Originally Posted by
FlyerInOKC
The prototype at the end of the Blue Max is suppose to be the Dornier - Zeppelin D.1. At least it was the D.1 prototype test flight the scene was based on. The D.1 killed Wilheim Reinhardt who had assumed Richthofen command after he was killed. Hermann Goering flew first test flight of the D.1 and it was suppose to be grounded for structural upgrades. Reinhardt took it for a test flight and the top wing failed killing him. Goering was his replacement as commander of JG 1. I have a partially completed project of a small scale D.1. I fell in love with this Ugly Duckling's radiator. Here is where the plans are:
DORNIER D.1 38? Plan386
One of the prototypes from 1918
I think you missed something, FlyerInOKC. The Dornier-Zeppelin D.1 was a biplane; not a parasol wing monoplane. There was (after the war) a parasol wing plane (the Do H Falke) developed from the D.1. But the plane in the movie was a dressed up 1930's era Morane 230 parasol trainer
. Your recounting of the death of Wilhelm Reinhardt was spot on, though. Thanks; Ernie P.
From Wikipedia:
The Dornier Do H Falke was a German single-seat fighter, designed by Claude Dornier and built by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. Although an advanced design for its time, being evaluated by the United States Navy as the Wright WP-1, it did not go into production.The company started to design a
prototype fighter in the early 1920s, based on earlier wartime designs like the
Zeppelin-Lindau D.I.
It was an all-metal high-wing
cantilever monoplane, with the wing above the
fuselage on four small struts. It had a conventional cantilever tail unit and a fixed
tailskid landing gear. The pilot had an open
cockpit just behind the
trailing edge of the wing. The aircraft was powered by a Hispano-Suiza piston engine located in the nose. Two aircraft were built by the
Swiss subsidiary of Dornier and three by S.D.C.M.P. in Italy, to avoid restrictions on military aircraft production in Germany. It first flew on 1 November 1922, but failed to go into production. One of the
Falkes was converted to a
floatplane in 1923, powered by a 261 kW (350 hp)
BMW IVa V-12 engine, as the
Dornier Seefalke.
One Seefalke was shipped to the United States of America by the Wright Aeronautical Company, who fitted it with a licence-built Wright-Hisso H-3 engine. It was evaluated by the United States Navy with the designation Wright WP-1. It performed well, but the Navy considered the monoplane fighter too advanced for its needs.