1-48 Scale Revell Monogram Dornier Do 217E

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DORNIER Do 217E

Dornier had begun work

on an improved version

of the Do 17 in 1937,

with a larger payload capability,

greater range, and increased

performance. The Do 217

prototype first flew in August

1938, and in early 1940, the

Do 217A-0 reconnaissance

variant became the first version

to enter service with the

Luftwaffe. The first operational

bomber version was the

Do-217E-1, powered by a pair

of 1,580hp BMW 801A air-

cooled 14-cylinder radial

engines, and which featured

the variant’s deeper fuselage

that housed an enlarged bomb

bay that could hold eight

500kg or four 1,000kg bombs,

with an extension at the aft end

which permitted a torpedo to

be carried completely inside

the fuselage. Up to five

hand-operated

7.92mm machine

guns provided

defensive armament although

a 15mm MG 151 cannon could

be mounted in the nose

glazing.

The Do 217E-1 was followed

by the Do 217E-3, which

featured additional cockpit

armour and heavier defensive

armament, including the

introduction of the electrically

operated Drehlafette DL 131

rotating turret armed with a

13mm machine gun, which was

a feature of the remainder of

the E-series. The E-3 was the

first sub-type to be fitted with a

fixed forward firing 20mm MG

FF cannon, installed along the

cockpit floor, just off centre

although this weapon was

retrofitted to the earlier E-1s

too.

The Do 217E-2, which had

been developed separately

primarily as a dive

bomber

with the

extended dive

brake tail, followed

the E-3 into

production, but

was short-lived

when it became

obvious that the

airframe was too heavy to be

an effective dive bomber, and

that bomb sights were

improving to the point that

negated the need for ‘accurate’

dive bombing. Production then

passed to the Do 217E-4 which

was essentially similar to the E-

3, but had the now redundant

dive brakes removed and a

standard short tail fitted. It was

also fitted with Kuto-Nase

barrage-balloon cable cutters

in the leading edges of the

wings and was powered by

BMW 801L engines with

hydraulic propeller control.

The Do 217E-5 was a

modified version of the

standard E-4, optimised for

anti-shipping operations. It had

the ability to be fitted with

drop tanks under the wings

or could be

fitted

with

wing

mounted ETC 2000/XII

bomb carriers for the radio

controlled Henschel Hs 293

glide bomb, for which the

appropriate Kehl series radio

guidance and control

transmitter system was

installed. The standard

operational fit was one Hs 293

under the starboard wing and a

900 litre drop tank under the

port wing.

Kampfgeschwadern 2’s

DorniersThroughout most of 1942,

the bulk of operations against

the British Isles were

undertaken by a variety of

independent Gruppen and

Staffeln which were rotated

from the dozen or so

Kampfgeschwader still left in

Northern Europe. Prominent

amongst these was

Kampfgeschwader 2. While I.

and III./KG 2 had been

transferred to the Eastern Front,

II./KG 2 had remained on the

Western Front and operated

from various bases in the

Netherlands and France, in anti-

shipping operations as well as

the nocturnal bombing raids

on the British Isles.

III./KG 2 returned to

western Europe from the

Eastern Front in

October 1941,

followed by I./KG

2 in May 1942,

and

both

Gruppen joined I./KG 2 in night

attacks over Britain as well as

dropping mines in the English

Channel and along the east

coast. By mid-1942 all three

Gruppen had fully re-equipped

with Do 217Es, but the

Geschwader suffered a severe

Neil Robinson builds the 1/48 scale Revell/Monogram Dornier Do 217E as a KG 2 machine that took

part in Operation ‘Anton’ in November 1942

Do 217E-4, U5+MN of 5

Sta�el, II./KG 2 in late 1942,

usually based at Gilze-Rijen in

the Netherlands, but which

was temporarily transferred

to Cognac, in the south of

France for Operation ‘Anton’.

View of Do 217E-4, U5+MN

showing the temporary white

bands around the wing tips

and the rear fuselage, applied

for Operation ‘Anton’.

DORNIER Do 217E

69

mauling during the Allied

amphibious raid Operation

‘Jubilee’ on the northern French

harbour town of Dieppe on 19

August 1942, with the unit

launching almost its entire

strength in response, and

reportedly losing some sixteen

Do 217s in the attempt.

Then, in early November

1942, the Geschwader was

temporarily transferred south,

and ordered to help German

forces occupy Vichy France

under the code name Fall

Anton (Operation ‘Anton’)

following the Allied landings

(code named Operation ‘Torch’)

in French North Africa on 8

November 1942. The Germans

could not risk an exposed flank

on the French Mediterranean

so orders were issued for

Corsica to be occupied on 11

November, and the whole of

Vichy France the following day.

