Dornier Do. 335 - Hitler's Steel Arrow

One of WWII's strangest aircraft, the Dornier 335 was also one of its best. Find out how the Germans developed this extraordinary push-pull plane and how it was used in the war.
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[@troopx]

Can’t believe they’ve got footage of this aircraft, Wow!

[@vasili1207]

Why not propaganda was germany best weapon.

[@Br1cht]

@@vasili1207 Well, the Soviets were really good at that too(Eisenstein et al)

[@doofkos]

@Agent J, it's stolen from Dutch Fokker: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_D.XXIII

[@patrickwallace8186]

@Agent J Good one.lol

[@ProfessorPesca]

I want 10 hours of Mark saying “Oberpfaffenhofen” please.

[@petryjkcr]

So, a little bit of history here. From 1970 to 1980, my family lived in Reston, Virginia. While there, my father, a WWII veteran, told me a story (one of many) of a plane he saw near Munich after WWII. A much publicized air race was to be conducted between an American Mustang and a German plane from a local factory that had props in the front and back. He did not know what the aircraft was, but I knew immediately because of my aircraft model building hobby, and I told him it must have been the Dornier Do335. He described the air race thus - (forgive my recollection of these events which may not be completely accurate) - the planes were to take off from an airport (perhaps Oberpfaffenhofen), and when in position, fly from the air control tower at the airport to a nearby church steeple, then return - the first plane to complete the lap would be the winner. He stated he could see both aircraft for the entire race, and witnessed the German aircraft leave the Mustang in it's wake as it headed to the church steeple. The lead of the German plane appeared insurmountable, until it attempted to make the turn, at which point it began tracing an obscenely wide oval shape while the Mustang flew a comparatively tight course, and pulled ahead to make it back to the airport tower first. Unknown to both of us until my family and I took a vacation and visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia 5 years ago, it's very likely that this exact plane ended up in storage with the Smithsonian Museum system within a few miles of where we lived in the 1970's! Sadly, my father passed away in 2010, and never knew... There's a very good book I bought at the U-H Center which chronicles the U.S. effort to retrieve German aircraft for the purpose of testing. It mentions the two Do335 and has some very interesting information concerning its' rebuild by some of the original German technicians (who found the explosives which separate the prop had not been removed) as well as the flight to Cherbourg France (I believe), where once again the Do335 outraced the 2 Mustang escorts to their destination (you wouldn't think that would be a smart move on the part of the pilot).

[@logitimate]

@Doc Vega Real-world performance of a given individual aircraft doesn't always match specification data, especially that early in production.

[@legoeasycompany]

Oh boy we're getting onto the rarer types of aircraft, hopefully you get around to digging up more info on the Arado 234 sometime Mr. Felton

[@bobbryan4887]

Exceptional and unique plane! Wow!

[@ConjointVR]

Robert Manos he has done the arado before

[@gunner2225]

"Might have changed Germany's fortunes if it had been introduced earlier in the war" That's Germany for ya

[@jorgealdridge6665]

Loves to start wars just can't manage them

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

The Meisters of "KuddaWuddaShudda!"

[@christopherconard2831]

That could be applied to about a dozen projects and strategies.

[@zxbzxbzxb1]

Forgive me if I'm a little sceptical about that claim...

[@berrytharp1334]

He is right, It would have killed more german pilots faster than the allied planes.

[@samg5463]

Forget stealing the declaration of independence, I want to take that restored Do 335

[@dntertainment5435]

Ive been to that museum and seen it. It’s a huge plane, very impressive. Absolutely dwarfs the Ar234 next to it - being a 2-engined bomber, it seems like it should be larger than the Dornier, but it’s much smaller

[@ArmyJames]

I like saying “Oberpfaffenhofen”, because it’s fun to say.

[@christosvoskresye]

Wastin' away again in Oberpfaffenhofen, Searchin' for my lost shaker of Pfeffer. Some people say that there's a T-34 to blame, But I know ... it's Paulus' fault.

[@docshred1787]

Gesundheit!

[@MsZsc]

Something something animaniacs

[@salientissues4109]

INDEED!!

[@Lockbar]

You could walk up to a girl and say: "Hey babe, you've got nice oberpfaffenhofen", and then step back to see what she does.

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

"Emergency fighter" *has a highly advanced jet engine propulsion*

[@jollyjohnzz]

Eric 'Winkle' Brown really liked it , his autobiography is marvellous. He flew more types of plane than any other man , a record still not beaten.

