Dornier Do 217

what is it?

The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German Luftwaffe during World War II. It was a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the Fliegender Bleistift (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937–1938 as a heavy bomber but not meant to be capable of the longer-range missions envisioned for the larger Heinkel He 177, the Do 217 design was refined during 1939 and production began in late 1940. It entered service in early 1941 and by the beginning of 1942 was available in significant numbers.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 19 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 475 km/htop speed
• range 2,180 kmwithout refuelling
• size 16.7 tmax take-off weight
• built 1,730made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 88 years ago, in 1938.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 19 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 2,180 km: 12× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1938-10-04

introduced

1940

retired

1945

status

retired

number built

1,730

role

bomber

origin

German Reich

makers

Dornier

engines

2× Daimler-Benz DB 603A

crew

4

length

17 m

wingspan

19 m

height

5 m

max take-off weight

16.7 t

top speed

475 km/h

cruise speed

400 km/h

range

2,180 km

ceiling

9,500 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.