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Old 20th March 2017, 12:29
Stig Jarlevik Stig Jarlevik is offline
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Re: Last Do 24s from Aviolanda/Fokker and SNCAN

Morning Roland

Unfortunately I have made very rudimentary notes regarding the report (no date for instance), so I don't know.

In an article by Jean-Pierre Dubois he states that Sartrouville was liberated in August 1944 and that an initial order was placed for 20 units, deliveries to start in December that same year. Unfortunately a flooding of the Seine plus some production problems ensured that deliveries were not made until March nest year. The last of 40 built in total came off the production line during the spring of 1947. The last Aeronautique Navale aircraft were SOC in March 1954.

Trying to answer some of your other questions
3) When WW 2 was over there was not a single Do 24 in service with any Dutch forces anywhere. In the far east the units had been completely re-equipped with Catalinas and I doubt they had any plans or even considered to use any Do 24 again.

4) The two most notable users of the Do 24 post WW 2 were France (already discussed) and Spain. Spain kept their Do 24 going for a long time and there must have been ways to keep their fleet going, so presumably spares was not such a problem, at least not for them.

Australia used six during the war itself. By late 1944 they were all basically worn out and with a healthy supply of Catalinas there was no longer any need to keep them flying. All were scrapped during 1945 and I cannot see any valid reason for Australia to buy new built Do 24 from let's say France.

Sweden had one Do 24 in service between 1945 - 1951. It was well liked and considered a good design. When received it was not factory fresh but an escaper from Luftwaffe. I doubt the intentions from the Swedish Air Force at the time was to re-equip with any further Do 24. The one we had was received 'free of charge' and we used it until it was worn out and no longer economical to keep going. Since three Catalinas had been delivered by then, having none of the inbuilt problems the Do 24 had, it was simply wfu. I doubt Sweden went looking for spare parts to try and keep it flyable. The Catalinas were by then far more economical to operate.

With regard to Britain I can see no reason why they should have any interest in the Do 24. Beside testing it (as they did with all other aircraft they could find), I doubt it was even considered for any service use.

So I guess you can say that Catalinas 'took' most of the market post WW 2 but those nations who really used the Do 24, were able to do so for a considerable time.

Cheers
Stig
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