Dornier Wal

History

The Dornier Wal, one of the most famous German flying boats of the time, made ​​its first flight on 6 November 1922. The Wal, designed by Claude Dornier, was a development of the Dornier Gs.1 from 1921.
To avoid problems with the Treaty of Versailles [Germany was not allowed to build aircraft] the Wal was built in Italy by Costruzioni Meccaniche Aeronautiche SA. This company was specially created to built the Wal.
A special feature was that it was built entirely of Duraluminum, further it featured 'stummels', a sort of stabilization on both sides of the hull, developed by Claude Dornier, and in addition it had a monoplane configuration.
One of the first orders came from Spain for six aircraft. That land also acquired a license for production by  CASA in Madrid.
Shortly afterwards the Japanese Kawasaki also obtained a license for the construction of the Dornier Wal, later followed by Aviolanda Papendrecht, The Netherlands and also for the American Dornier plant in the United States
Until 1931 the typet was built in both military and civilian variants in Pisa, Italy.

In 1925, four flying boats were taken over by a German airline Aero Lloyd for the line Danzig - Stockholm and Danzig -  Berlin; the aircraft were flown by Swedish and Italian crews. A year later, the aircraft were taken over by Lufthansa, which used them also for transatlantic mail flights.
The Norwegian polar explorer Amundsen also used the Dornier Wal for ​​his North Pole expedition.

The Wal could be equipped with a variety of engines, depending on the choice of the client, who had to ensure that the desired engines were delivered at the Dornier factory for installation.

Hence a variety of models and performance arose. As the engines became bigger and stronger, Dornier had often to make adjustments to the construction because of the increased power.
The first Wal could carry a load of 1000 kg, the version that Amundsen used could carry 4000 kg.

Eventually, some three hundred aircraft were built in twenty variants.
The designations for the latter types were 8-ton or 10-ton Wal (their weight). In 1933 the 8-ton Military Wal was designated Dornier Wall 33 and later as Do-15.
A further development of the Wal was the Dornier Do-18.
The fourteen tons Do Superwal with four engines, built in 1928, was a passenger aircraft for twenty passengers.