Ye Gods... I thought P-47 was monster...

[PJ_Godzilla]

It had mirrors installed as far as I know, but I'm not sure.

So you get the vibra-view? When it's blurry and red, you know you're about to see tower.

[craz07]

Had WW2 persisted,, this would have been a very very bad aircraft ... 

[Lusche]

Had WW2 persisted,, this would have been a very very bad aircraft ... 

It would already have been somewhat outdated when entering service.
Great performance (speed!) for a plane intoduced in early/midd 44 (as planned), but for a mid/late 45 resp "Luftwaffe 46" not all that impressive overall anymore compared to the contemporaries (P-80, P-47M, P-51H, Bearcat, Tigercat - later Me 262 variants, Ta 183 (46 what if) and so on.

[Karnak]

It would already have been somewhat outdated when entering service.
Great performance (speed!) for a plane intoduced in early/midd 44 (as planned), but for a mid/late 45 resp "Luftwaffe 46" not all that impressive overall anymore compared to the contemporaries (P-80, P-47M, P-51H, Bearcat, Tigercat - later Me 262 variants, Ta 183 (46 what if) and so on.

Meteor Mk III, Meteor Mk IV, Hornet Mk I, Tempest Mk II, Vampire Mk I.

The Luft 46 hype always seems to ignore the stuff the Allies had in the pipeline.

[Widewing]

A high-speed bomber interceptor... Rather redundant with the Me 262 in service. Largely worthless against fighters, its defense was speed.

Like the XP-72 Superbolt, advances in technology made it unneeded.

[PJ_Godzilla]

This minimization is entertaining, even credible (eg, the allied stuff coming was indeed also very good), but my guess is, were we to have the type or the arena, you guys would all take a turn in the beast.

As for widewing's point about its role, my own opinion is that most late-war Luftwaffe ac can be binned to a similar category. They all give up lateral turn capability for the weightier toys needed to intercept and bring down bomberen. There is no pure air superiority aircraft in the Luftwaffe inventory by '45. Both k-4 and d-9 have lousy turn rates. When you consider the mission (interception) it makes sense, but Mr. Spitty they ain't.

[Getback]

Very cool. Thanks for the post.

[Lusche]

Actually the primary mission the Do-335 was designed for originally  was high speed bombing. The 335 was a fighter bomber from the start, and the internal bomb bay has been a key feature of this design. That's also why the initial 'A' series carried a somewhat 'light' armament for it's size (1x30mm and 2x20mm in the nose), and only the projected B (destroyer) series was to upgrade this to 3x30mm and 2x20mm.

In late 43, when the Luftwaffe still had hopes to get it into service soon, the 335 was intended to help smashing the upcoming invasion in the west in a Schnellbomber role similar to the me 262 (but much better suited to that task).

The first regular unit to be equipped with the 335 was a bomber unit, the KG-2.

[bustr]

For about the first 4 feet out from the fuselage. The wing leading edge is a semi-knife edge, then blends to rounded. You also notice there is a very small amount of filleting at the fuselage wing joint.

Does the knife edge have a relationship to influencing the airflow through the 90 degree shape created by the fuselage and wing with minor filleting?

[Xavier]

As much as I like the Do-335, it was outdated by 1945. Had it been introduced sooner, it could have made a difference, but not in those late stages of the war. Late versions of the P-47, P-51 and Tempest could already match its performance, except maybe for the armament loadout.

Now other fighters that were ready for the production line as the Horten IX were a whole different breed, but those are jets.

As a note, Dornier already had a substitute for the Do-335 planned. It's definitely one of my favourite aircraft projects, the Do P.252. Two engines driving pusher propellers, armament concentrated on the nose, 577mph top speed extracted by some quite accurate calculations. 6 30mm cannons, being 4 taters and 2 MK213C. And a 41K ceiling to catch the expected B-29 raids.

[PJ_Godzilla]

Yes, but not so much as a prototype was made. This is vapor, even by luft. 46 standards. Nonetheless, tres kewl...

Btw, surely we've had people flakking for the Bachem Natter?

[Coalcat1]

If we get a 1946 arena, I want my super 162D, the TA jet, the jet that was to replace the Stuka, and the B32 

[GScholz]

Personally I'd be in one of these in a "1946 what if" arena.



The transonic Me 262HG II.

Prototype flew in January 1945. Would have been faster then F-86 and MiG-15.

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

No sir, this f8f was a monster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XcI1RCXXJU

And this F-7f

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IM6nXsdQc


Oh and they were carrier fighters.  

And before anyone says it, yea i know they didn't see combat service.

[mthrockmor]

A high-speed bomber interceptor... Rather redundant with the Me 262 in service. Largely worthless against fighters, its defense was speed.

Like the XP-72 Superbolt, advances in technology made it unneeded.

What is the Superbolt?