by Leebee0 » Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:57 am I was invited along by my friends at the RAF Museum Cosford for close up look at the recently raised Dornier Do17.
The aircraft can be viewed by the public but only from a small window at the top of the hydration tunnels.
These pictures were taken from inside each of the hydration tunnels which are not open to the public.
The hydration tunnels
The hydration tunnels are split into two tunnels the left one has the fuselage and the right one contains the wings and undercarriage which are still in one piece. The aircraft is in these to try and stabilise the structure and is sprayed every 10mins or so to help clean up the structure
History of the aircraft is not complete but here goes with what is known. Most of this info coming from original PoW interrogation reports.
Built as a Do 17Z-2, with two supercharged Bramo ‘Fafnir’ 323P-1 nine-cylinder radial engines; the ultimate, and most numerous, model of the Do 17 produced.
Allotted to 7/KG3 (7 Staffel (Squadron), III Gruppe of KG.3 with fuselage codes 5K+AR. Based at St Trond in Belgium.
Research by the Air Historical Branch and RAF Museum has identified the aircraft lying on the Goodwin Sands as probably being Dornier 17 Z-2 Ser No 1160 of 7 Staffel, III Gruppe/KG3 (7th Sqn of 3rd Group of Bomber Wing 3).
Coded 5K + AR, this aircraft was lost on Monday 26 August 1940 which was part of a formation despatched to bomb Debden and Hornchurch airfields.
Before reaching the target, when flying above clouds, the aircraft became separated from the rest of the formation and lost its bearings. It was then attacked by fighters (Boulton Paul Defiants from 264 Sqn based at Hornchurch in Essex). Both engines were hit as was the cockpit. With at least one of their engines stopped, a forced landing was made on the Goodwin Sands. The identity of the RAF fighter responsible for shooting it down has not been confirmed as it may have been shot down by the escorting German fighters from Jagdgeschwader 3 (Fighter Wing 3).
So here are my shots of the fuselage. It is still upside down and they are unsure if they will ever be able to get it the right way up. It was very hot and steamy inside the first tunnel as can be seen in some of these first shots. Also the smell was pretty bad!
Ok into the second tunnel which has more bits you can recognise!
A propeller and you can see the original black paintwork starting to show through! I was told that when they arrived none of that was visible so the cleaning process is already working!
I think this is an engine :question:
Engine bay and undercarriage
An identification plate which would have been on the underside but as she is lying upside down it is now on the top.
Finally just a few random bits that were lying around?
Well thanks for looking and i hope you have found this interesting it was so difficult trying to keep this down to an acceptable length but that very hard with such a unique project.This is the only known substantially intact Dornier Do-17. A few components from other machines survive, including the rudder, spinner and propeller blade displayed in the Battle of Britain Hall at Hendon.
I have loads more pics and info about this project so if you are interested in finding out anything more please PM me and i will get back to you as soon as i can.
Thanks for looking
Cheers
Lee.
