(Dornier) Komet @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Dornier Komet II Dornier Komet II
    Dornier Komet II
  • Zeppelin-Dornier C III Komet I three-view drawing (Flight, 31 March 1921) Zeppelin-Dornier C III Komet I three-view drawing (Flight, 31 March 1921)
    Zeppelin-Dornier C III Komet I three-view drawing (Flight, 31 March 1921)
  • Do C III Komet I, Dübendorf 1921 Do C III Komet I, Dübendorf 1921
    Do C III Komet I, Dübendorf 1921
  • Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921 Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921
    Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921
  • Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921 Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921
    Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921
  • Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921 Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921
    Do C III Komet demonstrator, Dübendorf 1921
  • Ad Astra Aero Komet I CH 50, Dübendorf 1921 Ad Astra Aero Komet I CH 50, Dübendorf 1921
    Ad Astra Aero Komet I CH 50, Dübendorf 1921
  • Ad Astra Aero Komet I CH 50, Dübendorf 1921 Ad Astra Aero Komet I CH 50, Dübendorf 1921
    Ad Astra Aero Komet I CH 50, Dübendorf 1921
  • D-223 at Rotterdam-Waalhaven during the first flight of a German airliner to London, December 1922 D-223 at Rotterdam-Waalhaven during the first flight of a German airliner to London, December 1922
    D-223 at Rotterdam-Waalhaven during the first flight of a German airliner to London, December 1922
  • D-223 at Rotterdam-Waalhaven D-223 at Rotterdam-Waalhaven
    D-223 at Rotterdam-Waalhaven
  • Komet II at Rotterdam-Waalhaven, 1922 Komet II at Rotterdam-Waalhaven, 1922
    Komet II at Rotterdam-Waalhaven, 1922
  • Dornier's Komet II D-400 at Dübendorf Dornier's Komet II D-400 at Dübendorf
    Dornier's Komet II D-400 at Dübendorf
  • D-400, Dübendorf D-400, Dübendorf
    D-400, Dübendorf
  • Komet II D-396 in front of the Zeppelin airship hangar at Friedrichshafen Komet II D-396 in front of the Zeppelin airship hangar at Friedrichshafen
    Komet II D-396 in front of the Zeppelin airship hangar at Friedrichshafen
  • Deutscher Aero Lloyd Komet III D-552 (360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IX) Deutscher Aero Lloyd Komet III D-552 (360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IX)
    Deutscher Aero Lloyd Komet III D-552 (360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IX)
  • Komet III at Dübendorf, with Komet II D-400 in the background Komet III at Dübendorf, with Komet II D-400 in the background
    Komet III at Dübendorf, with Komet II D-400 in the background
  • Komet III wing strength demonstration Komet III wing strength demonstration
    Komet III wing strength demonstration
  • Komet II D-943 on display at the Berlin aviation museum Komet II D-943 on display at the Berlin aviation museum
    Komet II D-943 on display at the Berlin aviation museum

Dornier Komet

The Dornier Komet (Comet) was a family of single-engined, high-wing, all-metal airliners designed by Claude Dornier and built from 1921 by the Zeppelin-Werk Lindau, later Dornier Metallbauten, at Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. Three successive versions, the Komet I, Komet II and Komet III, flew with airlines in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Colombia, Denmark and the Soviet Union. A Komet II made the first flight of a German airliner to England after the First World War, a Komet III was the first airliner to cross the Alps, and Komets flew some of the very first services of Deutsche Luft Hansa on 6 April 1926. The Komet III was in turn developed into the Dornier Merkur, one of the most important European airliners of the late 1920s.

Design and development

After the war the Zeppelin group divided its aircraft work between several companies, and the Zeppelin-Werk Lindau (ZWL) under Claude Dornier concentrated first on all-metal flying boats. The Cs II Delphin commercial flying boat flew in 1920, and Dornier then derived a landplane from it. Work began in October 1920 at Seemoos near Friedrichshafen, a few months after the Allies had lifted the ban on aircraft construction in Germany on 10 July 1920. Dornier was therefore later than its main rivals on the civil market, notably Junkers with the F 13.

