Do 17Z-7

[Carsten Petersen]

What happened to Do 17Z-7 Werke Nummer 2817 coded R4+HK. It crashlanded on the 9th of November 1940 and got 10% damaged. What was its final fate ??

[Chris Goss]

It doesn't figure again in Do 17 losses

[Mikael Olrog]

It survived well in to 1943

[Carsten Petersen]

Thanks friends, that closed a whole in my knowledge
Carsten

[TigerTimon]

According to the Dutch Loss Register, this was a Do 17 Z-10.
The aircraft was damaged by a Hurricane 20 km east of Lincoln and was belly-landed at Gilze-Rijen, with two injured crew members on board.

[Chris Goss]

That is incorrect; this is taken from my forthcoming book based on the photo of the aircraft on the ground after its return:

Do 17 Z-7, Wk Nr 2817 R4+HK of 2./NJG 2. Damaged by Flak on an intruder sortie on 9 November 1940, it crash-landed at Gilze-Rijen. Ofw Herbert Schmidt (F) was injured but Ofw Paul Rosenberger (BF) and Uffz Karl Lang (BM) were slightly injured. Note no Spanner Anlage on this aircraft. Luftwaffe records list this aircraft as being a Z-10 but the nose would indicate otherwise.

[Mikael Olrog]

The interesting thing is that it is registered correctly as a Z-7 in the Gen.Qu. Loss list which means that the Z-10 designation entered in for example Balss' book and "Deutsche nachtjagd Materialverluste in Ausbildung und Einsatz" is a post war man made error - much like the Vkz. R4+HL Vkz given by the same source instead of the accurate R4+HK.

[Chris Goss]

Here it is

[TigerTimon]

Thank you Chris and Mikael for clearing it up.

I unfortunately find an error every now and then in Michael Balss records...

Nice picture, the nose looks reworked? Or is that damage to the photo print?

Regards,

Timon

[Rottler]

According to the Gen.Qu. loss return from 10 Nov 1940 item 14 only the BF and the BM were injured. This entry was corrected on 22 May 1941: both were uninjured.

Here a quote from Luftwaffe im Focus edition 10 pages 12 and 13 with a photo of a Do 17 Z-7 in service with 2./NJG 2 at Gilze Rijen:

"… This three-seat aircraft represented an attempt by Dornier to provide the Luftwaffe with a long-range night-fighter. Dornier simply fitted the nose of the Ju 88 C, including armament (1 MG 151, 3 MG 17s), onto a Do 17 bomber, production of which had terminated. The resulting conversion was designated the Do 17 Z-6 "Kauz" (Owl). As this initial conversion was very makeshift in appearance, Dornier reworked the C-nose to better fit the Do 17 fuselage. The result was the Do 17 Z-7 "Kauz I". Just three aircraft were so converted in the summer of 1940, however only two have so far been identified, Werknr. 2834 and 2817…… From Gilze Rijen the aircraft flew long-range night-fighter missions over England. At 0900 hours on 9 Nov. 1940, while on such mission, Werknr. 2817 (R4+HK) was damaged in a combat with a Hurricane near Lincoln. Pilot Ofw. Schmidt flew the aircraft back to Gilze Rijen on one engine and made a belly landing at the edge of the airfield. Damage was assessed at 10%. The aircraft was repaired and in 1941 was still serving with the Gruppe in Sicily…".

Regards
Leo