1929 - Do X - Commercial Flying Boat
Do X – a milestone in aviation history – is a still admired pioneering achievement of Claude Dornier. All-metal monoplane, braced with three struts on either side against the sponsons. Novel planking of the three-spar wing with so-called wing skin panels made of Dural sheet metal or fabric. Ailerons on the wing trailing edge, balanced by tabs. The 12 air-cooled Siemens Jupiter engines were installed in 6 tandem nacelles over the wing and were connected with each other by an auxiliary airfoil. The engines were accessible in flight. The flying boat had an intrinsically stable hull with a pointed bow with a transition into a flat door, with longitudinal step, cross-step and a tail skid box with three water rudders.
A special feature was the subdivision into three decks: upper deck with the flight deck, navigation and radio room, engine control stand; main deck with luxurious facilities for about 66 passengers; lower deck with fuel and store facilities. The strutted and braced tail unit was installed in the usual way on the raised, and all rudders were balanced by tabs.
For building the Do X a modern aircraft plant was built at Altenrhein Lake Constance, in 1926/1927. Dornier Chief Pilot Richard Wagner took off for the first flight on 12 July 1929. A sensational record flight with 169 people on board was made on 21 October 1929 – and it took 20 years to break this record.
Technical Data
| Length | 40,1 m |
| Height | 10,1 m |
| Wing span | 48,0 m |
| Wing area (main wing) | 450,0 m² |
| Wing area (auxiliary wing) | 30,8 m² |
| Powerplant Siemens Jupiter | 12 x 525 PS |
| Empty weight | 28250 kg |
| All-up weight | 48000 kg |
| Fuel capacity | 23 300 Liter |
| Cruising speed | 175 km/h |
| Maximum speed | 210 km/h |
| Crew | 14 |
| Passengers | 66 |
