The Dornier Do17 (“Flying Pencil”) made its first flight in November 1934 and was intended as a fast mail-carrier for Deutsche Lufthansa. Rejected by that airline after three machines (all with single fins) had been completed, it was taken up as a high speed bomber by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM, Ministry of Aviation) the following year and made a spectacular public debut, now with a twin tail assembly, at Zurich in the 1937 International Military Aircraft Competitions. By this time, bomber squadrons of the Luftwaffe were already being equipped with the first two production models, the Do 17E and Do 17F, and in 1938 both of these versions were seeing service in the Spanish Civil War. Also in 1938 the next major series, the Bramo 323 powered Do 17M-l, entered production, closely followed by the reconnaissance Do I7 P with BMW 132N engines. After small numbers of the Do 17 S (reconnaissance version) and Do 17 U (pathfinder) had been built with DB 600A inline engines, a return to the radial Bramo 323 engineswas made in 1939 with the Do 17Z.
On the outbreak of war the Luftwaffe had in service the Do 17 M and Do 17 Z bombers, and the Do I7 P and a handful of Do 17Fs
Production: 2139 aircrafts.
Bibliography
- Boris Ciglic, Dragon Savic: Dornier Do 17. The Yugoslav Story. Operational Record 1937-1947
- Kalevi Keskinen, Kari Stenman: Dornier Do 17 Z, Junkers Ju 88 A-4 – Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia 2
- Richard Smith: The Dornier Do 17 & 215 – Aircraft Profile Number 164
- Karl-Heinz Regnat: Vom Original zum Modell Dornier Do 17
- Christopher F. Shores: Luftwaffe Bomber Camouflage & Markings 1940 – Heinkel He111 – Junkers Ju88 – Dornier Do17 – Osprey Aircam Aviation Series №S10
- David Donald: Warplanes of the Luftwaffe, Barnes and Noble 1994
- Manfred Griehl: Dornier Do-17 E-Z, Do 215 B – The Flying Pencil in Luftwaffe Service
- Heinz J Nowarra: The Flying Pencil, Schiffer Military History
- Manfred Griehl: Dornier Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft 1925-1945, Warbirds Fotofax, Arms & Armour Press 1990
- Marek J. Murawski: Dornier Do 17/Do 215, Kagero Monographs 60
- David Wadman, John Bradley: Aufklarer – Luftwaffe Reconnaissance Aircraft & Units 1935-1945, Hikoki Publications, 1997
- R. Smith, Antony L. Kay: German Aircraft of the Second World War, Putnam 1990
- Richard Smith: The Dornier Do 17 & 215, Aircraft Profile 164