[@blchamblisscscp8476]

The Udvar-Hazy annex in Chantilly is the place to go if you’re in DC area and want to see aircraft. The Mall museum has some cool aircraft, but IMO the Annex has a bigger, better collection. The docents are always very interesting to hear their stories. First tour I was on was guided by a B-29 bombardier, second tour was led by a retired 747 pilot/flight engineer who flew with Pan Am. Well worth the trip from downtown out to the Annex. The Do 335 is just one piece in their amazing collection.

[@nicholasbloom2414]

I was at the Dornier Museum last week and was surprised to see how little the Luftwaffe valued the Do 335's potential as an interceptor.

[@lyndonlucier791]

how did you come to this conclusion ??

[@jensnimike176]

I think the Nazis mostly wanted Messeschmitt and Focke Wulf to make their fighters and the other factories to make other kinds of aircraft. Got this impression when reading Heinkels memoirs.

[@wolfsoldner9029]

Dorniers superior designs were often overlooked, because he was the only airplane producer who did not join the Nazi party.

[@sugarnads]

Lets see: costly, heavy... Silly diversion of effort.

[@sankyu3950]

It's the same thing with the bf110 the luftwaffe used it as a heavy fighter in the blitz and of course it performed terribly it wasn't made to be a turn fighter and since many were shot down it almost retired which could've ended the me 410 but they decided to give it another go by using it as a CAS which perform fantastic and which gave me 410 Hope

[@hughbo52]

Only Mark Felton is willing to find these nuggets of history. You bring forth facts of little known glimses into the reality of such a situation of broad events. Thank you Mark.

[@grantreichel6870]

The 335 has got to be my favorite of the wunderwaffe. Such a striking profile. Glad the Smithsonian saved one.

[@stonehaven]

Udvar-Hazy is spectacular. Been there twice. Allow a full day or, better, two. Do not bring young children or those not interested in aircraft and history. Wear comfortable shoes.

[@johneyton5452]

Ooooh that's top of my bucket list. I went to the NASM a few months before the Udvarr Hazy Centre opened, but I live so far away.

[@MrShadowpanther3]

No kidding. Nothing like trying to soak in the beautiful aircraft while being nagged for food, bathroom, i'm tired...

[@signrossi1]

Yes, most impressive for me was the SR 71. Very strange wingtip design.

[@greghowardbell]

Fascinating design. I have a little model of one on my bookcase.

[@commandingjudgedredd1841]

It is a thing of beauty.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

My favorite prop fighter of all time! Thank you Mark, now I can show my family and friends this gorgeous bird instead of trying to explain her. Cheers!🍻

[@dootdoot1828]

Never clicked so fast in my life

[@opoxious1592]

Me too, i was even faster, than my right finger shadow.

[@harcovanhees394]

Very nice item. I’m Dutch and have allways had the impression that the Do 335 is a successor of the Dutch Fokker D 23. I would not be suprised also because the Germaans could have studied the Fokker D23 after the invasion of France and the low countries in may 1940. See en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_D.XXIII ... more than coincidence, I think. The development by Fokker was delayed because of problems with the cooling of the second engine. Keep up the good work Mark

[@scowell]

Very glad to see footage of it flying... it is one of the most interesting planes on display at Udvar-Hazy. It is *really* big... you can walk under the wing. The plane had problems with the rear lower stabilizer, you can see in the films that the takeoff used very little rotation, that part was always getting banged up.

[@cdamauser1963]

I visited the smithsonian while on active duty in the USAF in the 1980's. I need to return to see what other aircraft have been added. Great museum.

[@simonrae8690]

When I lived in the USA I travelled there it is completely awesome museum. I recommend it to everyone just go to but spend probably two/three days very much like the imperial war museum in London brilliant experience.

[@Jpriest13]

It's surprisingly large in person. The entire museum at Dulles is worth the trip. The Heinkel 219 is actually smaller than I thought it would be. As is the Arado 234.

[@yoooopery]

This is one of my favorite aircraft. Thank you so much for making this.

[@doofkos]

But there is missing, that it is stolen: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_D.XXIII

[@Fenncer24]

yoopery ski Same here, this is my favorite and then the Focke Wolf Fw 190 and the Me-262.

[@yashtee-v5084]

Im a simple man i see mark felton and hitler i click and watch 👌🏻👌🏻

[@Rendell001]

I'm very interested in these "Push-Pull" designs and Mark does mention Dornier's other sea plane designs using similar layouts. There is a design for a super-heavy transport of a similar size to Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" on record that has to be seen to be believed. It had eight engines units on the wings, four in front, four at the rear. Turns out that these engine units were in fact TWINNED engines running a single propellor - so that is in fact SIXTEEN engines in total!

