Dornier Wal

The Dornier Wal (Whale) was one of the best-known and most successful flying boats ever developed. The aircraft was gigantic against other aircraft of its day. It completed its maiden flight on November 6, 1922 and its total production ran to more than 200 examples. To avoid violating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, from July 1922 production of the flying boat was carried out at Pisa in Italy on the premises of Costruzioni Meccaniche Aeronautiche S.A., a company that had been founded especially for the purpose. In doing this, Dornier wished not only to progress from the already existing drafts for a high-wing flying boat equipped with two engines in tandem arrangement but also to continue work on the already tried and proven Dornier stub-wing stabilisers.

Even before a single Dornier Wal had been constructed, six had been ordered by the Spanish Air Force, who had seen no more than the blueprints. A condition of the contract of sale was that the Spanish should be allowed to build this flying boat under license in Madrid. Towards the end of 1924, a further license was granted, this time to Japan, where the flying boat was built at the Kawasaki shipyard. Later, license production was carried out by Aviolanda in the Netherlands and then, from 1929, by the Dornier Company of America in the USA

Up to 1931, civil and military versions of the Dornier Wal were manufactured at the Pisa site. The Wal was sold to customers all around the world, including the World War I allies, who purchased the military version. And so the victors of 1918, who were intent that no military aircraft be built by Germany, came to order a military flying boat from a German company. Because of its dimensions and its performance, the Germans were not allowed to operated the Wal in Germany. Nevertheless, the German airline Aero- Lloyd inaugurated the Danzig-Stockholm and Berlin-Danzig routes on June 5, 1925, with the four Wal aircraft being flown by Swedish and Italian crews respectively

A year later, Lufthansa took over these flying boats, which soon became famous for their use as transatlantic mail planes. Loaded with mail, the aircraft were too heavy to take off from runways and had to be launched from floating bases with the aid of catapults. Thus the Dornier Wal was instrumental in providing the first regular international mail service. Even the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen made use of this flying boat's great reliability and range during his expedition to the North Pole.

A distinctive feature of the all-metal Wal flying boats, which were produced for numerous customers, was the variety of different engines installed. Each individual customer decided on the particular engines he wished to have, was responsible for their purchase and their despatch to Pisa. The performance and design of the various engines were governed by specifications, but this did not prevent occasional inconvenient breakdowns and resulting flight cancellations due to the right components not being available in the right place. The installation of different engines in the different countries was the reason for the numerous type designations that were to be found toward the rear of the wide fuselage and on the wings.

As the dimensions and strength of the individual components always had to be matched to the different engines, the Wal became increasingly heavier with the installation of more and more powerful engines. The design of the subsequent Wal models built in Pisa, of the Manzell built in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance and of the Super Wal had to be accordingly adapted to the new, advanced technology.

The Dornier Wal, which in the mid-twenties had set up numerous world records for range, speed and altitude, did not only serve as a safe means of transport for crossing the Atlantic but also for exploring polar regions. Claude Dornier wrote of the aircraft: "The Wal has transformed the Dornier company from a small builder of experimental aircraft into an internationally-known aircraft manufacturer."

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