Fall Anton was carried out by

German and Italian forces, and

by the evening of 10

November, German forces had

completed their preparations

and the First Army advanced

from the Atlantic coast, parallel

to the Spanish border, whilst

the Seventh Army advanced

from central France towards

Vichy and Toulon. The Italian

4th Army occupied the French

Riviera and an Italian Division

landed on Corsica. By the

evening of 11 November,

German tanks had reached the

Mediterranean coast.

The Vichy French limited

their ‘resistance’

to radio

broadcasts

objecting to

the violation of the armistice

agreed in 1940, and although

the 50,000-strong Vichy French

Army initially took defensive

positions around Toulon, when

confronted by the

overwhelming superiority of

the Germans they realised they

lacked the military capability to

resist and were forced to

disband.

The French fleet

was at Toulon and

French naval

commanders scuttled

their ships on 27

November before the

Germans could seize

them, preventing three

battleships, seven cruisers,

twenty-eight destroyers and

twenty submarines from falling

into the hands of the Axis

powers.

In the event, no combat

sorties were undertaken, and

by the beginning of December,

KG 2’s staffeln were being

returned to their bases in

northern France and the

Netherlands to resume the

night attacks over the British

Isles, which continued in to

early 1944.

Although KG 2’s Do 217Es

were finished in the standard

‘maritime greens’ RLM 72 Grün

and RLM 73 Grün upper

surfaces, with RLM 65 Hellblau

under surfaces, the under

surfaces of most of the unit’s

aircraft had been overpainted

in the Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22

Schwarz temporary black

distemper, reflecting the unit’s

mainly nocturnal operations.

However, additional

recognition markings were

applied for Operation ‘Anton’ in

the form of approximately

50cm white bands around both

surfaces of the wings

and

around

the

circumference of

the rear fuselage –

which was one of the

main reasons that

prompted me to

make this model. The

undersides of the

engine cowlings were

also painted – yellow

in most cases,

but

sometimes in

white.

Building the 1/48

scale Revell Dornier

Do 217E-5 The 1/48 scale

Revell/Monogram

Dornier Do 217E-4/5, first saw

the light of day in the autumn

of 2000, initially released by

Monogram I believe, but then

very quickly marketed by Revell

(in 2001) and also under

Monogram’s Pro-Modeler lable.

Apparently the masters were

prepared by the great Bill

Koster, who had previously

produced a 1/48 scale vacform

kit of the Do 217 series, under

his Koster Aero Enterprises

lable, and this

Revell/Monogram offering

certainly shows its pedigree,

with finely engraved surface

detail, a well detailed cockpit

interior and generally good fit

throughout.

The model I built was the

2001 Revell Do 217E-5 boxing,

which includes over 130 parts

moulded in a medium grey

plastic and eight clear parts.

The breakdown is fairly

unconventional

in that the

fuselage is

split in

three sections, with the sides

and bottom of the fuselage

split vertically to form the

bomber’s

characteristic

‘V’ shape,

with a

horizontally

split fuselage

top which has

the wing centre

section upper half out

to the engines and the

upper half of the tailplanes

integrally moulded. There are

two upper outer wing panels

and the wing under surface

halves are in one-piece halves.

The arrangement works well

but it might be an idea to glue

the upper outer wing panels to

the upper surface centre

section and get as good a joint

as possible before adding the

fuselage and lower wing halves.

There are no problems with

alignment as the integrally

moulded wing centre section

and tailplanes keep everything

perfect.

The cockpit interior is well

detailed, with no less than

twenty-five separate parts

FEBRUARY 2015 • VOLUME 36 • ISSUE 12

Under surface view of U5+MN showing the roughly applied Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22

Schwarz temporary black distemper, applied by the crews for nocturnal operations

over the British Isles. The Operation ‘Anton’ temporary white bands were applied

around the under surfaces of the wing tips and rear fuselage too. The yellow

undersides to the engine cowlings were probably applied previously, while the unit

was undertaking operations over the British Isles, and are not thought to have been

associated with Operation ‘Anton’s markings.

Close-up of U5+MN’s

fuselage and tail

showing the roughly

painted over national

markings in the under

surface Farbton

7120.22/RLM 22

Schwarz temporary

black distemper,

originally applied by

the crews for

nocturnal operations

over the British Isles

on which the unit was

engaged before

undertaking the

temporary move to

the south of France.


DORNIER Do 217E

featuring the prominent port

side throttle levers, detailed

sidewalls, rudder pedals, rear

bulkhead and radio

operator/gunner’s station.

Although not all that much will

actually be visible under the

large but heavily framed

canopy, there is still a lot of

internal construction and

painting to be done before

joining the fuselage halves

together.

The single sprue of clear

parts covers the nose glazing

and underside bomb sight

section, main canopy, side

window gun positions, DL 131

top turret, ventral gun position

and underwing landing lights.