[@martentrudeau6948]

Quite often Germans design things that are amazing looking and are a amazing design too, and the Do 335 is one of those things.

[@aurigo_tech]

My favorite aircraft. A pity not more survived the war, imagine seeing them at airshows or even airraces today. Also you didn't quite mentioned that the specifications and intended roles for the 335 were constantly changed - even by Hitler himself - which caused major delay in forcing the Dornier engineers to redesign again and again.

[@allanroser1070]

Awesome once again Mark cheers! ....Legendary English pilot Eric Winkle Brown flew one back from Europe to the UK .. he gives a great account in his book ... he also was the fella who landed a DH Mosquito on an Aircraft carrier

[@gawkthimm6030]

I want to know the complete list of German Wonder weapons that was never completed, how much resources were spent and their impact, 1940 to 45,

[@logitimate]

Another definite advantage of the centerline push-pull design (relative to one propeller on each wing) is that you can lose one propeller entirely, and still have a controllable plane at a safe landing speed.

[@Wen.maldonado]

Always worth watching. Thank you for keeping history alive Mark!

[@panzerkampfwagenvausfa5381]

I’m near the air and space museum and it is pretty cool has a lot of of aircraft from WW1 to the Space race. And I think it has some helicopters to. So far the museum is pretty cool.

[@Knuck_Knucks]

SEEN IT! It's a sight to behold. By far the shining jewel of the museum. A fine museum too!

[@greenefieldmann3014]

"... bombing of the manufacturing plant cause a... delay."

[@johnparrish9215]

It's a shame it's so rare, it would make a great racer at Reno.

[@robertarmstrong905]

The plane was huge! Another great history lesson.

[@AleRees]

One of my first model kits, back in the 70s. Thank you!

[@Captain-Nostromo]

Probably a Lindberg Line kit. I have an unbuilt in my Stash 😀

[@MadFF11]

I did not realize that any Do.335 were left! Great video. As with everyone else, happy to see a new video.

[@MrDougman59]

One of the things I appreciate about these videos is how they set the service record straight about planes like this. There is art work out there at shows this plane mixing it up with bombers of the era. Keep up the good work.

[@ariochiv]

Tough to do proper flight testing while the enemy has air superiority over your own airspace. :D

[@reganmahoney8264]

That Dornier Do 335 is a monster of an aircraft.. The Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum has it in their collection.

[@BrumKid]

I had a 1/72 model of this aircraft when i was a young lad.

[@user6008]

The Dornier 335 and the Horten 229, two extraordinary aircraft which thankfully never saw combat.

[@lukaslibar7615]

All day of flying the do 335 A0 in war thunder and now this video, a realy great day, perfect timing, thank you, thia just became my favourite airplane

[@jamadir]

Are you disabled? That plane is unbearable shit and not worth flying after the free repairs.

[@therenumerator9198]

After the amazing P38, this is certainly my favorite fighter. It would have made Kelly Johnson and The Skunk Works proud. It has a certain old world European feel to it.

[@davepearce6359]

Amazing aircraft, I’ve built a few of these as models in the past. Thanks for the information Mark. Superb as always. 😊👍🏻

[@Darkestestmatter]

There's one of this bad boys at the Smithsonian Air museum in Washington. It is huge when compared to any other fighter or heavy fighter of the period. And it looks like an apex predator ;) Edit: LOL, the last do335 of which Mark talks about is the one at the smithsonian. Should've waited for the end of the clip :)

[@darks1973]

ManOnTheMoon2 no longer. It‘s the one back at the Smithsonian. Used to be in Munich for quite a while ...

[@Roller_Ghoster]

Love this stuff. I just bought an iron cross that was retrieved from the Reichs Chancellery by a British soldier in July'45.

[@jesusfreak1700]

Roller Ghoster that’s awesome you’re lucky do you have much of a collection? Cool name btw

[@iamejify]

Roller Ghoster do have a

[@cerperalpurpose]

The crash around Farnborough is incredibly infamous around my part (Fleet, just opposite Farnborough Airport). The pilot is somewhat a sad hero, considering there were no children in the school building he could have crashed into deliberately and survived. Must have been amazing to see that strange bastard over England, although the constant Meteors and Vampires flying out of there must have perhaps decreased that amazement.

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

cerperalpurpose he probably didn't want to lose his hand on jettisoning his canopy like a couple of German pilots and thus dying in the resultant crash. He had more change of surviving the crash landing, than he did in jettisoning his canopy.

[@Bit01]

Especially when it's already on fire.

