Dornier Flugzeugwerke was a German

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

founded in

Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...

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

Originally Dornier Metallbau, Dornier Flugzeugwerke took over Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen production facilities ( Weingarten, Warnemünde, and the former

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

shed at Manzell) when it failed in 1923. Dornier was well known between the two world wars as a manufacturer of large, all-metal

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

s and of land based airliners. The record-breaking 1924 Wal () was used on many long distance flights and the Do X set records for its immense size and weight. Dornier's successful landplane airliners, including the Komet (''Comet'') and Merkur (''Mercury''), were used by

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

and other European carriers during the 1920s and early 30s. Dornier built its aircraft outside Germany during much of this period due to the restrictions placed on German aircraft manufacturers by the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

: locations included Altenrhein,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, 12 km from Zeppelin's Lindau (Bodensee) location. Foreign factories licence-building Dornier products included CMASA and Piaggio in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, CASA in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, Kawasaki in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and Aviolanda in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Once the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

government came to power and abandoned the treaty's restrictions, Dornier resumed production in Germany. The success of the Wal family encouraged the development of derivatives, and of more advanced successors, such as the Do 18, and Do 24 which saw service in several armed forces, including German, into

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Dornier's most important World War II military aircraft design was the Do 17, nicknamed ''The Flying Pencil''. It first flew in 1934 as a mailplane for Lufthansa but due to its narrow fuselage (hence its nickname) it was not commercially viable and was passed over. Dornier then developed it further as a military aircraft, with a prototype bomber flying in 1935, and in 1937 it was used in by the German Condor Legion during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Production continued in Germany and it was developed to fill multiple roles for the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. As a medium

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

it saw service during the early part of

, particularly during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

. It was later developed into a nightfighter to counter the RAF bomber offensive. Dornier developed the similar looking Do 217 from the Do 17 but it was a larger and completely new design. Dornier also developed the fastest piston-engined fighter of the war, the twin-engined Do 335, which was too late to see service. After WWII, aircraft production was again forbidden in Germany, and Dornier relocated to

and then to

where the firm provided aeronautical consultancy services until returning to Germany in 1954. Post-war, Dornier re-established itself with successful

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

Do 27 and Do 28 utility planes. In 1974 it joined a joint venture with French aircraft manufacturers Dassault-Breguet to develop the Alpha Jet. In 1983,

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian public sector aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bengaluru. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the world. H ...

(HAL) acquired a production licence for the Dornier 228 and manufactured the aircraft for the Asian market. By 2013 a total of 117 Dornier 228 aircraft had been produced by HAL with plans to build 20 more during 2013-14. Pushpindar Singh Chopra was the agent of Dornier to India during this contract. In 1985, Dornier became a member of the

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

group, integrating its aeronautic assets with the parent company. As part of this transaction,

Lindauer Dornier Lindauer DORNIER GmbH is a family-owned business textile machinery manufacturer located in Lindau, Germany. Originally part of the Dornier GmbH it was spun off in 1985. External links Company website
Machine manufacturers Textile machinery ma ...

GmbH was spun off, creating a separate, family-owned firm, concentrating on textile machinery design and manufacturing. The rest of the company was split into several subsidiaries for defence, satellites, medtech and aircraft. In 1996, the majority of Dornier Aircraft was acquired by Fairchild Aircraft, forming Fairchild Dornier. This company became insolvent in early 2002. Production of its 328 Jet was acquired by US company Avcraft. Asian groups continued to show interest in its 728 version in August 2004, but production was not restarted. Dornier 228 production was taken over by Swiss manufacturer RUAG, who then sold it off to General Atomics in 2020. Other subsidiaries became part of the

EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

. The medtech division was sold to an investment company and now bears the name Dornier MedTech. Dornier Medtech manufactures medical equipment, such as the ''Dornier S lithotripter'', HM3, Compact Delta to treat

kidney stone Kidney stone disease (known as nephrolithiasis, renal calculus disease, or urolithiasis) is a crystallopathy and occurs when there are too many minerals in the urine and not enough liquid or hydration. This imbalance causes tiny pieces of cr ...

s. Dornier MedTech also manufactures laser devices for a wide range of applications.

