Dornier Do 26

Aerodynamically the cleanest of the Dornier flying-boats, the all-metal Dornier Do 26 was developed for transatlantic mail services, designed to carry a crew of four and 500kg of mail between Lisbon and New York, The mid-span stabilising floats retracted completely into the wings, and the rear pair of the two tandem pairs of Junkers Jumo 205 diesel engines could be given an upward tilt of 10° on take-off so that the three-bladed metal propellers were clear of the spray from the hull. Three Do 26s, stressed for catapult launching from support ships, were ordered by Deutsche Lufthansa in 1937, and the first of these was flown on 21 May 1938. Two of the three were completed before the outbreak of World War II and delivered to the airline under the designation Do 26A. They were never used as intended, across the North Atlantic, and made just 18 crossings of the South Atlantic.