Dornier Do 335 Pfeil Book Review
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | March 2005 | Title | Dornier Do 335 Pfeil |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Marek Rys | Publisher | AJ Press |
| Published | 2000 | ISBN | 83-7237-052-4 |
| Format | 96 pages, softbound | MSRP (USD) | $20.00 |
Review
Here is an interesting subjet - the Dornier Do 335, one of the most advanced propeller-driven fighters ever developed. This title is published in Polish only. Why would you want to buy a Polish aircraft reference? Read on!
How many times have you picked up one of the Koku Fan Famous Aircraft of the World monographs and found it useful for getting a glimpse at certain details for an upcoming project? Chances are that you don't read Japanese, yet these well-illustrated titles bring together some great information for the modeler. The historian gets left out of this unless they do read Japanese.
The same applies to AJ Press and specifically to this title. This is a very well illustrated book with numerous photos of the aircraft in development, flight test, and even some great detail shots in and around the airframe. There is a comprehensive section of line drawings (in 1/72 scale) that illustrate the differences between the early prototypes, the few operational aircraft, and a glimpse at some of the concept aircraft that were on the drawing boards. I particularly like the Do 535A compound aircraft with the rear piston engine replaced with a turbine (and that ventral fin is gone as well!). The Do 335Z Zwillig is there as well as the P.256 which is a Do 335 with the nose and rear piston engines replaced with wing-mounted turbine engines.
Nine pages of color profiles are also included, which illustrate the aircraft prototyes and some of the captured aircraft as well. The title concludes with a list of production serial numbers and a table illustrating the physical and performance differences between versions. Inserted into the title is a huge two-sided sheet of line drawings in 1/72 scale of the aircraft in its various configurations..
This title is a must-have for WW2 era modelers as well as those historians that are looking for hard-to-find photos of this interesting aircraft..
I purchased my copy from Air Connection, but according to their website, they are out of stock. I did note that Aeroplane Books has this in stock along with a number of other AJ press (and others!) titles.