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68 WWW.SCALEAIRCRAFTMODELLING.CO.UK
DORNIER Do 217E
Dornier had begun work
on an improved version
of the Do 17 in 1937,
with a larger payload capability,
greater range, and increased
performance. The Do 217
prototype first flew in August
1938, and in early 1940, the
Do 217A-0 reconnaissance
variant became the first version
to enter service with the
Luftwaffe. The first operational
bomber version was the
Do-217E-1, powered by a pair
of 1,580hp BMW 801A air-
cooled 14-cylinder radial
engines, and which featured
the variant’s deeper fuselage
that housed an enlarged bomb
bay that could hold eight
500kg or four 1,000kg bombs,
with an extension at the aft end
which permitted a torpedo to
be carried completely inside
the fuselage. Up to five
hand-operated
7.92mm machine
guns provided
defensive armament although
a 15mm MG 151 cannon could
be mounted in the nose
glazing.
The Do 217E-1 was followed
by the Do 217E-3, which
featured additional cockpit
armour and heavier defensive
armament, including the
introduction of the electrically
operated Drehlafette DL 131
rotating turret armed with a
13mm machine gun, which was
a feature of the remainder of
the E-series. The E-3 was the
first sub-type to be fitted with a
fixed forward firing 20mm MG
FF cannon, installed along the
cockpit floor, just off centre
although this weapon was
retrofitted to the earlier E-1s
too.
The Do 217E-2, which had
been developed separately
primarily as a dive
bomber
with the
extended dive
brake tail, followed
the E-3 into
production, but
was short-lived
when it became
obvious that the
airframe was too heavy to be
an effective dive bomber, and
that bomb sights were
improving to the point that
negated the need for ‘accurate’
dive bombing. Production then
passed to the Do 217E-4 which
was essentially similar to the E-
3, but had the now redundant
dive brakes removed and a
standard short tail fitted. It was
also fitted with Kuto-Nase
barrage-balloon cable cutters
in the leading edges of the
wings and was powered by
BMW 801L engines with
hydraulic propeller control.
The Do 217E-5 was a
modified version of the
standard E-4, optimised for
anti-shipping operations. It had
the ability to be fitted with
drop tanks under the wings
or could be
fitted
with
wing
mounted ETC 2000/XII
bomb carriers for the radio
controlled Henschel Hs 293
glide bomb, for which the
appropriate Kehl series radio
guidance and control
transmitter system was
installed. The standard
operational fit was one Hs 293
under the starboard wing and a
900 litre drop tank under the
port wing.
Kampfgeschwadern 2’s
DorniersThroughout most of 1942,
the bulk of operations against
the British Isles were
undertaken by a variety of
independent Gruppen and
Staffeln which were rotated
from the dozen or so
Kampfgeschwader still left in
Northern Europe. Prominent
amongst these was
Kampfgeschwader 2. While I.
and III./KG 2 had been
transferred to the Eastern Front,
II./KG 2 had remained on the
Western Front and operated
from various bases in the
Netherlands and France, in anti-
shipping operations as well as
the nocturnal bombing raids
on the British Isles.
III./KG 2 returned to
western Europe from the
Eastern Front in
October 1941,
followed by I./KG
2 in May 1942,
and
both
Gruppen joined I./KG 2 in night
attacks over Britain as well as
dropping mines in the English
Channel and along the east
coast. By mid-1942 all three
Gruppen had fully re-equipped
with Do 217Es, but the
Geschwader suffered a severe
Neil Robinson builds the 1/48 scale Revell/Monogram Dornier Do 217E as a KG 2 machine that took
part in Operation ‘Anton’ in November 1942
Do 217E-4, U5+MN of 5
Sta�el, II./KG 2 in late 1942,
usually based at Gilze-Rijen in
the Netherlands, but which
was temporarily transferred
to Cognac, in the south of
France for Operation ‘Anton’.
View of Do 217E-4, U5+MN
showing the temporary white
bands around the wing tips
and the rear fuselage, applied
for Operation ‘Anton’.
DORNIER Do 217E
69
mauling during the Allied
amphibious raid Operation
‘Jubilee’ on the northern French
harbour town of Dieppe on 19
August 1942, with the unit
launching almost its entire
strength in response, and
reportedly losing some sixteen
Do 217s in the attempt.
Then, in early November
1942, the Geschwader was
temporarily transferred south,
and ordered to help German
forces occupy Vichy France
under the code name Fall
Anton (Operation ‘Anton’)
following the Allied landings
(code named Operation ‘Torch’)
in French North Africa on 8
November 1942. The Germans
could not risk an exposed flank
on the French Mediterranean
so orders were issued for
Corsica to be occupied on 11
November, and the whole of
Vichy France the following day.
