Dornier Do H Falke
| Do H Falke | |
|---|---|
| |
| The WP-1 under test with the US Navy in about 1923 | |
| Role | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Dornier Flugzeugwerke |
| Designer | Claude Dornier |
| First flight | 1922 |
| Primary user | United States Navy |
| Number built | 5[1] |
| Developed from | Zeppelin-Lindau D.I |
| Variants | Kawasaki KDA-3 |
The Dornier Do H Falke (Falcon) was a German single-seat fighter, designed by Claude Dornier and built by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. Although an advanced design for its time, being evaluated by the United States Navy as the Wright WP-1, it did not go into production.[1]
Development
The company started to design a prototype fighter in the early 1920s, based on earlier wartime designs like the Zeppelin-Lindau D.I. It was an all-metal high-wing cantilever monoplane, with the wing above the fuselage on four small struts. It had a conventional cantilever tail unit and a fixed tailskid landing gear. The pilot had an open cockpit just behind the trailing edge of the wing. The aircraft was powered by a Hispano-Suiza piston engine located in the nose. Two aircraft were built by the Swiss subsidiary of Dornier and three by S.D.C.M.P. in Italy,[1] to avoid restrictions on military aircraft production in Germany.[2] It first flew on 1 November 1922, but failed to go into production. One of the Falkes was converted to a floatplane in 1923, powered by a 261 kW (350 hp) BMW IVa V-12 engine, as the Dornier Seefalke.
One Seefalke was shipped to the United States of America by the Wright Aeronautical Company, who fitted it with a licence-built Wright-Hisso H-3 engine. It was evaluated by the United States Navy with the designation Wright WP-1.[2] It performed well, but the Navy considered the monoplane fighter too advanced for its needs.[1]
Operators
Specifications (Dornier-Wright WP-1)
Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1480
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Length: 7.43 m (24 ft 4.33 in)
- Wingspan: 10 m (32 ft 9.75 in)
- Height: 2.66 m (8 ft 8.75 in)
- Wing area: 20 m2 (215.29 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 825 kg (1,819 lb)
- Gross weight: 1,213 kg (2,674 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Wright-Hisso H-3 V-8 piston engine , 239 kW (320 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 261 km/h (162 mph, 141 kn)
- Range: 350 km (217 mi, 189 nmi)
See also
Related lists
Notes
- ^ a b c d "Dornier H Falke". Germany. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
Bibliography
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, (Part Work 1982-1985), Orbis Publishing
- Andrade, John. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909, Midland Counties Publications, 1979, ISBN 0-904597-22-9.
- Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter M. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London: Putnam. Second Edition, 1976. ISBN 0-370-10054-9.
- Zuerl, Walter (1941). Deutsche Flugzeug Konstrukteure. München, Germany: Curt Pechstein Verlag.