wiking85
Staff Sergeant
Historically the Dornier 19 (Dornier Do 19 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) was produced to meet the German Air Ministry's requirement for a 'Ural Bomber', but when it came time for the prototype to enter testing, it was deemed too underperforming by the Luftwaffe and superseded by the 'Bomber A' project that was given only to Heinkel to produce the He177.
Recently I've come across information that suggested that the Dornier was ordered to stop development of the Do19 in July 1936 about 5 weeks after the Bomber A requirement was issued and several months before the first prototype was delivered.
What if Dornier, rather than accepting that the Do19 contract was going to be cancelled, instead tried to horn in on the Bomber A contract? They had been one of two companies that had experience designing four engine strategic bombers and learned a great deal from the less than stellar Do19. That experience could have helped them tremendously when designing a next generation strategic bomber. Heinkel at this point had no experience designing such a technically complex machine, so would likely have issues with their first generation strategic bomber. The Do219, Dornier's offering, could provide a back up to the potential of a Heinkel failure.
As to what the Do19 would look like, I figure that pretty much everything with the Do19 would have be changed and they might look at the success with the Do17 for inspiration, rather than their flying boats, which inspired the Do19. Historically the Do217, despite superficial resemblances to the Do17, were a totally different design internally. Just as the Do217 took the nose from the Do17 and had a similar tail assembly, perhaps the Do219 would end up looking like a larger, 4 engine Do217 with the same deepened bomb bay sleek design, though with turrets mid-fuselage, rather than right behind the cockpit. They would also retain the tail gunner position of the Do19.
So in my mind the Do219 would look like a cross between the Do217 and the Lancaster. If design starts in mid-July 1936 when the order comes down to cancel Do19 development, that gives it 4 years to develop to July 1939 when it could theoretically enter production. Most WW2-era aircraft took about 4 years from design to production, though further development to bring an aircraft to its full potential sometimes took longer.
So does anyone think this could be a viable potential path for a German strategic bomber instead of developing the Do19 or fixing the He177?
Recently I've come across information that suggested that the Dornier was ordered to stop development of the Do19 in July 1936 about 5 weeks after the Bomber A requirement was issued and several months before the first prototype was delivered.
What if Dornier, rather than accepting that the Do19 contract was going to be cancelled, instead tried to horn in on the Bomber A contract? They had been one of two companies that had experience designing four engine strategic bombers and learned a great deal from the less than stellar Do19. That experience could have helped them tremendously when designing a next generation strategic bomber. Heinkel at this point had no experience designing such a technically complex machine, so would likely have issues with their first generation strategic bomber. The Do219, Dornier's offering, could provide a back up to the potential of a Heinkel failure.
As to what the Do19 would look like, I figure that pretty much everything with the Do19 would have be changed and they might look at the success with the Do17 for inspiration, rather than their flying boats, which inspired the Do19. Historically the Do217, despite superficial resemblances to the Do17, were a totally different design internally. Just as the Do217 took the nose from the Do17 and had a similar tail assembly, perhaps the Do219 would end up looking like a larger, 4 engine Do217 with the same deepened bomb bay sleek design, though with turrets mid-fuselage, rather than right behind the cockpit. They would also retain the tail gunner position of the Do19.
So in my mind the Do219 would look like a cross between the Do217 and the Lancaster. If design starts in mid-July 1936 when the order comes down to cancel Do19 development, that gives it 4 years to develop to July 1939 when it could theoretically enter production. Most WW2-era aircraft took about 4 years from design to production, though further development to bring an aircraft to its full potential sometimes took longer.
So does anyone think this could be a viable potential path for a German strategic bomber instead of developing the Do19 or fixing the He177?