Komet I (Do C III)

The new type, designated C III and named Komet, used the same rectangular 17 m (55 ft 9 in) span wing, the same tail and even the same upper fuselage as the Delphin I, together with its 185 hp (138 kW) BMW IIIa six-cylinder inline engine. The flying-boat hull and sponsons were replaced by a simple flat-bottomed sheet-metal lower fuselage with a fixed tailskid undercarriage, and the engine was moved from its position above the Delphin's nose to a conventional installation in the nose of the fuselage. The wing was mounted at shoulder height and braced on each side by a pair of struts running to the base of the fuselage. The comfortable cabin could seat up to six people but normally carried four passengers. On the first machine the pilot sat in an open cockpit behind the cabin, which gave him a very poor view; on the following aircraft the cockpit was moved forward and the length grew to 10.20 m.

Because the Allies still kept a close eye on German aviation, the first two Komets were built at Seemoos and then taken by boat and by road to Dübendorf near Zurich, where they were assembled and registered in Switzerland under the name of the Swiss airline Ad Astra Aero, which was keen to try metal aircraft. The first Komet (works number 22, CH 49) made its maiden flight at Dübendorf on 10 February 1921 with the ZWL test pilot Franz Zeno Diemer at the controls, and was shown to the press on 15 February.

Komet II

An improved and more powerful version, the Komet II, flew for the first time on 9 October 1922. It had a larger cabin entrance, a crew of one or two, and was normally powered by a 260/285 hp Rolls-Royce Falcon III V-12 engine, although BMW IV, BMW IVa and Siddeley Puma engines could also be fitted. From 1926 both the Komet I and the Komet II were designated Do P; the BMW-engined machines became the Do P Bal.

Between 1921 and 1924 Dornier built 16 aircraft of the Komet I/II family: six Komet I (works numbers 22, 23, 24, 30, 34 and 35) and ten Komet II (numbers 29 and 45 to 53). Four of the Komet I were later rebuilt to Komet II standard.

Komet III (Do B)

The Komet III of 1924 was a practically new design, sharing many elements with the Delphin III. It was meant to take more powerful engines in anticipation of a relaxation of the Allied restrictions on German aircraft. The cabin, 3.05 m long, 1.45 m wide and 1.72 m high, was enlarged to seat two more passengers, for a total of six (up to eight in a denser layout), and the larger wing, with a span of 19.60 m (64 ft 4 in), was raised above the fuselage on short struts. The two pilots sat side by side in an open cockpit under the leading edge of the wing.

The prototype (works number 55) first flew on 7 December 1924 with a 360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IX engine, after the type had been accepted by the Allied control commission on 8 November. The Eagle was the most powerful engine allowed at the time, and the guaranteed ceiling was only 3,500 m. On 10 February 1925 the prototype, registered CH 131, was tested with a 450 hp BMW VI, but in November 1925 the Allies classified this version as a military aircraft, and the Komet III could only receive the BMW VI after the Paris Air Agreement of May 1926. A closely related military version, the Do C, had already flown on 25 September 1924, and a licence was sold to Kawasaki in Japan.

In 1925 the Komet III was replaced in production by the Do B Merkur, with a BMW VI engine, a shorter wing centre section, longer-span wings and a revised fin. Most Komet IIIs in service were converted to Merkur standard between November 1926 and April 1927. In all, Dornier built 62 aircraft of the Do B family (Komet III and Merkur).

Construction

The Komet was built using the Dornier metal construction method developed since 1917. The wing spars were made of steel profiles, the ribs of light alloy and the covering of duralumin sheet stiffened by U-section profiles laid in the direction of the airflow. The fuselage was a stressed-skin shell structure divided into several compartments: the engine bay, the cockpit and the passenger cabin, with the baggage hold behind. Parts were joined by riveting in a way that allowed repairs, or even the complete replacement of parts, to be carried out by non-specialist workers, and every part of the structure was easily accessible. The ailerons carried small auxiliary balancing surfaces to reduce control forces. The aircraft had an unusually low centre of gravity, which made it very unlikely to nose over even in difficult landings. Dornier promoted the Komet as an airliner, utility transport, air ambulance or aerial survey aircraft, on wheels or on floats.

Operational history

Switzerland and Spain

The first Komet had a short career: on 16 February 1921, flown by Max Cartier, who was not yet used to the type, it struck a tree and then a high-voltage line on take-off at Dübendorf and was written off; the pilot was unhurt. The second aircraft (works number 23, CH 50) was demonstrated at Geneva and Thun in May 1921 and flew passengers for Ad Astra. On 18 August 1921, after an engine failure, its pilot Ulrich Niemeyer ditched it in the Greifensee; it floated for some twenty minutes before sinking, was salvaged on 24 August from a depth of 22 m almost intact and rebuilt. Fitted with a new engine, it was delivered in June 1922 to the Spanish airline CETA (Compañía Española de Tráfico Aéreo) as M-AAIA, and was used on the airmail route between Seville and Larache in Spanish Morocco. CETA also received the pattern Komet II (works number 29, M-AIAA).

