Engineering:Dornier Do H Falke

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Short description: 1920s German fighter aircraft
Do H Falke
Wright WP-1.jpg
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 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 Switzerland 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

 United States
  • United States Navy

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

  • List of United States Navy aircraft designations (pre-1962)

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Dornier H Falke". Germany. http://histaviation.com/Dornier_H_Falke.html. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p. 496.

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.



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