Interesting Aerodynamic Fix on the Do-335

[Broncazonk]

I saw something last night in a photo of a Do-335 that I've never seen before.

Look directly below the GI's feet at the leading edge of wing root. Notice how 'pinched' and 'sharp' the leading edge is? Then right next to the handle of the step ladder the leading edge transitions back to a normal profile.

You can see this design feature again (faintly) on the 107 bird.

It took me an hour of searching before I discovered what this is. On Pg. 67 of the Smith, Creek & Hitchcock text is a photo of it with the following caption. "A close-up of the wing leading edge stall strip. This device acts as a stall originator which improves the lateral control thereby allowing the wing tips to stall last." (See photo below.)

The wing of Do-335 apparently didn't utilize 'washout' which is the standard and usual (Ta-152H) way of dealing with wing tip stall. (Washout is difficult and time consuming to build into a wing.)

Now here is the interesting part! Not every Do-335 had the stall strip installed. See the last photo. I've looked at clear, very large copies of this photo and the stall strip isn't on the plane. It's a normal wing root.

Bronc