Germany

Works number 24, registered D-223, was completed in September 1922 and leased to the Deutsche Luft-Reederei (DLR). Flown by Max Kahlow, it left Berlin on 27 December 1922 and, after stops at Hamburg, Bremen and Rotterdam-Waalhaven, where a storm held it up, it crossed the Channel and landed near Lympne on 31 December because of fog and darkness. It reached Croydon on 1 January 1923: it was the first German commercial aircraft to fly to England since the war, and was warmly greeted by the British press. It returned to Berlin on 7 January.

The Deutscher Aero Lloyd (DAL) took delivery of D-248 in April 1923 and used Komets from May 1923 on the Berlin - Hamburg - Bremen - Amsterdam - London route, about 1,000 km in 9 hours 15 minutes of flying. D-248, nicknamed "Laubfrosch" (tree frog) because of its dark green paint and stocky shape, also flew on the Berlin - Danzig - Königsberg route and, on 11 March 1924, between Vienna, Prague, Dresden and Berlin. Aero Lloyd later re-engined its three Komet IIs (D-223, D-248 and D-943) with BMW IV engines.

The Komet III entered service with Aero Lloyd in 1925. On 15 April 1925 D-528 "Luchs" (Lynx), flown by Polte and Hailer, became the first airliner to cross the Alps, on the Munich - Milan route, a remarkable feat for an aircraft with a guaranteed ceiling of only 3,500 m. In January 1926 Aero Lloyd merged with Junkers Luftverkehr to form Deutsche Luft Hansa, which took over three Komet IIs and nine Komet IIIs. On 6 April 1926, the first day of Luft Hansa operations, the Komet III D-580 "Panther", flown by Karl Noack, opened the Berlin - Cologne service, and the Komet II D-248 opened the Hamburg - Kiel route. The Komet IIs were used on short secondary routes and entrusted to young pilots. The last scheduled flight of a Komet II took place on 13 October 1928 between Magdeburg and Hanover; D-223 and D-943 were then sold in 1929 to the Social Democratic flying club "Sturmvogel", and D-248 was scrapped by Luft Hansa in 1931. One of these aircraft was later displayed by the Deutsche Luftfahrtsammlung (German aviation collection) in Berlin.

Soviet Union

Many Komet IIs went to the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian airline Ukrvozdukhput, based in Kharkiv, chose the Komet II rather than the Junkers F 13 because it was cheaper, and bought six aircraft (registered RR-UAA to RR-UAF) which carried names such as "Ukraina", "Krasnyi Khimik" or "Kharkovskiy Proletariy". The survivors were re-registered CCCP-201 to CCCP-204 and withdrawn in 1929. Two more Komet IIs (D-397 and D-400) went to the Russian company Dobrolet, the ancestor of Aeroflot, where the last one was retired in 1933. The Soviet-German airline Deruluft also flew Komet IIIs, later converted to Merkurs.

Other users

Two Komet IIs were delivered to the Colombian airline COSADA (Compañía Colombiana de Navegación Aérea), one of them named "Bucaramanga", the first commercial aircraft seen in that city in 1924. One Komet II was sold to Handley Page in England and evaluated by the Royal Aircraft Establishment under the serial J7276, and another (D-396) was dismantled in 1926/27 for fatigue tests at the Aachen Technical University. The Komet III was exported to Denmark, where Det Danske Luftfartselskab (DDL) bought the former D-585 in 1925 as T-DODB, and to Sweden.

Variants

  • Do C III Komet I : first version, 185 hp BMW IIIa, four passengers; three built in 1920-1921, six in all.
  • Komet II : improved version first flown on 9 October 1922, normally with a Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine; ten built and four converted from Komet I. Redesignated Do P in 1926.
  • Do P Bal Komet II : Komet II re-engined with a BMW IV, used by Aero Lloyd and Luft Hansa.
  • Do B Komet III : larger six-passenger version with a 360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle IX engine (Do B Ral), first flown on 7 December 1924; licence-built in Japan by Kawasaki.
  • Do B Merkur : development of the Komet III with a BMW VI engine, longer-span wings and revised fin (1925); many Komet IIIs were converted to this standard.
  • Do C : military version of the Komet III with round portholes, bomb racks and provision for machine guns; one sent to Japan (1924) and one sold to the Chilean Navy (1927).
  • Do D : heavily revised floatplane torpedo bomber version for the Royal Yugoslav Navy (1929).
  • Do T : air ambulance version of the Komet and Merkur.

