[INM@RLM]

A pleasure, Leon.


Here are some additional thoughts on a few of the photo captions in this title:

p.14 (bottom caption)
The statement “Seen here with Cyclone engines” is incorrect. As can be immediately seen by comparing this photo with that of X-21 at the foot of p.18, KD+GJ is fitted with Bramo 323s. The reality was that this airframe was never ever fitted with Wright Cyclones, it being the “Erprobungsträger Do 24 T mit Bramo 323s” from the very beginning.
As already mentioned Dornier and not the Weserflug company was responsible for the development of the Do 24 T powered by Bramo 323 engines. (Confirmed by the V-Muster sheets of Lieferplan 18 issues 2 & 3 during the second half of 1940.) One of a number of myths attached to Weser post-war; supposed series production of the He 115 and also the He 114 whose production had actually ended well before the outbreak of WW2.

p.57 KD+GA, later WNr. 0001, was formerly D-AFBT (not D-AEAV). The Aviolanda construction number of this aircraft was Avio 74, and thus this was in fact the first Do 24 completed under the German occupation.

p.58 It is no longer the case that Do 24 N, KD+BH “is unaccounted for in the records.” This was the first Do 24 transferred to the Mediterranean, arriving at Syracuse from Brest in late-January 1941. Specifically in regard to this transfer it was identified in several places in the BA-MA Kriegstagebuch Oberquartiermeister series as WNr. 8, which was undoubtedly how this aircraft was referred to during its service with 1.Seenotstaffel alongside that unit’s Breguet Bizerte’s, each of which also carried low serial numbers (4, 6, 7, 24, 26 & 27, and were also assigned Stkz. in the KD+B_ sequence, becoming A to G and I). WNr. 8 was however, a contraction of Avio 78 and the Avio number in this period was still that most frequently used as the German Werk-Nummer. (The reassignment of RLM Werk-Nummern in a new series commencing with WNr.(000)1 was not standardized across all the surviving Do 24 airframes until around March 1941. Again the evidence lies in the Kriegstagebuch Oberquartiermeister series.) After its arrival and through 1941, there are then plentiful further reports of this aircraft in service in the Mediterranean with its subsequently assigned RLM Werk-Nummer of (000)5.

p.60 This is more of an observation. The type of mid-fuselage turret fitted to this aircraft confirms it to be a Do 24 T-3 and it is always captioned as being delivered from French production by SNCA-N at Sartrouville. I think this can also be positively proved by this photograph because the aircraft is fitted with a bulge having a rearward-sloping antenna immediately behind the nacelle of the central engine. That configuration indicates the fitting of Peil G V, standardized in the upgraded avionics fit of the Do 24 T-2. The usual texts state that for the Do 24 T-3 this was replaced by Peil G 6, having a flush, ribbed and considerably different installation.
All except for the first of the Do 24s delivered by SNCA-N were T-3s. However photographs of French-built Do 24s including the early portion of the resumed French production for the Aéronavale consistently show the continued presence of Peil G V. Hence it seems that in practice Peil G 6 was never fitted to any Do 24 from SNCA-N.
The situation at Aviolanda is more complicated. The very full delivery documents of September 1943 for WNr. 3268 record this aircraft fitted with Peil G 6. However, photos of T-3s from Aviolanda up to at least/around WNr. 0100 all evidence the continued fitting of Peil G V. Always something new to discover with this design.