DORNIER Do 217E
Do 217E-4, U5+MN of 5
Staffel, II./KG 2 in late 1942, usually based at Gilze-Rijen in the Netherlands, but which was temporarily transferred to Cognac, in the south of France for Operation ‘Anton’.
Neil Robinson builds the 1/48 scale Revell/Monogram Dornier Do 217E as a KG 2 machine that took part in Operation ‘Anton’ in November 1942
with a larger payload capability, greater range, and increased performance. The Do 217 prototype first flew in August 1938, and in early 1940, the Do 217A-0 reconnaissance variant became the first version to enter service with the Luftwaffe. The first operational bomber version was the Do-217E-1, powered by a pair of 1,580hp BMW 801A air- cooled 14-cylinder radial engines, and which featured the variant’s deeper fuselage that housed an enlarged bomb bay that could hold eight 500kg or four 1,000kg bombs, with an extension at the aft end which permitted a torpedo to be carried completely inside the fuselage. Up to five hand-operated 7.92mm machine guns provided
D
View of Do 217E-4, U5+MN showing the temporary white bands around the wing tips and the rear fuselage, applied for Operation ‘Anton’.
bomber with the extended dive
brake tail, followed the E-3 into production, but was short-lived when it became
obvious that the 68
WWW.SCALEAIRCRAFTMODELLING.CO.UK
with wing mounted ETC 2000/XII bomb carriers for the radio controlled Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb, for which the appropriate Kehl series radio guidance and control transmitter system was installed. The standard operational fit was one Hs 293
ornier had begun work on an improved version of the Do 17 in 1937,
defensive armament although a 15mm MG 151 cannon could be mounted in the nose glazing. The Do 217E-1 was followed
by the Do 217E-3, which featured additional cockpit armour and heavier defensive armament, including the introduction of the electrically operated Drehlafette DL 131 rotating turret armed with a 13mm machine gun, which was a feature of the remainder of the E-series. The E-3 was the first sub-type to be fitted with a fixed forward firing 20mm MG FF cannon, installed along the cockpit floor, just off centre although this weapon was retrofitted to the earlier E-1s too. The Do 217E-2, which had
been developed separately primarily as a dive
airframe was too heavy to be an effective dive bomber, and that bomb sights were improving to the point that negated the need for ‘accurate’ dive bombing. Production then passed to the Do 217E-4 which was essentially similar to the E- 3, but had the now redundant dive brakes removed and a standard short tail fitted. It was also fitted with Kuto-Nase barrage-balloon cable cutters in the leading edges of the wings and was powered by BMW 801L engines with hydraulic propeller control. The Do 217E-5 was a
modified version of the standard E-4, optimised for anti-shipping operations. It had the ability to be fitted with drop tanks under the wings or could be fitted
under the starboard wing and a 900 litre drop tank under the port wing.
Kampfgeschwadern 2’s Dorniers Throughout most of 1942,
the bulk of operations against the British Isles were undertaken by a variety of independent Gruppen and Staffeln which were rotated from the dozen or so Kampfgeschwader still left in Northern Europe. Prominent amongst these was Kampfgeschwader 2. While I. and III./KG 2 had been transferred to the Eastern Front, II./KG 2 had remained on the Western Front and operated from various bases in the Netherlands and France, in anti- shipping operations as well as the nocturnal bombing raids on the British Isles. III./KG 2 returned to
western Europe from the Eastern Front in October 1941, followed by I./KG 2 in May 1942, and
both Gruppen joined I./KG 2 in night attacks over Britain as well as dropping mines in the English Channel and along the east coast. By mid-1942 all three Gruppen had fully re-equipped with Do 217Es, but the Geschwader suffered a severe
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