FINNISH FLYING PENCIL: BUILDING AIRFIX’S 1/72 DO 17Z

INTERMEDIATE BUILD

David Holmes builds an Airfix 1/72 Dornier Do 17Z, adding a few aftermarket extras to represent a Finnish aircraft based at Onttola in 1943.

Dornier’s Do 17Z was one of the Luftwaffe’s most important medium bombers during the early years of World War Two. Designed and developed during the 1930s, initially as a postal aircraft, then as a reconnaissance bomber, it was nicknamed ‘The Flying Pencil’ due to its thin, tapering fuselage. The -Z variant used Bramo radial engines and featured a redesigned cockpit area, the intention being to improve the defensive capabilities of the crew. However, the still small crew area and lack of powered turrets made it easy prey for Allied fighters. The Luftwaffe used several types of medium bombers during the Battle of Britain but the Dornier Do 17Z was the slowest and most vulnerable, with the battle proving to be the aircraft’s swansong over Western Europe. The type was used to a limited extent in subsequent theatres of the war before eventually being phased out.