DORNIER Do 217E
Under surface view of U5+MN showing the roughly applied Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22 Schwarz temporary black distemper, applied by the crews for nocturnal operations over the British Isles. The Operation ‘Anton’ temporary white bands were applied around the under surfaces of the wing tips and rear fuselage too. The yellow undersides to the engine cowlings were probably applied previously, while the unit was undertaking operations over the British Isles, and are not thought to have been associated with Operation ‘Anton’s markings.
mauling during the Allied amphibious raid Operation ‘Jubilee’ on the northern French harbour town of Dieppe on 19 August 1942, with the unit launching almost its entire strength in response, and reportedly losing some sixteen Do 217s in the attempt. Then, in early November
1942, the Geschwader was temporarily transferred south, and ordered to help German forces occupy Vichy France under the code name Fall Anton (Operation ‘Anton’) following the Allied landings (code named Operation ‘Torch’) in French North Africa on 8 November 1942. The Germans could not risk an exposed flank on the French Mediterranean so orders were issued for Corsica to be occupied on 11 November, and the whole of Vichy France the following day. Fall Anton was carried out by
German and Italian forces, and by the evening of 10 November, German forces had completed their preparations and the First Army advanced from the Atlantic coast, parallel to the Spanish border, whilst the Seventh Army advanced from central France towards Vichy and Toulon. The Italian 4th Army occupied the French Riviera and an Italian Division landed on Corsica. By the evening of 11 November, German tanks had reached the Mediterranean coast. The Vichy French limited their ‘resistance’ to radio
broadcasts objecting to
the violation of the armistice agreed in 1940, and although the 50,000-strong Vichy French Army initially took defensive positions around Toulon, when confronted by the overwhelming superiority of the Germans they realised they lacked the military capability to resist and were forced to disband. The French fleet
was at Toulon and French naval commanders scuttled their ships on 27 November before the Germans could seize them, preventing three battleships, seven cruisers, twenty-eight destroyers and twenty submarines from falling into the hands of the Axis powers. In the event, no combat
sorties were undertaken, and by the beginning of December, KG 2’s staffeln were being returned to their bases in northern France and the Netherlands to resume the night attacks over the British Isles, which continued in to early 1944. Although KG 2’s Do 217Es
were finished in the standard ‘maritime greens’ RLM 72 Grün and RLM 73 Grün upper surfaces, with RLM 65 Hellblau under surfaces, the under surfaces of most of the unit’s aircraft had been overpainted in the Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22 Schwarz temporary black distemper, reflecting the unit’s mainly nocturnal operations. However, additional recognition markings were applied for Operation ‘Anton’ in the form of approximately 50cm white bands around both surfaces of the wings and
around the
circumference of the rear fuselage – which was one of the main reasons that prompted me to make this model. The undersides of the engine cowlings were also painted – yellow in most cases, but
sometimes in white.
Building the 1/48 scale Revell Dornier Do 217E-5 The 1/48 scale
Revell/Monogram Dornier Do 217E-4/5, first saw
the light of day in the autumn of 2000, initially released by Monogram I believe, but then very quickly marketed by Revell (in 2001) and also under Monogram’s Pro-Modeler lable. Apparently the masters were prepared by the great Bill Koster, who had previously produced a 1/48 scale vacform kit of the Do 217 series, under his Koster Aero Enterprises lable, and this Revell/Monogram offering certainly shows its pedigree, with finely engraved surface detail, a well detailed cockpit interior and generally good fit throughout. The model I built was the
2001 Revell Do 217E-5 boxing, which includes over 130 parts moulded in a medium grey plastic and eight clear parts. The breakdown is fairly unconventional in that the fuselage is split in
horizontally split fuselage top which has the wing centre section upper half out to the engines and the upper half of the tailplanes integrally moulded. There are two upper outer wing panels and the wing under surface halves are in one-piece halves. The arrangement works well but it might be an idea to glue the upper outer wing panels to the upper surface centre section and get as good a joint as possible before adding the fuselage and lower wing halves. There are no problems with alignment as the integrally moulded wing centre section and tailplanes keep everything perfect. The cockpit interior is well
detailed, with no less than twenty-five separate parts
Close-up of U5+MN’s fuselage and tail showing the roughly painted over national markings in the under surface Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22 Schwarz temporary black distemper, originally applied by the crews for nocturnal operations over the British Isles on which the unit was engaged before undertaking the temporary move to the south of France.
FEBRUARY 2015 • VOLUME 36 • ISSUE 12 69
three sections, with the sides and bottom of the fuselage split vertically to form the bomber’s characteristic ‘V’ shape, with a
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