General info for Do 217 N-1

• Country Germany
• Vehicle role Air Defence Fighter / Twin-engine Fighter / Strike fighter
• Rank 3

• Battle rating in
  • arcade battles 3.7
  • realistic battles 3.3
  • simulator battles 3.3

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Wiki info about Do 217 N-1

Official War Thunder wiki

Dornier Do 217 N-1 night twin-engine fighter. At the same time the Do 217M bomber was created, Dornier Flugzeugwerke also developed the Do 217N night fighter to enable the installation of DB 603A engines. The first prototype got off the ground in July 1942. Production Do 217 N-1 night fighters were armed with 20 mm Mauser MG 151/20 cannons (belt-fed, with 200 rounds each), which had a high rate of fire and better ballistic characteristics, instead of 20 mm Oerlikon MG FF/M cannons. Four additional 20 mm Mauser MG 151/20 cannons could be installed, inclined in a so-called Schräge Musik mount in the upper section of the aircraft. "Schräge Musik" literally means "oblique (or weird) music", which was a colloquial name for "abnormal" jazz in Germany of that period. The Schräge Musik mount was implemented via the removable R22 factory kit and included fuselage-mounted cannons that fired upward and forward at a 70-degree angle. Oberleutnant Rudolf Schoenert, an ace of night fighter aviation, had developed the idea. The Schräge Musik mount allowed a night fighter to attack a bomber from below, that is at their belly, which was the least-protected area of the plane. Although the Schräge Musik mount increased the aircraft's takeoff weight, its combat effectiveness justified this disadvantage. Since the plane's defensive armament was recognized as unnecessary for the night fighter, some planes had their upper turret removed and their lower gun position terminated. The projection for the lower turret was then removed with the help of a long wooden fairing. These modifications reduced the night fighter's weight and improved its aerodynamics. The planes that were modified in this way were designated Do 217 N-1/U1. The standard package of the Do 217 N-1 included a FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C airborne radar. In addition, the plane had a FuG 25 or FuG 25a identification friend or foe transponder housed in the rear section of the left nacelle. The rear bomb bay was retained on Do 217 N-1 night fighters, to leave the option open for them to be used as “night hunters”. The total production volume for Do 217 N-1 night fighters was small, amounting to only 95 aircraft.