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Dornier Do H Falke

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Do H Falke
The WP-1 under test with the US Navy in about 1923
Role Fighter
Manufacturer Dornier
Designer Claude Dornier
First flight 1922
Primary user United States Navy
Number built Five[1]
Developed from Zeppelin-Lindau D.I
Variants Kawasaki KDA-3

The Dornier Do H Falke was a German single-seat fighter, designed by Claude Dornier and built by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. Although an advanced design for its time, being evaluated by the United States Navy as the Wright WP-1, it did not go into production.[1]

Development

The company started to design a prototype fighter in the early 1920s, based on earlier wartime designs like the Zeppelin-Lindau D.I. It was an all-metal high-wing cantilever monoplane, with the wing above the fuselage on four small struts. It had a conventional cantilever tail unit and a fixed tailskid landing gear. The pilot had an open cockpit just behind the trailing edge of the wing. The aircraft was powered by a Hispano-Suiza piston engine located in the nose. Two aircraft were built by the Swiss subsidiary of Dornier and three by S.D.C.M.P. in Italy,[1] to avoid restrictions on military aircraft production in Germany.[2] It first flew on 1 November 1922, but failed to go into production. One of the Falkes was converted to a floatplane in 1923, powered by a 261 kW (350 hp) BMW IVa V-12 engine, as the Dornier Seefalke.

One Seefalke was shipped to the United States of America by the Wright Aeronautical Company, who fitted it with a licence-built Wright-Hisso H-3 engine. It was evaluated by the United States Navy with the designation Wright WP-1.[2] It performed well, but the Navy considered the monoplane fighter too advanced for its needs.[1]

Operators

 United States

Specifications (Dornier-Wright WP-1)

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1480

General characteristics

  • Crew: one

Performance

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dornier Do H.

Related lists

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b c d "Dornier H Falke". Germany. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  2. ^ a b Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p. 496.
Bibliography
  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, (Part Work 1982-1985), Orbis Publishing
  • Andrade, John. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909, Midland Counties Publications, 1979, ISBN 0-904597-22-9.
  • Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter M. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London: Putnam. Second Edition, 1976. ISBN 0-370-10054-9.
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