The "Dornier" pictures of my grandfather

[Volker_DO4NC]

Thank you all for your help and comments. Of course there are some more pictures.

10) A totally damaged Bomber (DO ?), probably on the coast in northern France or in the Netherlands, my grandfather is standing on the wreck:



11) Another view of the wrecked plane. It looks like a biplane to me. Does someone have an idea what it could be ?



12) This looks like a test run to me, the plane could be the same as in 7):

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hello Volker!
Quite wonderful pictures! I do have tried to identify the flying boat, but got no joy...
Here´s a link to the Dorniers flying boats
http://www.msacomputer.com/FlyingBoa...n-Dornier.html
Could it have been a foreign flying boat captured by the Luftwaffe; or a civilian model also used for VIP or General purpose flights?
Did your father fly on operations? I remember a technician from Siemens and Telefunken that came to Brazil after the war. He told me he was with Hptm Lent when the first FuG 212 were installed. He also mentioned a flight he did with the Me 410 on night-fighter duties being a technician! On that mission they shot down a 4-engined bomber from the RAF. He died some years ago, but I enjoyed talk with him.
It is good to see that you do have interest on the achievements of your family. You came to the correct place. There are a lot of wonderful people here as well as a dozen of very Expert Writters and Historians ( with huges W and H ).
Wish you all the best
From Brazil
Adriano Baumgartner ( with Luftwaffe´s Baumgartners relatives on WW2 too! )

[Adriano Baumgartner]

PS: If this is really a Dornier, this is probably a Do-24!

[Ruy Horta]

No.10 & 11 don't look like a Dornier design at all.

Bi-plane, pre-war, very obsolete. Doesn't even look dutch to me, could it be some french design?

[obdl3945]

Hi...

I don't think the Do217E (photo 12) is the same machine as either 6 or 7... different degree of staffel colouring on the spinner.

As for the wreck... in its shown condition, I haven't a clue... LOL !

I'm very inclined towards Ruy's suggestion that it may be something French, as many of their inter-war designs were very 'chunky', shall I say, and this looks to be in that category. I'd definitely say a biplane, though. First glance, I have to admit, I thought it may be similar in layout to a Handley Page Hereford (hope that's right), the pre-war RAF biplane bomber, with twin engines and its lower wing slightly separate from the fuselage... Matchbox made a fine model of it in 1/72 scale a good few years ago.

Regards...

[Von Alles]

Hi,
for the wreck, I suggest a french LéO H-257 (or in this serie) from the french navy.
It is upside down.

Von Alles

[obdl3945]

Gentlemen, along with Von Alles, my contender for the mysterious wrecked seaplane...

Loire et Olivier LeO H-258. I also believe in the photo, the wings have flopped forwards, so much so, that they are actually upside down. Note the rear engine nacelle on the thumbnails, very angular and squared off, just like the remnants of the engine nacelles on the wreck... and credit where due, Von Alles just pipped me to posting the answer... well done... !

[Volker_DO4NC]

Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner

Hello Volker!
Quite wonderful pictures! I do have tried to identify the flying boat, but got no joy...
Here´s a link to the Dorniers flying boats
http://www.msacomputer.com/FlyingBoa...n-Dornier.html
Could it have been a foreign flying boat captured by the Luftwaffe; or a civilian model also used for VIP or General purpose flights?
Did your father fly on operations? I remember a technician from Siemens and Telefunken that came to Brazil after the war. He told me he was with Hptm Lent when the first FuG 212 were installed. He also mentioned a flight he did with the Me 410 on night-fighter duties being a technician! On that mission they shot down a 4-engined bomber from the RAF. He died some years ago, but I enjoyed talk with him.
It is good to see that you do have interest on the achievements of your family. You came to the correct place. There are a lot of wonderful people here as well as a dozen of very Expert Writters and Historians ( with huges W and H ).
Wish you all the best
From Brazil
Adriano Baumgartner ( with Luftwaffe´s Baumgartners relatives on WW2 too! )

Hello Adriano,

after the mysterious plane seems to be identified, i'd like to tell you that i know very few about what my grandfather did in wartime. There is only one person still alive who could tell me, but she lives far away. I have some photos here that were shot out of a flying plane, but i do not think he went on missions. I think he inspected and repaired crashed or shot-down airplanes for his employer, Dornier. There are no photos showing him in uniform, but sometimes he's pictured with soldiers. I don't think he was a member of the army in the early days of war. For the later days of war i'm missing information; photos of the post-war time are existing.

Greetings to Brazil

Volker

[Volker_DO4NC]

Here's the last set of pictures for today:

13) Shot-down bomber, it seems to be the same as in 9) :



Larger version:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3288/...62bfa654_o.jpg

14) Crash-landing of a DO-217:



Larger version:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3093/...2fbeceeb_o.jpg

15) Another hard landing for a DO-217:



Larger version:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2133/...32b8cc2d_b.jpg

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Dear Volker,

Thanks so much for sharing your fantastic picture collection. You see from all the reactions you get that the whole TOCH community is gearing up to shed more light on those unique documents of your grand father.

As I'm not a Dornier specialist, I won't be of much help, but I immensly enjoy discovering your collection, as the Dornier 217 subtype is not that well documented and as this bird always caught my interest, especialy the Do 217 K.

As Adriano, I tried to identify the totally wrecked and half sunken machine on which your grand-father strolls. The only sure thing I can suggest is to rule out all Dornier productions, in favour of a Fench design, though not a Latécoère. Am keeping up the research on this matter. And just noticed the identification is done! I hadn't checked back since two hours LOL...

Again, thanks for your generosity, and hoping that fresh knowledge will further enhance your family records.

Sincerely

Marc