Dornier Do 417

The Dornier Do 417 was a twin-engine multirole combat aircraft. Developed in 1942, it resulted from the Luftwaffe's request for a medium bomber, a contest in which Dornier, Junkers, Heinkel, and Blohm & Voss competed. In the end, the Junkers Ju 188 was chosen by the Luftwaffe, and the Do 417 never entered production. The plans for the Do 417 were first presented to the RLM on January 22, 1943 in response to the Bomber B competition. It was intended to fill both the bomber and reconnaissance roles. It was to have a stepless cockpit housing three of the four crew, and was to be fitted with Kuto-Nase cable-cutters on the nose and along the leading edge of the wing to defend against barrage balloons. Dive brakes were to be positioned over and under the wings between the engine nacelles, similar to the Do 217. The pilot's seat and tail gunner's positions were to be armored, and although unpressurized, the crew would have been able to operate at high altitude with oxygen masks. The glazed nose and the propellers would have had de-icers, and inflatable one-man dinghies would have been provided in case the aircraft ditched in the sea. Defensive armament was originally to have consisted of an MG 151 cannon in the nose, an HD 151 turret in the dorsal position, and another HD 151 in the tail.