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Flame dampers (German called it Fischendstück, or Fish Tail) on engine exhaust nozzles reduced its glare from being detected by enemy gunners. Flat black surface dry brushed with Testor Tan for a light haze appearance. With success as Do-17 night fighter, next platform was Do-215-B5 bomber conversion called "Kauz III". Plane coded G9+OM was first Dornier bomber equipped with 90 MHz FuG 202 B/C airborne radar, flew on combat sortie August 8/9, 1941 with pilot First Lt. Becker, who also scored a night aerial kill on that night. By Oct 1941, Do-217-E bomber series were selected for night fighter conversion, equipped with either BMW 801 radial or DB 605 in-line engines. Daimler-Benz DB 605 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB_605
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Rollover : In 1939, Luftwaffe issued new aircraft coding system, a 4-letter scheme devised for Kampfverbande (bomber units), which in turn was adopted by heavy fighter (ZG or Zerstörergeschwader) and night fighter (NJG or Nachtjadggeschwader) units as war progressed. Thus G9+HM on the model denoted : 1) G9 for NJG1 night fighter wing (code was previously assigned to ZG1 heavy fighter unit flying Bf-100Cs and short time to NJG4 night fighter wing during its formation), 2) H was individual aircraft code, 3) M indicated 4th Staffel (squadron). Luftwaffe Aircraft Code (PDF) | Bradac Archive
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On 23 Nov 1941, German Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM or Reich Air Ministry) Technische Amt phased out all Do 217 from Luftwaffe bomber fleet, and redesignated them as Do- 217-Z heavy night fighters. Rationale for this action were two-fold : 1) There was sufficient bomber types (ex. He-111, Ju-88, He-177) for medium bombing role, 2) Imperial Japan voiced interested in night fighter concept and desired to acquire a Do-217 for examination. Reich Air Ministry - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reich_Air_Ministry
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Although Germany did not export Do-217 to Japan given logistics challenge transversing Allied-dominated Atlantic - Indian - Pacific Oceans, trials were conducted via modified Do-217 E-1 (Wk. No. 0042) at Dornier's Löwental plant to test its range capabilities. Unlike Germany which nominally operated within a 500-mile air radius in Europe, Japan required extensive range deployments into southern China, central Pacific, and Southeast Asia, which would tasked operational range of all aircrafts. Another modified Do 217 E-2 (Wk. Nr.1122) was tested for tactical feasibility (weapon loadouts, flight characteristic, etc.) on Jan 1942, it had its rear "turkey feather" dive brakes removed to save weight and it was not required for night-fighting role.
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Spanner Infrared System | Feb 1942, a modified Do-217 E-2 (Wk. No. 1134) was tested at Travemünde flight test center as close-support night fighter (coordination with ground radar, close-in with airborne radar). Plane equipped with both FuG 202 and Spanner-Anlage Infra-Red detection system installed onto pilot windshield, which detected heat signature within 2 to 3 miles. Allies called it "Peeping Tom" system, an allusion to certain teen-age asocial / amoral activities. Stand-alone Spanner IR system was previously installed on Do-17 Z-10 in early 1940s, but only 10 Z-10s were built and they served 2 years as night fighters before being withdrawn. Infrared - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infra-red
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WW2 Spanner-Anlage Infra-Red system was cutting-edge military technology, but was not perfected until end of 1945 (months after Germany's defeat). All be it, another IR-AI system was successfully deployed on Junkers Ju-88 G-6 night fighters in early 1945. Germans had better success with IR systems installed onto armored vehicles & tanks for night-time battle engagements, there were instances in 1945 central Germany when local US forces withdrew in a panic after being accurately plastered by German IR-scoped tank fire. German Infrared Night-Vision Devices Infrarot-Scheinwerfer - www.achtungpanzer.com/articles/ir.htm
 Related Model and History : Ersatzjagdpanzer IV with Infrarot-Scheinwerfer - UweMilitaria.org/2-Track/Jpanzer4ersatz/index.html-
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Nachtjadger badge adopted by all Nachtjagdgeschwader... aka NJG (night fighter squadrons).
German eagle overlay red lighting bolt onto English isles derived from first night fighter squadron formed in mid-1940 by twin-engine Bf-110 Zerstörer units based in Holland, intercepting British RAF night bomber streams.
Messerschmitt Bf 110 | Wiki
Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 | Wiki
This NJG badge derived from family crest of Wolfgang Falck (famed Luftwaffe ace and Knight's Cross winner), who commanded NJG 1 squadron.
He designed the tactics for night interception and is considered to be originator of Nachtjagdwaffe (night fighter combat). Espirit d'corps was such that this badge was painted on both aircrafts and airfield defense AAA halftrack.
Wolfgang Falck | Wiki |
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Do-217 N-series , this is PE+AW photo of which its color plate shown in Page #2. PE+AW is also replicated underneath both wings, a common Luftwaffe practice in early WW2 years, but no longer applied as standard by 1943.
Due to mounting Luftwaffe complaints against this aircraft. On 12 May 1942, RLM Technisches Amt at Rechlin, decided to close-out Do-217 production line (aircrafts in pipeline completed by Dec 1942). |
 Do-217 J-2 schematic, its bomb bay converted to carry extra fuel cells for prolonged night patrols & long-range interceptions.
