wuzak
Captain
In the night fighter variant I might consider it a peer of the P-61. I'm surprised that more weren't earmarked for that role as they could be used day or night against the bomber streams.
Cheers,
Biff
There was a single seat all-weather and night fighter proposed - the Do 335A-5 - as well as the two seat night fighters - the Do 335A-6 and Do 336B-6.
The A-6 and the B-2 (heavy destroyer) were to be the main initial production versions, along with the A-11 (trainer?) and the B-6 starting to come on stream a couple of months later.
But this production schedule was set in January 1945, and the program was to start producing aircraft in March.
There were 25 prototypes and about 20 pre-production A-0 aiframes built. A number of the A-0's were converted to A-10 2 seat trainers.
The night fighters had performance loss because the second crew member took up part of the fuselage normally used for fuel, which required extra tanks in the wings and bomb bay to be added, and the external aerials used by most German radar systems caused drag.
The loss of performance was not an issue for night fighting, but would have made operating in daylight against escorted bombers more difficult.
In comparison to the war time P-61 variants (A and B), the Do 335 didn't have as good a radar but it had superior performance (by about 40 - 50mph).
In terms of firepower, the A-6 had 2 x 20mm MG 151/20 firing through the prop arc and one MK 103 firing through the hub.
Endurance for the A-6 was approximately 2.35 hours at maximum continuous, over 4 hours if lower cruise power settings were used.
Just for the record, this is not a Do 335A-6
It is, in fact, a 2 seat trainer version.
The A-6's second cockpit was covered with a flush panel.
http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/470/pics/2_16_b1.jpg
WINGS PALETTE - Dornier Do.335 Pfeil - Germany (Nazi)
The B-6 had a small bubble, like an astrodome.
I am modelist » Dornier Do-335 B-6