WGSE: Dornier Do 17 Units of World War 2

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Book Title:

Dornier Do 17 Units of World War 2

Author:

Chris GOSS

ISBN:

978147280

Category:

History

Format:

Paperback

Summary:

Chris Goss, author of Dornier Do 17 Units of World War 2, gives a brief overview of his book :
The Intruder Dornier Do 17 Z-7 and Z-10 1940–1941
https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/Th...Dornier_Do_17/

Personal opinion
As is often the case in Osprey publishing, this book contains many good quality photographs and highly detailed historical explanations of specific battles.
It is why I recommend this new publication concerning a plane that was overshadowed by the more famous (and efficient !) He.111 and Ju.88.
Anyway, the review helps to show the role taken by the Do.17 during the first part of the war.
Most of all, it contains a part dedicated to a not well known night fighter (Do.17 Z-7 and Z-10) that Ares has edited as a miniature for Wings of Glory.
The historical fanatics will enjoy finding some various scenarios for their games involving Do.17 miniatures.



In this article, it appears that less than twenty Do 17 Z-7 and Z-10 have been built.
Despite this limited number, they were used from June 1940 until October 1941, against British bombers (Blenheim, Wellington, Hampden, Hudson).
Some interesting ideas of scenarios below, involving :
- several Blenheims (9 September 1940)
- four Do.17 Z-10 against several Spitfires + Hurricanes (11 February 1941)
- a Beaufighter (8 May 1941)

In June 1940, Maj Wolfgang Falck, formerly of 2 Staffel/Zerstörergeschwader 76 (2./ZG 76) and latterly commander of I./ZG 1 was tasked to form a nightfighter unit for defence of the Reich. The preferred nightfighters were the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Junkers Ju 88C-2/C-4 but there would also be two versions of the Do 17 used as nightfighters – the Z-7 Kauz I and the Z-10 Kauz II (‘Kauz’ translated as ‘Screech Owl’). The glazed nose was removed from a Do 17 Z-3 and replaced by the nose from a Ju 88C-2/C-4. The armament was three 7.9mm machine guns and one 20mm cannon and the aircraft designated the Do 17Z-7. This was soon found to be unsatisfactory and an entirely new nose designed which increased the armament to four machine guns and two cannon. In the tip of the nose was an infra-red spotlight called Spanner-Anlage which was later replaced by first-generation FuG 202 Liechtenstein radar. This aircraft was now designated the Do 17Z-10.

Precise numbers of Do 17Z-7 and Z-10s are hard to define but it is thought that eight Z-7s were produced and the survivors were later converted to be Z-10s of which around 11 were produced. The Z-7 first entered service with I./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (I./NJG 1) on or about 22 June 1940 and the first recorded combat probably came on the early hours of 29 June 1940 when a Whitley of 58 Squadron flown by Plt Off Bill Espley reported damaging a nightfighter near Eindhoven. A Do 17Z-7 of 1./NJG 1 coded G9+GK and flown by Uffz Hugo Schwarz was damaged in combat and later crash-landed near Mönchengladbach. Schwarz and his radio operator Fw Gerhard Palm were both injured while the engineer Fw Ludwig Born later died of his wounds.
...
the first recorded successful interception by a Do 17Z-10 came on the night of 9 September 1940 and was the first success of the war for Fw Hermann Sommer of 5./NJG 1, albeit his claim was optimistic. He had taken off from Gilze-Rijen at 2105hrs and claimed to have shot down a Blenheim in the circuit at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire at 2315hrs. Although not mentioned in any detail in the 15 Squadron records, it is believed that Sommer attacked a Blenheim flown by Plt Off James Kee who was the pilot of one of ten aircraft briefed to attack Ostende harbour. All that it is said is that he was attacked by an enemy aircraft and successfully landed the damaged aircraft at RAF Wyton.
...
There are only three other nights where Luftwaffe records specifically mention Do 17Z-10s shooting down RAF aircraft. The first was the night of 10/11 February 1941 when four aircraft, three of them flown by Hptm Rolf Jung, Oblt Albert Schulz and Lt Joahnnes Feuerbaum, were involved. The first claim was made by Oblt Schulz whose claim was optimistic and no losses can be attributed to his attack. Furthermore, he actually attacked RAF Coltishall where Spitfires of 222 Squadron and Hurricanes of 255 Squadron were carrying out night flying practice; 222 Squadron reported afterwards
...
The second and last combat loss which also saw the last Do 17 to crash on British soil during the war came on 8 May 1941 when Fw Wilhelm Lettenmeier's Werk Nummer 2843 coded R4+GK was intercepted by a Beaufighter of 25 Squadron flown by Plt Off David Thompson with radar operator Plt Off Leslie Britain; initially the British crew had difficulty getting behind the German aircraft due to its low speed
...
Although the Do 17Z-10 soldiered on, it was soon replaced by more adept nightfighters, namely the Bf 110, Ju 88C-4 and even the Do 215 B-5. The last recorded incident involving a Do 17Z-10 came on 19 September 1941 an aircraft of 2./NJG 2 suffered an undercarriage collapse at Gilze-Rijen.