Ted's Dornier 217

[Autothrottle]

Hello all,

I recently got Ted's excellent Dornier 217 N-2 series aircraft for CFS3. I flew it in standard L/O mode and found out it needs more runway than the standard 217's that Ted already has. Why is the Takeoff run and landing run so long for ther 217 over the Heinkel 111's?

Its an excellent Ground attack aircraft after a scrap with the Brits. I don't know if Ted might approve of this, but I had some extra ammo left and I didn't want to return to base with that extra 100 rounds in my guns.

I got a few Lancasters with Ted's 217, however, I need someone to point me in the right direction on Dornier 217 Manuals, like the one Ted did for the B-24. Are there any out there?

P.S. L/O mode is short for Luftwaffe Operations in case nobody knows

[NachtPiloten]

The 217 was never designed to weigh what it did with all the radar equipment and guns required for night missions. The N1 was some 4 tonnes heavier than the E4 with only 300 more horsepower and the same stubby wings. The N2 was much lighter but still was heavier than the bomber versions, although not by much.

Also, I modeled these flightmodels to be a bit more challenging. Once in the air the N2 will reach 320 (about 515 kph) or so with boost! The N1 mentioned above was slower than the E4, had a poorer climb rate and service ceiling.

As a result of the poor performance the 217 was assigned to "lessor" units in France, Denmark, and the east. Despite the limitations several pilots loved the plane and were very successful with it. Remember that at night the Lancasters and Halifaxes flew at speeds well below daylight cruising speeds for fear of collisions. This is not modeled into quick combat but in the missions I have made it is. In reality the British planes flew some 20 mph below what optimal cruise was and rarely flew above 6500 meters, all well within the capacity of 217's and any other nightfighter the Germans had. The reason the Germans were wanting faster nigthfighters was to help in intercepting the planes once the main body of bombers was found. It was a guessing game and if you were 100 kilometers away from were you needed to be you had to correct in a hurry and speed was important. However, if you were successful in predicting your enemy's path then the current planes were more than able to inflect damage (Nuremburg).