

General characteristics

Crew: Three
Capacity: 8-10 passengers
Length: 17.25 m (56 ft 7 in)
Wingspan: 22 m (72 ft 2 in)
Height: 5.62 m (18 ft 5 in)
Wing area: 96 m² (1,030 sq ft)
Empty weight: 3,630 kg (8,003 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 7,000 kg (15,432 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Eagle IX V-12 water-cooled piston engines, 265 kW (355 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 185 km/h (115 mph; 100 kn)
Cruising speed: 145 km/h (90 mph; 78 kn)
Range: 800 km (497 mi; 432 nmi)
Service ceiling: 3,500 m (11,483 ft)
Rate of climb: 1.5 m/s (300 ft/min)
Time to altitude: 3,000 m (9,843 ft) in 33 minutes

References

1 2 3 Das Flugzeug im Zeppelin-Konzern und seinen Nachfolgebetrieben, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag Tübingen, Berlin & Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen 2006 ISBN 3-8030-3316-0
1 2 3 Gandt, Robert L. CHINA CLIPPER - The Age of the Great Flying Boats, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis Maryland 1991 ISBN 0-87021-209-5
1 2 Stéphane Nicolaou FLYING BOATS & SEAPLANES A History from 1905, Bay View Books Ltd Bideford Devon 1998 (English translation, originally published in french - copyright ETAI, Paris 1996)
↑ "First Transatlantic air line", February 1933, Popular Science
↑ Harold G. Dick with Douglas H. Robinson "The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships" Smithsonian Institution Press Washington D.C 1985 ISBN 1-56098-219-5 Page 166
↑ James W. Graue & John Duggan "Deutsche Lufthansa South Atlantic Airmail Service 1934 - 1939", Zeppelin Study Group, Ickenham, UK 2000 ISBN 0-9514114-5-4
↑ "Dornier H Falke". Germany. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
1 2 Pereira, Aldo (1987). Breve história da aviação comercial brasileira (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Europa Empresa Gráfica e Editora. p. 130.
↑ Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "Destinos trágicos". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928-1996 (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. pp. 18–21. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
↑ Germano da Silva, Carlos Ari César (2008). "Destinos trágicos". O rastro da bruxa: história da aviação comercial brasileira no século XX através dos seus acidentes 1928-1996 (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS. p. 21. ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dornier J.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plus Ultra.

Dornier Wal Documentation Center
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other1/doj.html
"Flyers Of The Sea", October 1931, Popular Mechanics
"Dornier H Falke". Germany. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
Дорније Do J

Dornier and Zeppelin-Lindau aircraft

Zeppelin-Lindau 1914-1919	Rs.I Rs.II Rs.III Rs.IV C.I C.II CS.I CL.II D.I GS.I V1

Dornier designations 1919-1933	Do A Do B Do C Do D Do E Do F Do G (project) Do H Do J Do K Do L Do N Do O Do P Do Q Do R Do S Do T Do U Do V Do X Do Y Delphin Komet Libelle Merkur Spatz Wal

RLM designations 1933-1945	Do 10 Do 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Do 16 Do 17 Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Do 25 Do 26 Do 29 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217 Do 317 Do 318 Do 335 Do 417 Do 435 Do 635 P.59 P.85 P.174 P.184 P.192 P.231 P.232 P.238 P.247 P.252 P.254 P.256 P.273 P.1075

Dornier designations post-1945	Do 24 Do 25 Do 27 Do 28 Do 29 Do 31 Do 32 Do 34 Do 128 Do 132 Do 228 Do 231 328 328JET 428 528 728JET 928JET Aerodyne Alpha Jet Projekt 621 Seastar S-Ray 007

See also Claudius Dornier and Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen

