Do 335 flight by Schnaufer on 1st March 1945

[edwest2]

Translation by Google translate:


"On March 1, 1945, the commodore asked me to go to Gütersloh, a town above Dortmund, where the headquarters of NJG 4 was located; at that time I was with I Group in Vechta. We boarded a Junkers Ju 88 G-6 with my crew and flew to Gütersloh. There, Major Heinz Wolfgang Schnaufer, our commodore, told us that we should try out a new radar device and do an experimental flight with a Dornier Do 335 Pfeil. The version they provided us with the plane had a single seat for the pilot. The Dornier Do 335 had a front-engined engine and a rear-engined engine in the same fuselage. Following the instructions of the Dornier test drivers, Major Schnaufer made a 30-minute flight. I succeeded and also took a 30 minute flight around the base. The speed of this plane really impressed me. It was, as was said at the time, the fastest propeller plane in the world. What was unusual for us was the landing with nose gear (the Junkers Ju 88 and the Bf 110 G-4 had conventional landing gear) and with the ejection seat, which thank God we don't have to use. (Author's note: The Heinkel He 219 and the Dornier Do 335 were equipped with Vogt-Wissemann ejector seats, manufactured by Dräger). Unfortunately for those of us who flew "Zahme Sau" missions, this single-seat version did not suit the night fighter's interests. We needed at least a second seat, so a different radio system and onboard radar were installed and operated by a second man. To the best of our knowledge, Dornier produced two examples of the Dornier Do 335 twin model (one of which was the V-10). but none of them became operational in any night fighter command before the end of the war."