Fall Anton was carried out by
German and Italian forces, and
by the evening of 10
November, German forces had
completed their preparations
and the First Army advanced
from the Atlantic coast, parallel
to the Spanish border, whilst
the Seventh Army advanced
from central France towards
Vichy and Toulon. The Italian
4th Army occupied the French
Riviera and an Italian Division
landed on Corsica. By the
evening of 11 November,
German tanks had reached the
Mediterranean coast.
The Vichy French limited
their ‘resistance’
to radio
broadcasts
objecting to
the violation of the armistice
agreed in 1940, and although
the 50,000-strong Vichy French
Army initially took defensive
positions around Toulon, when
confronted by the
overwhelming superiority of
the Germans they realised they
lacked the military capability to
resist and were forced to
disband.
The French fleet
was at Toulon and
French naval
commanders scuttled
their ships on 27
November before the
Germans could seize
them, preventing three
battleships, seven cruisers,
twenty-eight destroyers and
twenty submarines from falling
into the hands of the Axis
powers.
In the event, no combat
sorties were undertaken, and
by the beginning of December,
KG 2’s staffeln were being
returned to their bases in
northern France and the
Netherlands to resume the
night attacks over the British
Isles, which continued in to
early 1944.
Although KG 2’s Do 217Es
were finished in the standard
‘maritime greens’ RLM 72 Grün
and RLM 73 Grün upper
surfaces, with RLM 65 Hellblau
under surfaces, the under
surfaces of most of the unit’s
aircraft had been overpainted
in the Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22
Schwarz temporary black
distemper, reflecting the unit’s
mainly nocturnal operations.
However, additional
recognition markings were
applied for Operation ‘Anton’ in
the form of approximately
50cm white bands around both
surfaces of the wings
and
around
the
circumference of
the rear fuselage –
which was one of the
main reasons that
prompted me to
make this model. The
undersides of the
engine cowlings were
also painted – yellow
in most cases,
but
sometimes in
white.
Building the 1/48
scale Revell Dornier
Do 217E-5 The 1/48 scale
Revell/Monogram
Dornier Do 217E-4/5, first saw
the light of day in the autumn
of 2000, initially released by
Monogram I believe, but then
very quickly marketed by Revell
(in 2001) and also under
Monogram’s Pro-Modeler lable.
Apparently the masters were
prepared by the great Bill
Koster, who had previously
produced a 1/48 scale vacform
kit of the Do 217 series, under
his Koster Aero Enterprises
lable, and this
Revell/Monogram offering
certainly shows its pedigree,
with finely engraved surface
detail, a well detailed cockpit
interior and generally good fit
throughout.
The model I built was the
2001 Revell Do 217E-5 boxing,
which includes over 130 parts
moulded in a medium grey
plastic and eight clear parts.
The breakdown is fairly
unconventional
in that the
fuselage is
split in
three sections, with the sides
and bottom of the fuselage
split vertically to form the
bomber’s
characteristic
‘V’ shape,
with a
horizontally
split fuselage
top which has
the wing centre
section upper half out
to the engines and the
upper half of the tailplanes
integrally moulded. There are
two upper outer wing panels
and the wing under surface
halves are in one-piece halves.
The arrangement works well
but it might be an idea to glue
the upper outer wing panels to
the upper surface centre
section and get as good a joint
as possible before adding the
fuselage and lower wing halves.
There are no problems with
alignment as the integrally
moulded wing centre section
and tailplanes keep everything
perfect.
The cockpit interior is well
detailed, with no less than
twenty-five separate parts
FEBRUARY 2015 • VOLUME 36 • ISSUE 12
Under surface view of U5+MN showing the roughly applied Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22
Schwarz temporary black distemper, applied by the crews for nocturnal operations
over the British Isles. The Operation ‘Anton’ temporary white bands were applied
around the under surfaces of the wing tips and rear fuselage too. The yellow
undersides to the engine cowlings were probably applied previously, while the unit
was undertaking operations over the British Isles, and are not thought to have been
associated with Operation ‘Anton’s markings.
Close-up of U5+MN’s
fuselage and tail
showing the roughly
painted over national
markings in the under
surface Farbton
7120.22/RLM 22
Schwarz temporary
black distemper,
originally applied by
the crews for
nocturnal operations
over the British Isles
on which the unit was
engaged before
undertaking the
temporary move to
the south of France.
70 WWW.SCALEAIRCRAFTMODELLING.CO.UK
DORNIER Do 217E
featuring the prominent port
side throttle levers, detailed
sidewalls, rudder pedals, rear
bulkhead and radio
operator/gunner’s station.
Although not all that much will
actually be visible under the
large but heavily framed
canopy, there is still a lot of
internal construction and
painting to be done before
joining the fuselage halves
together.
The single sprue of clear
parts covers the nose glazing
and underside bomb sight
section, main canopy, side
window gun positions, DL 131
top turret, ventral gun position
and underwing landing lights.