Dornier Seaplane Company

The Dornier family have a spin-off company and project, the Dornier Seastar. It is a turboprop-powered

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft, or amphibian, is an aircraft that can Takeoff, take off and Landing, land on both solid ground and water. These aircraft are typically Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing, though Amphibious helicopter, amphibious helicopte ...

built largely of composite materials. This was developed by , and later by his son Conrado by Dornier Seawings.

Dornier Technologie

Claude's grandson, , founded Dornier Technologie in 1996 to manufacture the Dornier S-Ray 007.

Dornier aircraft projects

Letter designations (before 1933)

(Does not include designations for aircraft built while Dornier was with '' Zeppelin-Lindau'') * Dornier Do Gs I Precursor to Wal destroyed by Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control (1919) * Dornier Do A Libelle (I 1921, III redesignated Do 12) * Dornier Spatz Landplane version of Do A (1922) * Dornier Do B Merkur, airliner; development of Do C (1926) * Dornier Do C Komet, military version of the Komet (I 1921, II 1922, III 1926) * Dornier Do C 2, 3, 4 Fighter unrelated to earlier Do C, redesignated Do 10 in 1933 (C 2 ?, C 3 1931, C 4 1932) * Dornier Do D, heavily revised floatplane torpedo bomber version for the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (1929) * Dornier Do E, small reconnaissance flying boat (1924) * Dornier Do F, heavy bomber (1932); redesignated Do 11 in 1933 * Dornier Do G ''Greif'' (Cancelled 1920 project) * Dornier Do H Falke, fighter developed from the Zeppelin-Lindau D.I (1922) * Dornier Do I, twin-engine long range reconnaissance aircraft (1923) * Dornier Do J Wal, twin-engine flying boat (1922) * Dornier Do K, four-engine airliner/cargo freighter (K 1 1929, K 2 1929, K 3 1931) * Dornier Do L Delphin, single-engine commercial flying boat (I 1920, II 1921, III 1927) * Dornier Do N Design for the Imperial Japanese Army and used as ''Type 87 Heavy Bomber''. Internal Kawasaki designation was Ka 87 (1926) * Dornier Do O Wal Custom built version of Do J for expedition to South America (1924) * Dornier Do P, four-engine heavy bomber (1930); led to the Do 11 * Dornier Do Q * Dornier Do R.2 and R.4 Superwal, two (later four) engine flying boat airliner (1924) * Dornier Do S, four-engine, 22-passenger flying boat airliner (1930) * Dornier Do T, Komet/Merkur converted to air ambulance * Dornier Do U (Cancelled civil variant of Do Y) * Dornier Do X 12-engine passenger flying boat (1929); largest flying boat at the time * Dornier Do Y, trimotor monoplane bomber (1930, redesignated Do 15) Additional unbuilt projects include 3 different Schneider Trophy racers from 1924, 1928 and 1931 and a large multi-engine seaplane similar to the Do X with engines buried in the wings.

1933-1945

* Dornier Do 10, RLM designation for the Do C4 * Dornier Do 11, RLM designation for the Do F * Dornier Do 12, small flying boat * Dornier Do 13, twin-engine bomber; improved Do 11 * Dornier Do 14, experimental seaplane * Dornier Do 15, RLM designation for the Do Y * Dornier Do 16, RLM designation for the Do J II Wal *

Dornier Do 17 The Dornier Do 17 is a twin-engined light bomber designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Flugzeugwerke. Large numbers were operated by the ''Luftwaffe'' throughout the Second World War. The Do 17 was designed during ...

