Dornier Do 17 in the Battle of Britain: The 'Flying Pencil' in the Spitfire Summer

By Chris Goss

During Britain’s desperate struggle for survival that in the summer of 1940, the Dornier Do 17 played a prominent part in raids designed at neutralizing the RAF’s ability to resist and the British people’s will to fight back. Having been built to outrun contemporary fighters when introduced into the Luftwaffe in 1937, it had become the Luftwaffe’s main light bomber, and for the attack against Britain, three bomber wings, KG 2, KG3 and KG77, were equipped with the Do 17. But by 1940, the Do 17 was nearing obsolescence and, with its weak defensive armament, it fell prey to Fighter Command’s Hurricanes and Spitfires.

Its vulnerability was starkly revealed on 18 August 1940, when eight Dorniers were shot down and nine damaged in attacks on RAF Kenley, and on 15 September – Battle of Britain Day – when twenty were shot down and a further thirteen damaged. On that day, Sergeant Ray Holmes rammed his Hurricane into a Do 17 that was reportedly aiming for Buckingham Palace. Part of the bomber’s wreckage fell to earth near Victoria Station.

In this comprehensive pictorial record of the Do 17, the bomber’s role throughout the period of the Battle of Britain is displayed in the author’s unique collection of British and German photographs. These photographs, coupled with first-hand stories from those who flew and those who fought against the Do 17, bring those desperate days and dark nights back to life in the manner which only contemporary images and accounts can achieve.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Jan 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781526781215

Chris Goss

Having retired from the RAF with the rank of Wing Commander, CHRIS GOSS is a regular and highly respected contributor to major aviation publications in the UK, France and Germany.

Book preview

DORNIER Do 17

IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

DORNIER Do 17

IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

The ‘Flying Pencil’ in the Spitfire Summer

Chris Goss

DORNIER Do 17 IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

The ‘Flying Pencil’ in the Spitfire Summer

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

Air World

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire – Philadelphia

Copyright © Chris Goss, 2022

ISBN 978 1 52678 120 8

ePUB ISBN 978 1 52678 121 5

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52678 121 5

The right of Chris Goss to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Contents

Introduction

Glossary

Chapter 1 July 1940

Chapter 2 August 1940

Chapter 3 September and October 1940

Chapter 4 Dornier Do 17 Aircraft Casualties

Chapter 5 Dornier Do 17 Crew Casualties

APPENDICES

Appendix I Main Dornier Do 17 Combat Variants in the Battle of Britain

Appendix II Dornier Do 17 Combat Units on 13 August 1940

Appendix III Other Battle of Britain Dornier Do 17 Units

Appendix IV Major Executive Officers in Dornier Do 17 Offensive Units

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Introduction

As early as March 1933, the Reichswehrministerium (later the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, or RLM) wrote to Dornier Werke GmbH expressing the wish for a ‘cargo plane with special equipment’ – in other words a bomber. As a result, between 1933 and 1937 Dornier developed and built twenty-one prototypes for various purposes under contract to the RLM.

In October 1935, Dornier revealed its Do 17V1, a twin-engine commercial transport aircraft which had first flown on 23 November 1934. This aircraft would be capable of carrying six passengers at relatively high speed. The Do 17’s aerodynamic design together with the twin liquid-cooled BMW VI engines, the most powerful aero engines available in Germany at that time, met this requirement, but also enabled it to achieve speeds nearly 60 mph superior to other aircraft entering service with the embryonic Luftwaffe.

The first units to convert to the Do 17E-1 were I./Kampfgeschwader 153 (I./KG 153) and I./KG 155. Soon after Aufklärungsgruppe (Fern) 122 ((F/122) began converting to the Do 17F-1. The remaining Gruppen of KG 153 and KG 155 converted throughout 1937, with KG 255 forming in the spring of 1937. With this rapid expansion of Do 17-equipped units came the opportunity to test the aircraft in combat, when, in March 1937, the first of three Do 17Es arrived in Spain.

It is thought that the Do 17 flew its first mission on 12 March 1937. Valuable lessons were learnt by the Luftwaffe’s Legion Condor – experiences that would prove invaluable some two years later.

With the attack on Poland on 1 September 1939, the campaign saw the largest ever concentration of Do 17s with around 20 Staffeln of Do 17Ps being used for reconnaissance and KG 2, KG 3, KG 76 and KG 77 being used for bomber operations with Do 17E, M and Z in support of ground troops. In addition, nine Stuka Gruppen used small numbers of Do 17M/Ps for support and reconnaissance work.

The first Do 17 operational mission of the Second World War was flown by III./KG 3 against approaches to the railway bridge at Dirschau (now Tczew in Poland). Do 17 losses throughout the campaign were light due to the Luftwaffe’s air superiority. However, the Do 17’s Achilles Heel still remained its small bomb load and limited range, thus it increasingly became side-lined by the He 111’s bigger bomb load and the Ju 88’s better speed and range. As a result, even by the end of 1939, production of the Do 17 was already slowing down.

From the start of the war, Do 17s were quite active carrying out reconnaissance missions over France, Belgium and Holland. The first loss on these operations was a Do 17P which suffered engine failure during a reconnaissance of the East Coast of England on 26 October 1939; it force-landed in neutral Holland where its crew were interned. The first Do 17P to be shot down in combat in the West occurred on 30 October 1939, when Pilot Officer Peter ‘Boy’ Mould of No.1 Squadron shot down an aircraft of 2.(F)/123. It crashed and exploded at Traveron with the death of its crew.

The severe weather of winter 1939-1940 curtailed air operations and it was not until 11 January 1940 that the