The MG 15 and MG 131

machine guns are finely

detailed and come with

separate magazines and

ammunition belts as

appropriate. The Revell

Do 217E-5 kit boxing doesn’t

include the flexible nose-

mounted 20mm MG FF cannon,

or the longer early tail cone

(with which many Do 217E-2s

were built), but as the braking

mechanism didn’t work

particularly well, most Es had

the short tail cones installed,

which is included.

The engine nacelles are

moulded in

vertically split

halves, (and

note, the pairs

are

handed

port and

starboard), with just the

front row of engine

cylinders moulded

on to a back

plate, but

you're

not

going to see very much of them

anyway as they are mostly

hidden by the cooling fans,

although they do need

painting prior to being

enclosed in the nacelles.

The exhaust manifolds are

designed to be inserted from

inside the nacelles, prior to the

halves being joined, but I found

it better to leave them off until

after painting the main

airframe, and by simply

removing their locating tabs,

attach them from the outside.

Optional external flame

dampeners are separate pieces.

The mainwheel wells are

nicely detailed with a firewall

blanking off the front and a

bulkhead to blank off the rear,

with additional detail under the

upper wing halves which

makes up the wheel well roof.

The landing gear is also well

done and satisfyingly sturdy,

and can be fitted near the end

of the main construction, which

keeps them from being

damaged during building.

The mainwheels have ‘flats’

moulded on them and the

tailwheel is separate and slots

in to the tailwheel leg fork. I

particularly liked the way the

main undercarriage and

tailwheel doors fitted with their

extended retraction arms

slotting into the walls of the

bays.

Underwing stores include a

pair of nicely detailed nine-

piece Henschel Hs 293 glide

bombs, with associated ETC

2000/XII racks and a pair of 900

litre long range drop tanks, on

two identical sprues, although

the usual operational fit for an

E-5 was one Hs 293 under the

starboard wing and a 900 litre

drop tank under the port wing

to increase range and act as a

‘counter balance’.

The sixteen page instruction

booklet features exploded

assembly step views which

contain interior painting

instructions and assembly tips.

Two aircraft are represented on

the painting/decal application

instructions, both Hs 293-

carrying machines from II./KG

100 – 6N+KM of 4 Staffel based

at Cognac, France in October

1943, and 6N+FN of 5 Staffel

based at Athens, Greece also in

October 1943. Both are finished

in RLM 72/73 over RLM 65,

although the 4./KG 100 option

has an RLM 75 mottling over

the fuselage and engine nacelle

sides.

This is an excellent, and easy

to assemble model, for such a

relatively large twin-engined

bomber, and is an important

aircraft in the historical sense

and is a definite ‘must-have’ for

any self respecting 1/48 scale

Luftwaffe model

collection.

Warpaint No 24 on the

Dornier Do 217 by the late Jerry

Scutts is one of the best

currently available references

on this aircraft with many

photographs and colour

illustrations of Do 217E

bombers as well as other

variants. There are also three

different sets of markings for

KG 2 and KG 40 Dornier

Do 217E-2/3/4s on Eagle Strike

decal sheet 48010 (produced

some time ago) which I used

with a mix of the kit decals, on

my model.

I finished my model as a

Do 217E-4, U5+MN of 5 Staffel,

II./KG 2, based at Gilze-Rijen in

the Netherlands in late 1942,

but which was temporarily

based at Cognac, south of

France for Operation ‘Anton’.

The aircraft was finished in the

standard RLM 72/RLM 73

‘maritime greens’ splinter

camouflage upper surfaces and

RLM 65 Hellblau under

surfaces, which had

subsequently been overpainted

in the Farbton 7120.22/RLM 22

Schwarz temporary black

distemper. The underwing and

fuselage side crosses

(balkenkreuze) had been

roughly overpainted with the

black distemper as were the

swastikas (hakenkreuze) on the

fins. The propeller blades and

spinners were painted RLM 70

Schwarzgrün, with RLM 23 Rot

(red) tips to the spinners, 5

staffel’s colour. Exhaust

dampers were not

fitted, and the

exhaust stains were

created by

airbrushing a

dark grey base over

which a light misting of

light tan was applied.

Overall shot of the Revell/Monogram kit which is a relatively

large model but is easy to assemble, and is an important

aircraft in the historical sense and a de�nite ‘must-have’ for any

self respecting 1/48 scale Luftwa%e model collection.

The Revell/Monogram kit built straight

out of the box and �nished in the

markings of II./KG100, based at

Bordeaux-Merignac, France in August

1943 and armed with the radio

controlled Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb

mounted on an ETC 2000/XII bomb

carrier under the starboard wing and a

900 litre drop tank under the port wing.

The appropriate Kehl series radio

guidance and control transmitter

system was installed as identi�ed by the

small fairing on the starboard side of

the nose, just to the rear of the nose

glazing. (Model by Bill Newton)


DORNIER Do 217E COLOUR SCHEMES AND SCALE PLANS


73FEBRUARY 2015 • VOLUME 36 • ISSUE 12

1-48 Scale Revell Monogram Dornier Do 217E

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