[MVDS] Dornier Do X

[Phaelen Bleux]

Dornier Do X "Flugschiff"
The Do X was conceived in 1927 as the largest aircraft yet built, design to carry passengers across the Atlantic in the same style of luxury afforded by the ocean liners of the day. The plane was constructed in Switzerland, since Germany had been banned from planes of this size following WWI. The aircraft could carry 66 passengers (or up to 100 passengers for short flights) in seats that folded down into sleeping bunks. The interior of the airplane featured three separate decks, holding a lounge, a smoking room, a dining room, a galley, and a toilet.
In 1930 the plane set out for a flight to the United States. During the flight, the plane suffered a one month delay in Lisbon when a fire damaged one fuel tank, and a three month delay in the Canary Islands when the hull was damaged. The aircraft was then lightened for the trans-Atlantic crossing (the crew could take no more than personal toiletries), made it to Brazil and finally (in 1931) to New York. In 1932 the aircraft set out to return to Europe, arriving 5 days later. It continued to fly to European coastal cities the next year, but by 1936 had become a museum exhibit. It was destroyed by Allied bombing at the Berlin Museum during WWII.
The Do X has a flight crew of five. The pilot, copilot, navigator and radio operator are all stationed on a single flight deck. The flight engineer (who throttled the engines), was stationed far back from the flight deck in his own "command center." He had access to the engines via a ladder into the voluminous wings. Oddly, with the flight engineer's position so far back, and with him being in charge of the engine throttle, the pilot had to call back to the flight engineer's station for any changes in air speed, much like the captain of a naval vessel. Up to 9 more crewmembers could be carried to serve the passengers. The Do X burns 286 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel costs $704. Historical range was 1,367 miles.

Subassemblies: Intercontinental Bomber chassis with No Streamlining and Sealed options +6; Huge Transport Wings +5; six Small AFV pods +2.
Powertrain: Twelve 477-kW aerial HP gasoline engines with twelve 477-kW props and 3,520-gallon fuel tanks [Body]; 40,000-kW battery.
Occ.: 5 CS, 100 PS Body
Cargo: 20 Body

Armor
All: 3/5

Equipment:
Body: Medium radio transmitter and receiver (10-mile), navigation instruments, autopilot, backup driver option small lounge, small smoking room, small dining room, small galley, small toilet.

Statistics:
Size: 131'x157'x33' Payload: 25.7 tons Lwt.: 61.7 tons
Volume: 7,920 Maint.: 15 hours Cost: $158,254
HT: 9. HPs: 2,700 Body, 1800 each Wing, 150 each Pod.
aSpeed: 130 aAccel: 3 aDecel: 21 aMR: 5 aSR: 3
Stall Speed: 69 mph.
wSpeed: 22 wAccel: 3 wDecel: 5 gMR: 0.05 gSR: 5
Flotation Rating: 155 tons. Draft: 3.3'.

Design Notes:
Historical wing area was 4,844 sf. The design purchases 3,510-gallon fuel tanks; the historical volume is listed above. The chassis was given the No Streamlining option to both reduce design speed and increase the VSPs available. The VSPs, weight and cost of the 3 "Halls" were reduced by ½ to save space. The Wings were chosen with the Biplane option to provide the closest SA; weight, cost and HPs were assumed to be proportionate to SA regardless of layout. Design loaded weight was increased 9% to the historical. Design aSpeed was 133 mph. Performance calculations were based on historical values for wing area and loaded weight.

Variants:
Initially, the Do X was powered by twelve 391-kW engines for a top speed of 105 mph.
Two other aircraft (the X2 and X3) were built for Italy. They were slightly larger and featured Fiat engines.