Despite its 1942 production close-out, some Do-217s (along with a few Bf-110-C) night fighters were transferred to Comando Supremo della Regia Aeronautica (Supreme Command of the Royal Airforce) of Fascist Italy to defend country's northern industrial regions from Allied air attacks.
Aug-Sept 1942, Italian pilots first sent to Venlo/Netherlands for initial training, then to Stuttgart-Echterdingen/Germany for conversion training. By Jan 1943, Italy's night fighter arm : 41.mo Stormo Caccia Notturno, was activated at Pozzola/Italy with one CR 42 CN (Caccia Notturno), three Bf 110Cs, four Do 217 J-1 and a captured RAF Bristol Beaufighter.
Venlo | Wiki Stuttgart | Wiki
BTW, Venlo/Netherlands had its WW2 fame via 9 Nov 1939 "Venlo Incident" when British Intelligence agents were kidnapped by German Sicherheitsdienst (SD or German Intelligence Service) in the city, which subsequently linked the British to Georg Elser (a German Communist) failed assassination attempt on German Chancellor Hitler at Burgerbraukeller on 7 Nov 1939. Germans used this rationale of Dutch pro-Allies collusion to invade the Netherlands on 10 May 1940.
Venlo Incident | Wiki Georg Elser | Wiki
Stuttgart gained its fame in post-WW2 years being the auto assembly and test center for German sports car Porsche. All be the same, Porsche built famed Tiger tanks for WW2 Germany.
Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger (P) VK4501(P) / Porsche Typ 101 | AchtungPanzer.com
German King Tiger Tank (Tiger II) | Wroldwar2aces.com
Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.E (Tiger I) | Fprado.com
Porsche | Wiki |
 Do-217 demise on eve of WW2 ending. Aircraft K7+GN belonging to 5./Aufkl.Gr.Nact (5th squadron of Night Recon Wing), enroute from Odense to Norway during night of 5 May 1945.
It was heard circling at low-altitude near Danish city of Edslev, and crashed into low hill 160 feet from a farmhouse, its wreckage scattered across the landscape. Do-217 Crash | Flensted.eu.com
Stark reminder of fortunes of war, since German forces in Holland, northern Germany, and Denmark officially surrendered to western Allies a few hours later at 8:00am May 5th, 1945. German forces in eastern Europe continued fighting until May 8th (some isolated units fought on until May 11th) to rescue as much German and ethnic-German civilians as possible from mass rapes & massacres perpetrated by advancing Soviet troops. Scale of retribution shocked American servicemen who witnessed its aftermath... to a certain extent, these Soviet atrocities were engrained into American socio-political psyche during 1950-1960s "Cold War".
'They raped every German female from eight to 80' | Guardian.co.uk
Cold War | Wiki
Another rationale for Germans prolonging the war for a few days was to enable millions of Germans soldiers fighting on eastern Europe to surrender to western Allies, for Soviets impressed German POWs into slave labor gangs for proceeding postwar decades. Last German POW in Soviet captivity was not released until 1964. Although certain Nazi party leaders convicted of war crimes were imprisoned until death, such as Rudolf Hess (Deputy Führer) who allegedly committed suicide age 93 in Spandau Prison-West Berlin 1987 and Erich Koch (Gauleiter of East Prussia) who died age 90 in Polish prison 1986.
Soviet war crimes | Wiki
Erich Koch | Wiki
Rudolf Hess | Wiki
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 Another photo of Do-217 5./Aufkl.Gr.Nact wreckage scattered across farmhouse of Arnold Jensen, near Edslev city. All 4 crew members were killed in the crash. It is not known for certain why the aircraft flew so low during its night recon mission, some speculated mechanical failure as aircraft attempted to make crash landing (thus its low level circling before impact).
Jensen family contacted Danish Statens Civile Luftværn (National Civil Defense), which sent a truck from Fliegerplatz Ry (Ry airport) to pick up crew remains and buried at Gammel Rye cemetery in eastern Denmark on 7 May 1945. Ry city developed around a train station near Gammel Rye (Danish meaning Old Rye) : a market town with lineage back to the Europe's Middle Ages.
Middle Ages | Wiki In 1960s, West Germany consolidated war dead remains throughout western Europe (they were not permitted access to German graves in Eastern Europe until mid-1990s), thus these remains was reinterned at German War Cemetery Gedhus near Danish city of Kølvrå. German War Cemetery Gedhus | WW2museums.com Denmark Midtjylland List | WW2museums.com
After WW2, Ry (also written Rye) became a refugee center for about 250,000 German, Polish, Russian, Baltic States. With wholesale expulsion of Germans & ethnic-Germans from the East, ex-German slave labors returning home to the East, destruction of local infrastructure, and postwar power struggles, western Allies decided to keep these refugees in-place until political climate stabilized by 1950.
Ry a Refugee Camp in Denmark, 1945-1949 (PDF) | Scc-online.org Expulsion of Germans after World War II | Wiki |
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