Airfix 05029 Mistel DO217/ Me328 V-1

The Dornier Do-217 is a medium-sized, twin-engine German bomber from the Second World War. Due to external factors, it is often mistaken for the development version of Do-17. The first designs of the new aircraft were created as early as 1937, but serial production began at the end of 1940. The first unit to receive the Do-217 bomber version in March 1941 was the II Gruppe belonging to Kampfgeschwader 40 (II / KG 40). The Do-217 had a much greater range, speed, and bomb carrying capacity than the Do-17. This was mainly due to the use of much more powerful engines - BMW 801A with 1540KM or DB 603A with 1726KM. Over the course of the war, over 1,900 Do-217 different versions were produced. The basic version was the "E", which served as a medium bomber. It was also the Do-217E-5 that could carry the Hs 293/4 or Fritz X air-to-water guided missile. The "J" and "N" versions were also built on a large scale, serving as a night fighter. The Do-217 machines were used primarily in the Mediterranean and in the air campaign over Germany against Allied strategic bombers. Technical data (version Do-217 M-1): Maximum speed: 557 km / h, speed of climb: 3.5 m / s, maximum ceiling 7,370 m, maximum range: 2,145 km, armament: fixed-4 MG81 cal machine guns .7.92mm, 2 MG131 machine guns cal.13mm, pendant, up to 4000 kg of bombs.An example of one of the "Mistel" type configurations. The concept itself was born in 1941 in the Junkers plant and was based on the use of the invention of engineer Siegfried Holzbauer, i.e. an automatic sight that aimed the bomber at the target without the need to constantly observe the target. However, it was quickly realized that the use of this invention in flying bombs could bring much better results. This is how the idea was born, called "Mistel" or unofficially "Huckepack" (German: Na barana), i.e. a combination of a carrier plane (a fighter usually Me-109 or Fw-190 of various versions) with a flying bomb with a warhead ranging from 1700 to 4000 kg, which was created from the appropriate reconstruction of already produced bomber models. One of the dozen or so variants using the "Mistel" concept was the combination of the Me-328 as a host and the Do-217 converted into a flying bomb. Me328 is equipped with two Argus014 jet engines identical to those used in V1 flying bombs. The Me328 was mounted on the Do-217 and "Mistel" in this version, the first trial tests took place at the end of 1943.