Do-24T

Because of the capture of the complete and intact productionline of Aviolanda in Papendrecht and the succesfull tests of the Do-24N models with the Seenotdienst, the decision was made to continue the production and to adapt the aircraft to the specific task of marine rescue. Formaly thus the description Do-24 disappeared and was replaced by the Wehrmacht code 'Gerät 8-024'. The number 8 was the German code used for aircraft. Management and overview of the production in The Netherlands was done by the Weser Flugzeugwerke in Einswarden.
One of the planes of the Do-24N series, the X-40 (then KD+GJ), was used as testbed and sent to Einswarden. Testflights made with the aircraft equipped with the BMW Bramo 323R-2 engines proved to be very satisfactory.
For the rescue of people from the water two large hatches were made in the fuselage. The inside of the fuselage was also heavily modified in the aid of rescueing people from the water. The new version got the designation Do-24T. For protection armament was added. The A and C-Stand (front and rear position) received a 7.9 mm MG 15 machinegun in a Alkan turret. The B-Stand (middle position) was equipped (like the Dutch version) with a Hispano AB 15 turret with a HS 404 20 mm cannon. Production of the new DO-24T-1 was started in december 1940.
The Germans wanted to scale up the production of the model and thus Aviolanda was to be used only for the final assembly. The wingproduction and engine assembly was as previously done by De Schelde in Vlissingen. De Schelde on the Kilkade in Dordrecht was enlisted for the production of the complete fuselage. All the elements were from then on coded:
The fuselage was number 1, the stumps number 2, the rudders number 3, stearing number 4, wings number 5, enginemountings number 7, fueltanks number 7, electrical installation number 8 and non-electrical installations number 9.
In the cooperation groups of numbers emerged, named 'Sach No'. For example the tailsurfaces had Sach No 8-24-354, followed by a four digit Werk Nr (construction number). The first digit of the construction number of the elements and the complete aircraft was the code for the factory. 1 was for Dornier, 2 was not used, 3 was Aviolanda, 4 was SNCA-N, 5 was Fokker and another 4 was the wingconstruction at De Schelde.
The different manufacturors (Herstellers) received a codenumber by the RLM bureau in Baarn. For example Aviolanda was m.f.c., De Schelde was m.f.b, Verheul in Gouda was k.e.w..

After a bombardement on August 20th 1943 by 320 (Dutch) Squadron with North American B-25C Mitchell bombers, the decision was made to move the wingproduction from Vlissingen to Dordrecht. Partsbuilding was done by two factory's in Zwijndrecht (Werk Zwijndrecht I and II), the constructionsite I.G.B. and chocolatefactory Kwatta in Breda, a factory in Zevenhoven, Verheul in Gouda, the Eternit factory in Goor and the Holland-Nautic factory in Papendrecht en Haarlem. Preassembly was done at the Lips factory in Dordrecht (Aviolanda II), a warf on the Noordhoek in Papandrecht (Aviolanda III) and in Slikkerveer.
For the first testflights and transfer of the aircraft to Travemünde, Dornier factorypilot Flugkapitän Erich Gundermann was transferred in January 1942 from Dornier to Aviolanda, where he became chief of the testflights.

For the distribution of the Dornier licenses a Verbindungsstelle Niederlande (DWH/ZT) was setup in a large villa just beside the Aviolanda factory. This department, under the command of Otto Stellmann and his replacement Ingenieur Siegert, received their orders from the Dutch section of the R.L.M., department GL/C in Baarn and the Dornier-Werke Friedrichshafen (DWF) department ZT 201/4. The department ZT 201/4 (Gruppe 4 der Nachbauabteilung Zentraler Technischer Bereich) handeled all the affers concerning project 8-024 and was under the command of Ingenieur Wilhelm Griesel and Dipl.-Ingenieur Hans Kinzler.
The technical command at the Aviolande factory was in the hands of two Hauptingenieurs of the R.L.M.. One was Hauptingenieur Ganse (Bauaufsichtleiter) with his assistant Müller (Bauaufsicht). Oberingenieur Stellmann and Götz, both of Dornier, aided the production proces on behalf of Dornier. Götz was mainly envolved in the production of the wings at De Schelde. Control on behalf of Aviolanda was done by Kontrolleiter WInckel.
In 1941 5 Do-24T-1's (KK+US upto KK+UW) were delivered, followed by 6 in 1942 (KK+UX upto KK+UZ and KK+VA upto KK+VC), before production was switched to the Do-24T-2 version.

Because of the enlarged frontlines, especially around the Mediterranean and The Black Sea, and the heavy losses of the Do-24, the Seenotbereichskommando's demanded a higher productionrate. Aviolanda was going at it's maximum rate, which was one airplane per week. To expand production it was decided to enrol Fokker in Amsterdam and S.N.C.A.-N. in the Franch town of Satrouville (near Paris) in the production. Fokker delivered her first aircraft (made up entirely of Aviolande components) on May 13th 1942. With the inclusion of Fokker the Aviolanda concern was able to raise the production to 6 aircraft per month. The German command for the Fokker production was handed to Dr. E.W. Pleines and his assistant H. Lübbe. However because of the the bombing of the Fokker facilities the full production capacity was never reached. The command over the production with S.N.C.A.-N. (also known as DW-Paris) was handed to Herr Klumpp, who later became technical director of Dornier GmbH. October 1942 the first French Do-24 was delivered, not really a French one but only assembled from Aviolanda parts. In France the production of the small parts was also devided over a number of smaller factory's, for example in Méaulte, Les Mureaux and Caudebec.

