Dornier Do H Falke

Do H Falke
	The WP-1 under test with the US Navy in about 1923
Role	Fighter
Manufacturer	Dornier
Designer	Claudius Dornier
First flight	1922
Primary user	United States Navy
Number built	Five

The Dornier Do H Falke was a German single-seat fighter designed by Claudius 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

United States Navy

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

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Dornier H Falke". Germany. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
^ ^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.

[Histav-1] "Dornier H Falke". Germany. Retrieved 25 February 2012.

[USNavyp496-2] Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p. 496.

[1]

[2]

v t e Dornier and Zeppelin-Lindau aircraft
Zeppelin-Lindau 1914-1919	Rs.I Rs.II Rs.III Rs.IV CL.I CL.II CS.I D.I Gs.I Gs.II V 1
Dornier designations 1919-1933	Do A Do B Do C Do D Do E Do F Do G (project) Do H Do J Do K Do L Do N Do O Do P Do Q Do R Do S Do T Do U Do V Do X Do Y Delphin Falke Komet Libelle Merkur Spatz Wal
RLM designations 1933-1945	Do 10 Do 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Do 16 Do 17 (Operational history) Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Do 25 Do 26 Do 29 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 216 Do 217 Do 317 Do 318 Do 335 Do 417 Do 435 Do 635 P.59 P.85 P.174 P.184 P.192 P.231 P.232 P.238 P.247 P.252 P.254 P.256 P.273 P.1075
Dornier designations post-1945	Do 24 Do 25 Do 27 Do 28 Do 29 Do 31 Do 32 Do 32K Do 34 128 Do 131 Do 132 228 Do 231 328 328JET 428 528 728JET 928JET Aerodyne Alpha Jet Projekt 621 Seastar S-Ray 007
See also Claude Dornier and Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen

v t e United States Navy fighter designations pre-1962
General Aviation Brewster	FA FA² F2A F3A
Boeing	FB F2B F3B F4B F5B F6B F7B F8B
Curtiss	FC F2C F3C F4C F5C¹ F6C F7C F8C F9C F10C F11C F12C F13C F14C F15C
Douglas McDonnell	FD F2D² F3D F4D F5D F6D FD F2D
Grumman	FF F2F F3F F4F F5F F6F F7F F8F F9F -1 to -5 -6 to -8 -9 F10F F11F -1F/2 F12F (I) F12F (II)
Eberhart Goodyear	FG F2G FG F2G
Hall McDonnell	FH FH F2H F3H F4H
Berliner-Joyce North American	FJ F2J F3J FJ -1 -2/3 -4
Loening Bell	FL FL F2L-1 F2L-1K F3L
General Motors	FM F2M F3M
Lockheed	FO (I) FO (II)
Ryan	FR F2R F3R
Supermarine	FS
Northrop	FT F2T
Vought	FU F2U F3U F4U F5U F6U F7U F8U -3
Lockheed	FV
Wright CC&F	WP F2W F3W FW² F2W² F3W² F4W
Convair	FY F2Y
¹ Not assigned • ² Assigned to a different manufacturer's type See also: Aeromarine AS • Vought VE-7

Development

Operators

Specifications (Dornier-Wright WP-1)

See also

References