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

"We need to think of a designation for this new aircraft" "How about V? It should be unique - I can't remember V being used for anything else."

[@Collectorfirearms]

Yes my favorite aircaft ever is talked about by my favorite KZbinr

[@kiwihame]

Superb film Mark. Great footage. Eric "Winkle" Brown flew a captured 335, and was most impressed.

[@ThePostal67]

"The first Skymaster, Model 336 Skymaster, had fixed landing gear and initially flew on February 28, 1961. It went into production in May 1963 with 195 being produced through mid-1964. In February 1965, Cessna introduced the Model 337 Super Skymaster. The model was larger and had more powerful engines, retractable landing gear, and a dorsal air scoop for the rear engine. (The "Super" the prefix was subsequently dropped from the name.) In 1966, the turbocharged T337 was introduced, and in 1973, the pressurized P337G entered production. Cessna built 2993 Skymasters of all variants, including 513 military O-2 versions. Production in America ended in 1982 but was continued by Reims in France, with the FTB337 STOL and the military FTMA Milirole.

[@marknonnenmacher1918]

Thanks again Mark! Just thinking there’s a certain irony here; the Do 335 may have finally satisfied the “Destroyer” concept-a heavy fighter.The Do 335 succeeding where the Bf 110/Me 210-410 fell flat.

[@greva2904]

If I remember correctly, when a pilot ejected explosive bolts in the rear propeller were supposed to explode and blow off the blades to minimise the risk of the pilot being shredded by the rear propeller disk. Also the upper tail plane was supposed to be blown off as well to avoid collision injuries.

[@bakhirun]

Great job, Mr. Felton. Amazing to see the advances in German technology, all through the war and up to its conclusion.

[@HighlineGuitars]

As soon as notification for this video hit my email, I was on it. Great info on a weird airplane.

[@SupesMe]

Had a model of the two seat version of it as a kid

[@elliskaranikolaou2550]

Brings back memories. I flew this aircraft in the game Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (Lucasfilm) in the 1990's !

[@SupermarineSpacefire44]

I’ve been waiting for a video! Thanks for another masterpiece Mark!

[@LightWaIker]

The music reminds me of playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. Good times. Also love your videos. The hard work you put into your historical videos is shown by it's production value, amazing.

[@kenmeri5832]

4th favorite plane in the world, thank you for making a video on it!

[@brucebello9892]

Great story, thanks Mark for keeping history alive to us.

[@tomwolf7055]

Mark - thanks so much for your efforts. I love starting my day with a bowl of Cheerios and one of your educational videos. Please, keep it up.

[@davidthefirst6195]

Check out the Chilian air force post war to see what the Luftwaffe could have been as a few German designers and Luftwaffe officers ended up there after the war

[@javiergilvidal1558]

You mean Argentinian Air Force....

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

Are they the ones who finished the TA-183?

[@timothyirwin8974]

I thought that would have been Argentina as Kurt Tank and the Horten brothers lived and worked there after the war.

[@stukablyat6266]

David The First Chilean Not chilian air force weather boi

[@jmcfintona999]

It was both Argentina & chile. Post 1945 German designs were being build everywhere which is why you see the sg44 assault rifles in the middle East, rocket scientists in the US, Atomic scientists in the ussr, Luftwaffe pilots in rhodesia & Spain as well as SS troops& paratroops in the French & spainish foreign legions.

[@RGC-gn2nm]

Freeman Field, Indiana was a collection point for Nazi Aircraft sent to the USA after the war as trophies. They were demilitarized, repaired if possible, then used in post war airshows. After thier victory laps around the USA most were allocated to local air bases / museums as displays. Interestingly there is an underfunded archeology project underway on the old site to recover up to 100 WW2 era airframes buried on site. Additionally local residents claim their grandfathers buried entire unopened shipping containers of german spare parts, dyes, jigs and machine tools.

[@enterBJ40]

Whoa. Amazing. Remember reading a about soldiers burying military equipment because a new batch of equipment was coming to base. I heard New Mexico is crowded with tons of buried new equipment

[@ericstyles3724]

Would you know what happened to the private efforts of a fella trying to excavate an area in India where he believes there are about 10-16 buried Spitfire variants that were to be used had the war not ended so hastily w the bomb ? They were buried instead of being recovered at more cost, & at that time didn't want their tech in anyone else hands, so knowledge of where they are would have been mitigated, & they'd have been buried in haste, making the hunt a challenge, As well doing anything in India without paying off interested officials can be difficult.

[@redbluesome2829]

@RGC2005 so they buried all that stuff in the Indiana dirt and didn’t just send it off for scrap, is this confirmed?

