Dornier Do 335 'Pfeil'
The Emergency Fighter Programme represented a desperate time for the Third Reich. With men and materials in short supply, a range of designs were being considered from the 'cheap' He 162 to more technical propositions - the Dornier 335 was one of the latter.
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Dornier brought to the design his experience in nesting two engines into a single nacelle in his flying boat types. The idea was logical enough - by placing two engines in an airframe at nose and tail, utilising push and pull propellers, the frontal area and reduced drag of a single engine type could be preserved, while doubling the available power.
The result was a truly 'heavy' fighter - the A-6 variant weighing in at over 22,000 lbs gross. The Do 335 promised to deliver speed and power, which were absolutely the qualities originally intended for it as a 'schnellbomber' - but military necessity dictated her use as a bomber destroyer and interceptor.
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Such use however was not to materialise, as a combination of the Allies rapid advance and the slow pace of production. The Führer himself had originally directed in 1944 that the manufacture of Dornier 335s was to take priority, but Ernst Heinkel had ignored the order in favour of continuing to produce his new He 219 'Uhu' night fighter - the Do 335 was also itself ordered in a night fighter variant. With resources as short as they were, an aircraft that required two giant DB 603E-1 V-12s was always going to prove a challenge, and in the end only 37 were constructed.
