page_title: Dornier Do 335
section_title: Flight tests
hierarchical_section_title: Dornier Do 335 / Flight tests
caption_attribution_description: PictionID:38236091 - Catalog:Array - Title:Array - Filename:15_002319.TIF - -------Image from the Charles Daniels Photo Collection.----Album: German Aircraft.-----------PLEASE TAG these images with any information you know about them so that we can permanently store this data with the original image file in our Digital Asset Management System.-----------------SOURCE INSTITUTION: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive
context_page_description: The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil was a Nazi Germany World War II heavy fighter built by the Dornier company. The two-seater trainer version was called Ameisenbär. The Pfeil's performance was much better than other twin-engine designs due to its unique push-pull configuration and the lower aerodynamic drag of the in-line alignment of the two engines. It was Nazi Germany's fastest piston-engined aircraft of World War II. The Luftwaffe was desperate to get the design into operational use, but delays in engine deliveries meant that only a handful were delivered before the war ended.
context_section_description: The first 10 Do 335 A-0s were delivered for testing in May. By late 1944, the Do 335 A-1 was on the production line. It was similar to the A-0 but with the uprated DB 603E-1 engines of some 1,324 kW (1,800 PS) take-off power rating apiece on 87 octane "B4" lignite-derived synthetic fuel, and two underwing hardpoints for additional bombs, drop tanks or guns. It had a maximum speed of 763 km/h (474 mph) at    6 500 m (21 300 ft) with MW 50 boost, or 686 km/h (426 mph) without boost, and climbed to 8 000 m (26 250 ft) in under 15 minutes. Even with one engine out, it reached about 563 km/h (350 mph).
  Delivery commenced in January 1945. When the United States Army overran the Oberpfaffenhofen factory in late April 1945, only 11 Do 335 A-1 single-seat fighter-bombers and two Do 335 A-12 trainers had been completed.
  French ace Pierre Clostermann claimed the first Allied combat encounter with a Pfeil in April 1945. He describes leading a flight of four Hawker Tempests from No. 3 Squadron RAF over northern Germany, when they came across an unknown aircraft flying at maximum speed at treetop level. Detecting the British aircraft, the German pilot reversed course to evade. Two pilots fired on the Dornier but Clostermann, despite the Tempests' considerable low altitude speed, decided not to attempt to chase it as it was obviously much faster.
caption: Do 335 tested in the US, and today the only surviving example
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