History
Claudius Dornier was experimenting with coupling of two piston engines in a "push-pull" tandem arrangement
since WWI, when he used paired 240hp Maybach motors in his RS II flying boat. This arrangement was used
successfully on many of his designes in mid-war period and led him to the idea of using such engine layout for high
speed combat aircraft.
On August 3, 1937 Dornier patented such an aircraft project where pilot sits between the motors and the rear
motor utilises the extension of the crankshaft to drive the rear propeller. The latter idea was then success fully
proved on the specially built Goppingen Go.9 experimental plane.
The first seriously developed project utilising the patented arrangement was the Do.P.59-04, intended for a fast
bomber role. It was to be powered by two DB.605 engines. The rear propeller position caused a lot of problems.
To provide a proper ground clearence the ventral fin with a
small tail wheel was to be used. This in turn lead to the problem of attaining the nessesary angle of attack
for the take off and landing. The solution was found in using the pivoting around the front spar wing
(later the same idea was successfully used by LTV on the F-8 Crusader jet)
Unfortunately (for the project) the situation in 1940-41, when it was developed, was not favourable for such
a revolutionary design. Thus the plans were filed until the end of the war, when the interest to the exotic
weapons arose among the doomed Reich leaders. The well known Do.335 has successfully proved the value of
the ideas put into the first project of this type, the Do.P.59.
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