The Dornier Do K was a German commercial passenger and freight

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

, designed by

Claude Dornier Claude (Claudius) Honoré Désiré Dornier (14 May 1884 – 5 December 1969) was a Franco-German airplane designer and founder of Dornier GmbH. His notable designs include the 12-engine Dornier Do X flying boat, for decades the world's la ...

and built by

Dornier Flugzeugwerke Dornier Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claude Dornier. Over the course of its long lifespan, the company produced many designs for both the civil and military markets. History Originall ...

. Only three prototypes of different designs were built and the type was not a commercial success.

Design and development

Do K1

The first Dornier Do K was the K1 which first flew on 7 May 1929. The K1 was a conventionally-braced high-wing monoplane, powered by a single nose-mounted licence-built Bristol Jupiter VI radial engine, and had a

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

with a tailskid. The square-section fuselage had an enclosed cockpit for two with a cabin behind for freight or eight passengers. Test flights showed that performance was poor and the aircraft was redesigned.

Do K2

The Do K2 flew in December 1929 with similar wings and fuselage but had a changed landing gear and four

Gnome-Rhone Titan The Bristol Titan was a British five-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in the late 1920s. It had the same size cylinders as the earlier Bristol Mercury engine, (displacing ), and produced ...

radial engines. The four engines were strut mounted on each side of the fuselage in tandem pairs, one in tractor configuration and the other as a pusher. Although the aircraft had an increase in available power, the performance was little improved on the K1.

Do K3

The K3 was a complete rethink of the design. The braced wing was replaced with a cantilever wing of larger span. The fuselage was changed to oval and stretched for two extra passengers and the tailskid was replaced with a tailwheel and the main units were enclosed in fairings. The four engines were in the same tandem arrangement as the K2, but located lower on the fuselage and changed to

Walter Castor The Walter Castor was a Czechoslovakian seven-cylinder, air-cooled radial engine for powering aircraft that was developed in the late 1920s. The Super Castor was a nine-cylinder development.Gunston 1989, p. 174. Castor I production began in 1928 ...

radial engines. The performance was greatly improved but still provoked little interest and no others were built.

Specifications (Do K3)

Dornier_Do_K3_3-view_NACA_aircraft_Circular_No

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

"Do-K Shows Speed In Test Flights", May 1932, Popular Mechanics
{{Dornier aircraft Do K 1920s German airliners Four-engined push-pull aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1929