Operators

  • Colombia : COSADA.
  • Denmark : Det Danske Luftfartselskab (DDL).
  • Germany :
  • Japan : Kawasaki (licence production).
  • Soviet Union :
    • Ukrvozdukhput.
    • Dobrolet.
    • Deruluft.
  • Spain : CETA (Compañía Española de Tráfico Aéreo).
  • Sweden.
  • Switzerland : Ad Astra Aero.
  • United Kingdom : Royal Aircraft Establishment (evaluation).

Accidents and incidents

  • 16 February 1921 : the first Komet I, CH 49, hit a tree and a power line on take-off at Dübendorf and was written off. The pilot was unhurt.
  • 18 August 1921 : Komet I CH 50 of Ad Astra ditched in the Greifensee after an engine failure; it was salvaged and rebuilt.
  • 1925 : the two first Komet IIIs of Aero Lloyd, D-562 and D-528, were badly damaged in accidents and rebuilt under new works numbers.
  • 1928 : Ukrvozdukhput Komet II RR-UAA was destroyed in Ukraine.
  • 15 May 1929 : Ukrvozdukhput Komet II CCCP-201 was destroyed.

Surviving aircraft

No original Komet is known to survive. The Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen displays a full-size replica of the Dornier Merkur, the direct descendant of the Komet III.

— — — = = — — —

Sources : Wikipedia (Dornier Komet) ; Günter Frost and Günther Ott, "Das Verkehrsflugzeug Dornier Komet" (parts 1 and 3) and "Dornier Komet und Merkur", Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutsche Luftfahrthistorik (ADL).

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Dornier Komet of Wikipedia ( authors )

Dornier Komet

  • Role : Airliner.
  • Manufacturer : Zeppelin-Werk Lindau / Dornier Metallbauten.
  • Designer : Claude Dornier.
  • First flight : 10 February 1921 (Komet I), 9 October 1922 (Komet II), 7 December 1924 (Komet III).
  • Status : retired.
  • Primary users :
  • Produced : 1921 to 1925.
  • Number built : 16 Komet I and II ; 62 Komet III and Merkur together.
  • Developed from : Dornier Delphin.
  • Developed into : Dornier Merkur, Dornier Do C.

    • Specifications (Komet II)

  • Crew: one or two.
  • Capacity: four passengers.
  • Length: 33 ft 10 in (10.30 m).
  • Wingspan: 55 ft 9 in (17.00 m).
  • Height: 10 ft 10 in (3.30 m).
  • Wing area: 510 sq ft (47.4 m²).
  • Empty weight: 3,307 lb (1,500 kg).
  • Useful load: 1,653 lb (750 kg).
  • Gross weight: 4,960 lb (2,250 kg).
  • Powerplant: One Rolls-Royce Falcon III V-12 water-cooled piston engine.
  • Power: 260/285 hp (194/213 kW).
  • Maximum speed: 106 mph (170 km/h, 92 kts).
  • Cruise speed: 84 mph (135 km/h, 73 kts).
  • Range: 420 mi (680 km, 370 nmi).
  • Service ceiling: 14,800 ft (4,500 m).

    • Komet I (Do C III)

  • Crew: one.
  • Capacity: four passengers.
  • Length: 33 ft 6 in (10.20 m).
  • Wingspan: 55 ft 9 in (17.00 m).
  • Height: 9 ft (2.75 m).
  • Wing area: 506 sq ft (47.0 m²).
  • Empty weight: 2,756 lb (1,250 kg).
  • Gross weight: 4,409 lb (2,000 kg).
  • Powerplant: One BMW IIIa six-cylinder inline piston engine.
  • Power: 185 hp (138 kW).
  • Maximum speed: 99 mph (160 km/h, 86 kts).
  • Cruise speed: 81 mph (130 km/h, 70 kts).
  • Service ceiling: 13,100 ft (4,000 m).

    • Komet III (Do B)

  • Crew: two.
  • Capacity: six passengers.
  • Wingspan: 64 ft 4 in (19.60 m).
  • Powerplant: One Rolls-Royce Eagle IX V-12 water-cooled piston engine.
  • Power: 360 hp (268 kW).
  • Maximum speed: 104 mph (168 km/h, 91 kts).
  • Guaranteed ceiling: 11,500 ft (3,500 m).

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Dornier Komet of Wikipedia ( authors )
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