Hi Funked,
>I agree that these aircraft all had better engines than the DB 603, but they were definitely contemporary designs.
I think the key is speed over altitude. I don't have all the numbers, but my impression is that they all reached their top speed at higher altitudes than the Do 335, meaning that the latter was faster through much of the altitude band. The early DB603 engines admittedly had poor altitude performance, so I see your point about "better engines", too, but I think at medium altitude it was quite competetive.
>I think the most impressive thing about the 335 is that it was able to fly so fast with what was basically a dog of an engine.
Which by itself was a proof of the concept :-) To put your statement more positively, the DB603 had a lot of untapped development potential, and accordingly, the Do 335's speed would have risen further. Dornier also planned to install the more powerful Jumo 213 series engines into the aircraft, and if the Do 335 had had a higher priority, this certainly could have happened. (As it was, the promise of jet aircraft kept the Do 335 on low priority, and the Jumo 213 was reserved for aircraft already in mass production.)
In any case, though it doesn't fit the "historically significant", "mass produced" or "saw combat" criteria, I'd love to see the Do 335 modeled in Aces High just to see how it would match up. You're of course right that it was not a top performer in other respects, but speed is a great strength by itself. It certainly wouldn't be an arena dominator, but I think it would prove to be a very capable fighter nevertheless.
Its achilles heel - and here I'd agree with Tony - probably would be its poor view to the rear.
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
