2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
what is it?
The Dornier Do 26 was an all-metal gull-winged flying boat produced before and during World War II by Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was operated by a crew of four and was intended, in civilian service, to carry a payload of 500 kg (1,100 lb) or four passengers on the Lisbon to New York route. In military service it carried as many as eighteen passengers.
How to recognise it: 4 piston engines with propellers · 30 m wingspan
base stats
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 2.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 30 m: about 7 cars parked nose to tail.
- Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Range of 9,000 km: Amsterdam to New York (≈5,850 km) without stopping.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1938-05-21
- introduced
- 1939
- retired
- 1945
- status
- retired
- number built
- 6
- role
- transport and reconnaissance flying boat
- makers
- Dornier
- engines
- 4× Junkers Jumo 205E / Jumo 205
- crew
- 4
- length
- 24.5 m
- wingspan
- 30 m
- height
- 6.9 m
- max take-off weight
- 20 t
- top speed
- 335 km/h
- cruise speed
- 305 km/h
- range
- 9,000 km
- ceiling
- 6,000 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q766294, Wikipedia: Dornier Do 26 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.