, twin-engine light bomber; nicknamed ''Fliegender Bleistift'' ("flying pencil") * Dornier Do 18, flying boat; Do 16 development * Dornier Do 19, four-engine heavy bomber, Ural bomber candidate * Dornier Do 20, proposed passenger flying boat; improved and enlarged Do X with wing-mounted diesel engines * Dornier Do 22, torpedo bomber/reconnaissance seaplane; only for the export market * Dornier Do 23, twin-engine medium bomber; improved Do 11 * Dornier Do 24, three-engine reconnaissance/SAR/bomber flying boat * Dornier Do 26, four-engine transport/reconnaissance flying boat * Dornier Do 29 (1934), proposed heavy fighter (''Zerstörer'') derived from the Do 17; number reused postwar * Dornier Do 212, experimental flying boat * Dornier Do 214, long-range transport flying boat project; cancelled by 1943 due to the worsening war situation * Dornier Do 215, light bomber/night fighter; originally designated Do 17Z * Dornier Do 216, four-engine large military flying boat project; rejected due to lack of demand * Dornier Do 217, bomber developed from the Do 17 * Dornier Do 317, medium bomber prototype developed from the Do 217; cancelled as it had no advantage over the Do 217 * Dornier Do 318, enlarged Do 24 (project) *

Dornier Do 335 The Dornier Do 335 ''Pfeil'' (Arrow) is a heavy fighter built by Dornier for Germany during World War II. The ''Pfeil''s performance was predicted to be better than other twin-engine designs due to its unusual push-pull configuration and the l ...

, fighter-bomber * Dornier Do 417, twin-engine multirole aircraft project; cancelled as it was inferior to the Ju 188 * Dornier Do 635, twin fuselage version of Do 335; also known as Do 335Z * Dornier P.59, fighter project * Dornier P.85, "Sea-Stuka", twin-engine; similar to Do 217 with floats * Dornier P.184, transport; parallel development to the BV 144 * Dornier P.232, mixed propulsion fighter * Dornier P.247, single-seat fighter with pusher propeller; further development of the Do 335 * Dornier P.252, night fighter with two Jumo 213 engines * Dornier P.254, mixed-propulsion aircraft * Dornier P 256, turbojet night fighter version of the Do 335 * Dornier P.273, high-altitude fighter

1945-present

* Dornier Do 25, prototype for Do 27 * Dornier Do 27, STOL light utility aircraft * Dornier Do 28, twin-engine STOL light utility aircraft developed from Do 27 * Dornier Do 29, experimental V/STOL aircraft with tilting propellers * Dornier Do 31, experimental jet engine VTOL transport * Dornier Do 32, ultralight, collapsible tip jet helicopter * Dornier 128, improved Do 28D-2 * Dornier Do 131, version of Do 31 with liftjets * Dornier Do 132, utility helicopter with tip jets (project) * Dornier 228 - twin turboprop STOL utility aircraft developed from the Do 28 * Dornier Do 231, VTOL transport aircraft project * Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, light attack jet/advanced trainer * Dornier 328, turboprop commuter airliner * Fairchild Dornier 328JET, turbofan version of 328 * Fairchild Dornier 428JET, proposed stretched version of the 328JET; cancelled August 2000 * Fairchild Dornier 728 family, proposed regional jetliner; cancelled in 2002 when Fairchild Dornier went bankrupt * Dornier Aerodyne, wingless VTOL aircraft * Dornier Seastar, turboprop amphibious aircraft * Dornier S-Ray 007, two-seat, single-engine amphibious aircraft * Dornier LA-2000 (Study for a stealth strike aircraft with full delta wing similar to A-12 Avenger)http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1986/1986%20-%201271.html?search=dornier%20stealth%20aircraft

Dornier Automobile Projects

* Dornier Delta * Dornier Delta II, developed for Hymer

Dornier Faint Object Camera

Dornier GmbH built the Faint Object Camera for the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

, which was used from 1990 to 2002. The ESA funded the unit, which actually consists of two complete and independent camera systems designed to provide extremely high resolution, exceeding 0.05

arcsecond A minute of arc, arcminute (abbreviated as arcmin), arc minute, or minute arc, denoted by the symbol , is a unit of angular measurement equal to of a degree. Since one degree is of a turn, or complete rotation, one arcminute is of a tu ...

s. It is designed to view very faint UV light from 115 to 650 nanometers in wavelength. It was the last original instrument on the Hubble when it was replaced by the Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002.

Missile projects

* Dornier Viper

Spacecraft

* AMC-5 (satellite) * Project 621 (rocket)

References

External links

DFW's Web Page

{{Dornier aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of Germany German companies established in 1914 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1914 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2002 Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany Companies based in Friedrichshafen German companies disestablished in 2002