"Guns before butter. Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat."
- Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Head of the German Luftwaffe

The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift ("flying pencil"), was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dornier's company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke. It was designed as a Schnellbomber, a light bomber, which in theory, would be so fast that it could outrun defending fighter aircraft.

The Dornier was equipped with two radial engines, mounted on a "shoulder wing" structure and possessed a Twin tail vertical stabilizer configuration. Designed in the early 1930s, it was one of the three main Luftwaffe bomber types used in the first three years of the war. The Do 17 made its combat debut in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, operating in the Condor Legion in various roles. Along with the Heinkel He 111 it was the main bomber type of the German air arm in 1939-40. The type was popular among its crews due to its manoeuvrable handling at low altitude, which made the Dornier capable of surprise bombing attacks. Its sleek and thin airframe made it harder to hit than other German bombers, as it presented less of a target.

The Dornier was used throughout the war, and saw action in significant numbers in every major campaign theatre as a front-line aircraft until the end of 1941, when its effectiveness and usage was curtailed as its bomb load and range were limited. Production of the Dornier ended in the summer of 1940, in favour of the newer and more powerful Junkers Ju 88. The successor of the Do 17 was the Dornier Do 217, which started to appear in strength in 1942. Even so, the Do 17 continued service in the Luftwaffe in various roles until the end of the war, as a transport, test and trainer aircraft. A considerable number of surviving examples were sent to other Axis nations. A small production run of an updated version known as the Do 215 was also produced for export, but ended up in Luftwaffe service. Production of the Do 215 ceased in January 1941. Few of the Dornier Do 17s survived the war. The last was scrapped in Finland in 1952.

This 1:72 scale model represents a Dornier Do 17 Light Bomber that was attached to 7 Staffel, III Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 3, during August 1940, and recently discovered off the coast of England. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 9-3/4-inches
Length: 8-3/4-inches

Release Date: September 2015

Historical Account: "Ressurection" - With its twin engine pencil fuselage and twin fin configuration, the Dornier Do 17 was particularly distinctive. Operated by a crew of four over 400 Do 17s participated in the Battle of Britain, over the course of which nearly 200 were destroyed. On 26th August 1940, during the height of the Battle of Britain, a huge formation of Do 17s was en route to attack airfields in Essex. Having been intercepted by RAF Boulton Paul Defiant fighters, Do 17 5K+AR was shot down over the Goodwin Sands at low tide. The Dornier sat on the Sands until almost seventy years later when it was discovered in remarkable condition. 5K+AR was lifted from the sea in May 2013 and the task of post-recovery conservation of the aircraft has begun at Cosford.