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| Dornier Do-X Seaplane |
Claude Dornier
was a man before his time. He born in German in 1884 and completed
his education in 1907 at Munich's technical college. Three
years later he began working at the
Zeppelin airship factory. In 1911 he designed the
first all-metal air plane,
and Zeppelin permitted him to establish a separate division of the company,
the Dornier aircraft works. It built both wooden and metal fighters
for Germany in World War I.
After the war, he took over control of his aircraft factory. During this time, aircraft had such limited range, that manufacturers
believed that seaplanes must be used for trans-oceanic routes.
Dornier outdid everyone else. In 1929 he introduced the
Do-X. It was the world's largest aircraft and its specifications
were impressive - 157 wingspan and 52,000 kg take off weight. It
was powered by 12 engines. The hull had
three floors. The main floor provided passenger accommodations,
the bottom one provided space for fuel tanks and baggage and the top
floor contained cockpit, crew cabins, radio operator and flight engineer
control panel. With 12 engines, a lot of flight engineering was
required.
On October 21, 1929, the giant Do-X flew for one hour with 169
passengers on board. An incredible feat, but bad timing. The great
Wall Street Crash occurred the next week and the world was thrown into
depression. Toward generating interest in his giant plane that
would hopefully result in sale, Dornier announced that he would fly the
giant plane around the world. It turned out to be one of the great
fiascos in aviation history. The trip was plagued with mechanical
malfunctions, logistic problems, and accidents, but Dornier pressed on
and completed the flight. But it took ten months.
The Italian air company SANA ordered two aircraft but they never entered
service. |
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Dornier Do-X Seaplane
From our Deluxe
Series. 1/100th scale. 19" wingspan x 15.75" long.
No. ABX8D-DX. Only $189.95 |
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