TYPE: Night- and all-weather fighter
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot and Radar operator/Navigator
POWER PLANT: Two Daimler-Benz DB 603E1-cooled piston engines with two-stage superchargers, rated at 1,900 hp at 5,900 ft
PERFORMANCE: 474 mph at 21,300 ft
COMMENT: The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil (Arrow) was a heavy fighter built by Dornier for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. The Pfeil’s performance was predicted to be better than other twin-engine designs due to its unusual push-pull configuration and the lower aerodynamic drag of the in-line alignment of the two engines. It was Nazi Germany’s fastest piston-engined aircraft of World War II. The Luftwaffe was desperate to get the design into operational use, but delays in engine deliveries meant that only a handful were delivered before the war ended.
The Do 335 was originally designed as a Schnellbomber. It could reach speeds of almost 500 mph in level flight, and could outrun most of the military aircraft in service at the time, with only first generation jet fighters being faster. The front engine of the Pfeil was the Daimler-Benz DB 605, and the rear one the DB 605 QA
The first 10 Dornier Do 335A-0s were delivered for testing in May 1944. By late this year, the Do 335A-1 was on the production line. It was similar to the A-0 but with the uprated DB 603E-1 engines of some 1,800 hp take-off power rating apiece and two underwing hardpoints for additional bombs, drop tanks or guns. It had a maximum speed of 474 mph at 21 300 ft with MW 50 boost, or 426 mph without boost, and climbed to 26, 250 ft in under 15 minutes. Even with one engine out, it reached about 350 mph.
With the worsening of war situation development emphasis in the „Pfeil“ programme switched from the A-series fighter-bomber to the more heavily armed B-series „Zerstörer“ (Destroyer), and during the winter 1944-45 the first Do 335B prototypes were completetd at Oberpfaffenhofen. The initial B-series „Zerstörer“ were essentially similar to the Do 335A-1 apart from armament and the deletion of internal weapon bay, its space being utilized by a supplement fuel tank.
These were destined to be the only B-series prototypes actually completed and flown, although six additional aircraft were under construction at Oberpfaffenhofen when further development was terminated. These were the Do 335 V15 and V16, respectively the second prototype of the Dornier Do 335B-1 and Dornier Do 335B-2 models, the Do 335 V17 which was intended as a prototype of the B-6 two-seat night and bad weather fighter similar to the A-6 but posessing the same armament as that oft he B-1; The Do 335 V18 which was to have been the second prototype fort he Do 335B-6, and the Do 335 V19 and V20 which would have been respectively prototypes for the Do 335B-3 and B-7 powered by DB 603LA engines with two stage superchargers, the former being a single-seater similar to the B-2 and the latter being a two-seater similar to the B-6.
The two-seated night-fighter Dornier Do 335B-6 was provided with a FuG 218 Neptun radar system with Hirschgeweih ( stag’s antlers) eight-dipol array with shorter elements than the previous 90 MHz SN-2 radar (Ref.: 7, 24).