Reich Air Ministry aircraft designations

1 to 100	B 9 Gö 9 Do 10 Do 11 Wn 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Wn 15 Do 16 Wn 16 Do 17 Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Kl 25 Do 26 Kl 26 M 27 Do 29 Kl 31 Kl 32 W 33 L 33 W 34 Kl 35 Kl 36 HD 37 HD 38 G 38 DFS 39 BV 40 DFS 40 A 40 Fw 42 He 42 Fw 43 HD 43 Fw 44 He 45 He 46 Ju 46 Fw 47 Ju 47 K 47 A 48 He 49 Ju 49 He 50 A 50 He 51 K 51 Ju 52 K 53 NR 54 Fw 55 NR 55 Fw 56 Fw 57 Fw 58 He 58 He 59 He 60 Ju 60 Fw 61 He 61 Fw 62 He 62 He 63 Ar 64 He 64 Ar 65 He 65 Ar 66 He 66 Ar 67 Ar 68 Ar 69 He 70 He 71 He 72 He 74 Ar 76 Ar 77 Ar 79 Ar 80 Ar 81 Ju 85 Ju 86 Ju 87 Ju 88 Ju 89 Ju 90 Ar 95 Ar 96 Fi 97 Fi 98 Fi 99 He 100

101 to 200	Al 101 Al 102 Al 103 Fi 103 Fh 104 Kl 105 Kl 106 Kl 107 Bf 108 Bf 109 Bf 110 He 111 He 112 He 113 He 114 He 115 He 116 Hs 117 He 118 He 119 He 120 Hs 121 Hs 122 Hs 123 Hs 124 Hs 125 Hs 126 Hs 127 Hs 128 Hs 129 Hs 130 Bü 131 Hs 132 Bü 133 Bü 134 Ha 135 Ha 136 Hü 136 Ha 137 BV 138 Ha 139 Ha 140 BV 141 BV 142 BV 143 BV 144 Go 145 Go 146 Go 147 Ju 147 Go 149 Go 150 Kl 151 Ta 152 Kl 152 Ta 153 Ta 154 BV 155 Fi 156 Fi 157 Fi 158 Fw 159 Ju 160 Bf 161 He 162 Bf 162 Bf 163 Me 163 Me 164 Fi 166 FK 166 Fi 167 Fi 168 He 170 He 172 He 176 He 177 He 178 Bü 180 Bü 181 Bü 182 Ta 183 Fl 184 Fl 185 Fw 186 Ju 186 Fw 187 Ju 187 Ju 188 Fw 189 Fw 190 Fw 191 Ao 192 DFS 193 DFS 194 Ar 195 Ar 196 Ar 197 Ar 198 Ar 199 Fw 200

201 to 300	Si 201 Si 202 DFS 203 Si 204 Fw 206 Me 208 Me 209 Me 209 (1943) Me 210 Hü 211 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217 Hs 217 He 219 He 220 BV 222 Fa 223 Fa 224 Ao 225 Fa 225 BV 226 Ho 226 FGP 227 DFS 228 Ho 229 DFS 230 Ar 231 Ar 232 Ar 233 Ar 234 Do 235 BV 237 BV 238 Fw 238 Ar 239 Ar 240 Go 241 Go 242 Go 244 BV 246 Ju 248 BV 250 Fw 250 Ho 250 Ho 251 Ho 252 Ju 252 Fi 253 Ho 253 Ta 254 Ho 254 Fi 256 Sk 257 Fw 261 Me 261 Me 262 Me 263 Me 264 Fl 265 Me 265 Fa 266 Ho 267 Ju 268 Fa 269 He 270 We 271 Fw 272 He 274 He 275 He 277 He 278 He 280 Fl 282 Fa 283 Ta 283 Fa 284 Fl 285 Ju 286 Ju 287 Ju 288 Ju 290 Me 290 As 292 Hs 293 Hs 294 Hs 295 Ar 296 Hs 296 Hs 297 Hs 298 Fw 300

301-	Me 309 Me 310 Do 317 Do 318 He 319 Me 321 Ju 322 Me 323 Me 328 Me 329 Fa 330 DFS 331 DFS 332 Fi 333 Me 334 Do 335 Fa 336 Fl 339 E.340 WNF 342 He 343 Rk 344 So 344 Go 345 DFS 346 Rk 347 Ba 349 Ju 352 Me 362 Me 364 Ju 388 Ju 390 Fw 391 Ar 396 Ta 400 Me 409 Me 410 Do 417 He 419 ZMe 423 Ar 430 Ka 430 Ar 432 Do 435 Ar 440 Ju 452 Me 462 Ju 488 Fw 491 Me 509 Me 510 He 519 ZSO 523 Ar 532 Do 535 E.555 Me 609 Ar 632 Do 635

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