The MG 15 and MG 131
machine guns are finely
detailed and come with
separate magazines and
ammunition belts as
appropriate. The Revell
Do 217E-5 kit boxing doesn’t
include the flexible nose-
mounted 20mm MG FF cannon,
or the longer early tail cone
(with which many Do 217E-2s
were built), but as the braking
mechanism didn’t work
particularly well, most Es had
the short tail cones installed,
which is included.
The engine nacelles are
moulded in
vertically split
halves, (and
note, the pairs
are
handed
port and
starboard), with just the
front row of engine
cylinders moulded
on to a back
plate, but
you're
not
going to see very much of them
anyway as they are mostly
hidden by the cooling fans,
although they do need
painting prior to being
enclosed in the nacelles.
The exhaust manifolds are
designed to be inserted from
inside the nacelles, prior to the
halves being joined, but I found
it better to leave them off until
after painting the main
airframe, and by simply
removing their locating tabs,
attach them from the outside.
Optional external flame
dampeners are separate pieces.
The mainwheel wells are
nicely detailed with a firewall
blanking off the front and a
bulkhead to blank off the rear,
with additional detail under the
upper wing halves which
makes up the wheel well roof.
The landing gear is also well
done and satisfyingly sturdy,
and can be fitted near the end
of the main construction, which
keeps them from being
damaged during building.
The mainwheels have ‘flats’
moulded on them and the
tailwheel is separate and slots
in to the tailwheel leg fork. I
particularly liked the way the
main undercarriage and
tailwheel doors fitted with their
extended retraction arms
slotting into the walls of the
bays.
Underwing stores include a
pair of nicely detailed nine-
piece Henschel Hs 293 glide
bombs, with associated ETC
2000/XII racks and a pair of 900
litre long range drop tanks, on
two identical sprues, although
the usual operational fit for an
E-5 was one Hs 293 under the
starboard wing and a 900 litre
drop tank under the port wing
to increase range and act as a
‘counter balance’.
The sixteen page instruction
booklet features exploded
assembly step views which
contain interior painting
instructions and assembly tips.
Two aircraft are represented on
the painting/decal application
instructions, both Hs 293-
carrying machines from II./KG
100 – 6N+KM of 4 Staffel based
at Cognac, France in October
1943, and 6N+FN of 5 Staffel
based at Athens, Greece also in
October 1943. Both are finished
in RLM 72/73 over RLM 65,
although the 4./KG 100 option
has an RLM 75 mottling over
the fuselage and engine nacelle
sides.
This is an excellent, and easy
to assemble model, for such a
relatively large twin-engined
bomber, and is an important
aircraft in the historical sense
and is a definite ‘must-have’ for
any self respecting 1/48 scale
Luftwaffe model
collection.
Warpaint No 24 on the
Dornier Do 217 by the late Jerry
Scutts is one of the best
currently available references
on this aircraft with many
photographs and colour
illustrations of Do 217E
bombers as well as other
variants. There are also three
different sets of markings for
KG 2 and KG 40 Dornier
Do 217E-2/3/4s on Eagle Strike
decal sheet 48010 (produced
some time ago) which I used
with a mix of the kit decals, on
my model.
I finished my model as a
Do 217E-4, U5+MN of 5 Staffel,
II./KG 2, based at Gilze-Rijen in
the Netherlands in late 1942,
but which was temporarily
based at Cognac, south of
France for Operation ‘Anton’.
The aircraft was finished in the
standard RLM 72/RLM 73
‘maritime greens’ splinter
camouflage upper surfaces and
RLM 65 Hellblau under
surfaces, which had
subsequently been overpainted
in the Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22
Schwarz temporary black
distemper. The underwing and
fuselage side crosses
(balkenkreuze) had been
roughly overpainted with the
black distemper as were the
swastikas (hakenkreuze) on the
fins. The propeller blades and
spinners were painted RLM 70
Schwarzgrün, with RLM 23 Rot
(red) tips to the spinners, 5
staffel’s colour. Exhaust
dampers were not
fitted, and the
exhaust stains were
created by
airbrushing a
dark grey base over
which a light misting of
light tan was applied.
Overall shot of the Revell/Monogram kit which is a relatively
large model but is easy to assemble, and is an important
aircraft in the historical sense and a de�nite ‘must-have’ for any
self respecting 1/48 scale Luftwa%e model collection.
The Revell/Monogram kit built straight
out of the box and �nished in the
markings of II./KG100, based at
Bordeaux-Merignac, France in August
1943 and armed with the radio
controlled Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb
mounted on an ETC 2000/XII bomb
carrier under the starboard wing and a
900 litre drop tank under the port wing.
The appropriate Kehl series radio
guidance and control transmitter
system was installed as identi�ed by the
small fairing on the starboard side of
the nose, just to the rear of the nose
glazing. (Model by Bill Newton)