[@bhipp75]

Excellent research and production as always. Most complete treatise I've seen on this aircraft. Thanks.

[@Larpy1933]

I don’t know how you find the fascinating archival footage. Excellent work. Thank-you.

[@franzschaefer4002]

This fascinating doccie must be one helluva scoop. Congratulations!

[@aw448]

Apparently when they sent the Do 335 to Dornier in Germany for restoration In 1975, They were surprised that the explosive charges built into the aircraft to blow off the dorsal fin and rear propeller prior to pilot ejection were still installed and active 30 years later.

[@BrainStirmKZ]

My first encounter with the 335 was some years ago in a game called "Blazing Angels 2", by Ubisoft. It appears to be a truly great aircraft! Great material, mr. Felton! Thank you!

[@MothaLuva]

Maybe another interesting fact that at Rechlin one of these was clocked with 835 km/h at 12000m altitude. Due to the war, the results couldn’t be sent to the FAI for recognition of a world speed record for piston engine planes. The engine arrangement is very helpful in the way that one can immediately start transferring trained single engine fighter pilots to this airplane without bothering with twin engine training like on twin engines airplanes with a standard configuration of one engine in each wing.

[@sirelitetheugly]

I've been watching your videos for a long time now and I just wanted to thank you for your hard work teaching us this cool information. How do you come up with such a variety of ideas for videos?

[@xelanoxin]

You should be a producer for the history channel! Your content is always superb and the way you narrate your stories is amazing

[@jpcreavin92]

Cold glass of beer in hand and the latest Mark Felton video, doesn't get better than this! Thanks Mark

[@2ezee2011]

had a model of this when i was growing up. Thanks for all the wonderful footage that I have NEVER seen

[@klausvonzeit8686]

Curtiss Ascender next? Similar configuration but with a wonderful nickname.

[@drpancakes7897]

Thank you Mark your videos always make me learn the way I want to learn thanks!

[@bigearl3867]

I wanted to build this aircraft as a kid. A company called Revell used to make model kits of this fighter and many more. Sadly, about the time I found out about this fighter, I was exiting my high school years and found girls much more interesting. Five children later, I should have stuck with the models.

[@craigstram3179]

I just want to say that I appreciate your videos. Some of the finest content of all youtube. Thank you.

[@bananagaming5109]

Always happy to see a new upload

[@dennisud]

When I was a Kid my Dade and I made a model of this aircraft! Wow!

[@suvadipbiswas9556]

Thanks a lot brother Mark, you provide a lot of unknown events those took place at a quite distant past.

[@jimrodriguez8047]

You always have such great stories to tell! Thank you for sharing!

[@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819]

Although a fast layout, this configuration has several flaws that have lead to very few other aircraft using this configuration. The biggest is the lack of clearance for the rear proppeller when rotating into the climb on take-off or flaring for landing. The other main problem is cooling the rear engine, as mentioned here.

[@Gmac86.]

911 likes. 0 dislikes Keep up the excellent work Mark. Love and support from Dublin, Irelans

[@redtomcat1725]

Mark, you and your staff do great work. Most informative. Thank you, Augie

[@sidefx996]

Once again was simply blown away to see this thing in person. Such an amazing museum with so many one of a kind aircraft.

[@xxthemasterx3407]

Nice interesting video! Never seen such a plane before, but classical German out of the box thinking.

[@dbennett5965]

This plane should have been a prime candidate for some air races such as the one in Reno, Nevada. Mark? Nice video 👍

[@CMDRFandragon]

Flying that DO 335 in IL2 was fun. It also reminded me of the cockpit of the battletech Timberwolf or Madcat battlemech, given how the bars in the cockpit were setup.

[@ericmcquiston9473]

I remember reading about this airplane, I'm glad I watched this video because now I know a lot more. Awesome video Mark !

[@picullierxebec]

This is my favorite aircraft really glad you made this video

[@MrXdmp]

Kindly make a video regarding Imperial Japanese versions of Luftwaffe aircraft. Thanks!

[@571951rhoehn1]

Thanks Mark! The Do 335 story. Great video as usual!

[@blxtothis]

Another excellent, informative and level-headed presentation, keep them up!

[@capnron65]

My absolute favorite aircraft at the Udvar-Hazy Museum. The considerable size of it surprised me, but it is just astonishingly beautiful.

[@simonkevnorris]

Another interesting subject. Thanks for the effort.

[@docshred1787]

Outstanding. Thank you, Dr. Felton.

[@northseacowboy]

Great work! I'm really enjoying your productions!