August 31st 1943 a total of 11 T-1's, 38 T-2's and 132 T-3's were produced by the combined factory's. Leadership over the French production was not as smooth as was expected. The original planned rate was 6 planes per month. The first aircraft (CM+IJ) in October 1942 was followed by the second aircraft as late as January 1943 and early 1944 the production was still only at 21 aircraft. AFter that, upto the liberation of the factory in August 1944, another 27 were delivered to the Luftwaffe.

In The Netherlands meanwhile the production of the T-1 made way for the T-2 model, which had better radio and navigation equipment and a Mauser MG 151/20 cannon in the middle turret.
August 1942 the T-2 was replaced by the T-3. This time the main change was the armament, the front and rear turret received a Rheinmetall MG 131 13 mm machinegun in a D30/31 turret. The middle cannon was replaced by a 15 mm MG 151/15 machinegun placed in a enlarged and armored HD151/1 turret. The communication was improved with the installation of the modern FuG 141 'homer' for the reception of the emergency transmitters NS.2 and NS.4. Also a number of construction points in the wings were strengthened. After the switch to the new model all the older models were also upgraded when they came in for large maintenance.

Early 1943 an experiment was started at the Weser Flugzeugbau to improve the slow flying ability of the Do-24. The wing was equipped with a Walter aggregate to suck in and blow out air to improve the lift of the wing. The result of the mechanically changed wind flow was a greatly lowered stall speed. July 31st 1944 this aircraft was ready for it's first flight in Manzell. However August 1st an Allied airattack on the Dornier factory disrupted this. It is not known what happened to the aircraft, but no further experiments were done.

Spring 1944 the German government offered 13 Do-24T-3's (of which one was for spare parts) for free to Spain for the use of rescuing people from the western Mediterranean. This way the Germans could profit from the neutral status of Spain as they themselves had lost their main central bases in the Mediterranean on Sicily (Syracuse and Taormina) n July 1943. Spain readily accepted the offer and soon the first Spanish crews were trained on the German base in the French town of Berre near Marseille. Between may and September the first eight were delivered to Spain as HR.5. They were flown via the Rhine and  Rhône valley to Puerto de Pollensa on Mallorca. The remaining five were delivered in November, but because the south of France was then liberated they were flown via Innsbruck in Austria and Genua in Italy. After arrival in Mallorca they came under the command of  the 51st flyingboat regiment. As of 1953 the HR.5 aircraft came under the command of the Servicio Aéreo de Rescate (Search and rescue flight) in accordance with the international ICAO reglementation.
With the change of the regiment name the twelve operational HR.5's came under the control of 804a Esquadrille de Salvamento still stationed in Pollensa. The designation changed however from HR.5 to HD.5. During 1952 Spain received a large number of spare parts from the French navy. They managed to keep at least one aircraft airworthy upto 1971. The HD.5-4 was handed over to Dornier and flew to the Bodensee on August 6th via Marseille and Lausanne, arriving at Dornier on August 28th in the presence of Flugkapitän Horst Merz (of the Do-X world tour of 1929/30) and Flugkapitän Wolfgang von Gronau (of the Do Wal world tour of 1932). Later a second example, the HD.5-3, was also handed over to Dornier.

Another country that accidentally got it's hands on two Do-24's was Sweden. The first one arriving neat Sölvesborg on October 31st 1944. This plane, the CM+RY (Werk Nr. 3343) of Seenotstaffel 9, was hijacked after a testflight from Nest. Hijacker was flight mechanic Heinz Roesch and his girlsfriend Rita Kuusalu. After the aircraft was interned it was designated Tp 24 and registered F2-90 and entered service service with F 2 Wing stationed in Hägernäs. Januari 1945 the aircraft was bought for 250.000 Swedish Krone and in 1951 due to the lack of spare parts was scrapped.
The second interned Do-24 was the 5W+BU (Werk Nr. 0042) of Seenotstaffel 50 from Oslo. This aircraft, under the command of Uffz. Paul Blum, landed in the Swedish port of Trelleborg on May 9th 1945 at 5 in the morning. The afternoon before the crew left Gossen in Norway to evacuate people from Windau (now Ventspils). There 37 people were taken on board, mostly soldiers of the 2./Flak Abt. 127, and took off with destination Kiel. Due to bad weather the crew lost it's way and after a while saw the lights of a port town and landed, as they found out too late they were in Sweden. All passengers, including the 4 crewmembers, were interned. Later, on demand of the Soviet Union, they and the aircraft were handed over to that country and still became POW's.

The Soviet Union used it's Do-24 for transport and thus it was photographed in 1948 in Siberia stripped of all it's armament. The ultimate fate of the aircraft is not known.

Norway almost got it's hands on two Do-24's after the surrender of Germany in 1945, these were Werk Nummern 3300 and 3335. Due to lack of parts they were sunk in Februari 1946 near Horten. These aircraft were manned by former Luftwaffe personnel. A survivor told me that only enlisted Luftwaffe personnel was allowed to fly for the RAF, the carreer soldiers were taken to POW camps. He also to me that the aircraft were flying for the RAF and not the Norwegian airforce. When the RAF was done with the Do-24's Norway asked if they could use them, the RAF wanted money which the Norwegians didn't have so the RAF had them sunk.

Do-24T-1

Do-24T-2

Do-24T-3

Do-24T