1:72 Dornier Do-17Z

The flying pencil in three services

The slim fuselage that gave the Dornier the nickname flying pencil came about originally for fast mail transport. The Z version of the late 1930s already had a fully glazed nose, a crew of four together in one cockpit and Bramo radial engines. The speed the machine had once been proud of was gone by then, and over England in 1940 the Dorniers were among the most vulnerable German bombers.

The six options on this sheet cover an unusually wide span. Machine 5K plus BN of the 5th Staffel of KG 3 is dated to East Prussia in 1938, that is still to peacetime. Aircraft F1 plus FS of the 8th Staffel of KG 76 stands for the campaign in France in 1940 and A1 plus BZ belongs to the Croatian 15th Staffel of KG 53 in Russia in 1942. The remaining three options are Finnish: DN-53 of the third flight of LeLv 46, DN-63 of the first flight of the same unit, both listed to 1942, and DN-52 of PLeLv 43, listed as late as 1947.

The Finnish machines are the most interesting part of the offer. Finland received Dorniers in 1942 and used them for a number of years after the fighting ended, so the last option shows the bomber with postwar national insignia, a combination not many people have in a display case.

The package holds printing for a finished Dornier model in 1:72 scale.

Finnish national markings went through a fundamental change after the fighting ended, so the option dated 1947 shows the bomber already in its postwar form. That single entry takes the whole sheet beyond the usual scope of sets devoted to the Second World War.