Wh the Pleas ss permenanns rere at aoa Be eres TE vv ALREENTHUSIAS.On ToonzaLo avin cRUZ aw PATRICIO PATO! HEBRERO RVING FACED many changes an challenges in hel HorcsrsteS Ts inc Dorner Go 27F itmotn yngoats entered te second decade in seve ste mid 1980 appreectd. In My 1954 the DGNE Gate Material and Indust Ofte) bedored te Do Din testes nr all Galgantions tecordance wi «dueave sued by the Bee dele {Ean spanish ai force) in December 1988 The ees Seeded arty their official denominations on their 10-24-15" followed by the alteratt’s individual number, instead of the former “HR.S-xx" seria Known fuselage/tail number links were DO-24-T3-11 1-1 DO-24-T3-9'$1-3 (ater 'S1-2), DO-24-13.7 ‘S14. By this time, He 1144-S was ‘51-2, unit markings being applied both Do 24s and He 146 randomly: at the end of thy year, the official BdA inventory included seven serviceable In 1953 MAB became worried about the degrading of th airrat fuel tanks, The v was that the whole Do 21 fleet should be gr the problesn could be solved in @ short space of time. At first, st was intended that CASA should Dulld mov tanks but this looked like turning into an interminable process. There were no drawings and Spanish industry was unable to build good quality tanks. Furthermore, acquiring a reliable electric welding system became impossible and the examples delivered suffered ftom fuel leakages shortly after being installed, There were two main reasons for the rapid di to the fuel itself and the heavy impact suffered by the josselstumimeln stub-wings)~ ise which the tanks were ge to the repaired tanks ~ coplaced ~during touchdown, At last, i May 1958, the frst ‘ot the replacement tanks built by CASA were transported from Seville to Pollensa aboare a Grumman Albattoss. Sadly, {twas not long before the fuel eacks and submerged pumps failed and the tanks had to be retumed to CASA at Seville. In September, the tanks’ faulty elements were allegedly repaired, and re-delivered to Pollensa, They were quickly installed in HR.5-7, bt tera few days of operation = during which the aircraft remained anchored in Poltensa Bay- they again began to show signs of corrosion. Finally CASA carried out a process of treating them with Alodine following this up with a coat of special paint Dornier sen to the Spanish Embassy in Rome, Fortunately, this turned ‘out to be the last chapter in this gloomy story ~ 14 years alter the Do 24s frst arrived in Spain! arly in 1953, an ol problem reared its head again —the aircraft urgently needed protecting with anti-coreesion paint In March the Follensa workshop was ordered to paint three ‘of them in air rexcue colours, but the work was delayed over and over again owing to lack of material and labour. Once ‘again, the EA fell back on Spanish industry. Several varnish and paint manufacturers provided experimental material bbut tials on the alxeraft proved them all inet of paint flaking away after a fs flights in the maritime ‘environment. At last, in June 1954 a combination of primer, varnish ancl some chemical agents was shown to be effective and the aireaft began to be scen in an overall bottle gree” finish, with large yellow fuselage stripes and wingtips. According to afew sources deny the story ~ they were nicknamed ‘Guatclias Civiley (CW Guard, whose members usually wear uniforms of a roughly similar colour, often with yellow straps Late in April 1953 the HR.S-11 and -12 carted out a rescue operation lasting over 14 hours, helping the crew of the ‘motor cruiscr Rollo, In May the sume year overhaul for che Do 246 and thelt Fafnirs was reduced to D hours operating time. In july and August, thiee aircraft ‘were fits with the HC-37SE communications set (ike those Which equipped the CASAC-2111 He LL), the remaining Do 24s receiving its In September, $1 Gnspos Do 24s, HR S-1 out combined exercises with French Aevonavale units in the Mediterranesin, and in November the Do 245 dropped smoke bombs on the sea to pinpoint specific areas. In October, the tri-motors took part in manoeuvres in support 0f Spanish Naxy (Armada) vessels off the south-eastern coast of Spain, These took place near the mouth ofthe Rio Tinto (Huelva) where the flying-boats were deployed, The area c ‘major copper mines, with the result that sulphuric acid gets Sand -12cartied te vation ofthe the fur Do 245 ego to show the thelr nes 00 Sh2 et HAS an Poona oy 195858 Furi wa Jared with the four Do 24 sanivors The seve camp, ear the 38 the coe S81 Engin contigs pale into the waters of the river. This phenomenon caused some damage to the hulls and necessitared a laborious process of washing down the paintwork, fucther worsening the Do 24! low serviceability rate By the endot 1953, 51 Grupo was fying HI.S-1,-9and-12, while HRS3, 6-7, 8 and -11 remained at Son San Juan awaiting major repate. This had heen held up by’ shortage ‘of material and labour, despite the fact that HIR.S-4,- and =10 hae been serving as spare sources for theothers. Perhaps because no further spare parts could be obtained from these airframes, HR.S-3 and -8 were not considered repairable, but were seer as yet another source of spares, no etfort being tade to return them to airworty condition. This meant that the true complement of S1 Grupo was six aicratt,clesptte what was stated in the official maintenance documents, On January 30, 1954, HR.S-10 was offically withdrawn from use, and on May 28 that year HR.S-4 followed suit: both aircraft had been hangared for years Then there were five Tebruary and March brought two new rescues at Potiensa (French ater which had crashed) and at Metila, cated out by HRS-1 and 6. In June, 51 Grupo was disbanded, giving place to the newiy.created $1 Eseuadrilla de Salvamento (Gist Kescue Flight), which had a true complement of six (hough only two were serviceable atthe time) Do 24s andl three (only two serviceable) He LL. On Novernber9, 1954, DO-24-T:3+1, wail had just begun tundesgo servicing atthe Poliensa workshop, was destroyed by ire following gas explosion inside its hangar. Five Do 245, then remained airwouthy, though only one was serviceable AW DUME 2006 125 HEIn the sme of 1964 an onerall vier try began tee applia othe four remaining par band andthe $8 scars bade land ig SA leiering. Tree of four Do 24 tre astro at Pensa '562"i al inte rece eral chen ns 830 ful Bound Indigo brow ture = maintenance was becoming virtually impossible. These ive were (flight hours since delivery between brackets): Do 2413-6 (130), 7 (199), 9 (412), -11 295), -12 (41 (Om February @, 1955, EMA High Staff sent the Maest ‘Major Overtatl Centres) a list of aireratt “ti ron the inventory: it included the five Do 24s and the three He 114s The repairof these obsolete aircraft was considered! too expensive and not worthwhile. The survivors were to fly until theie next review, when they would be withdrawn from use, Asie from this, on March 18, 1954, the fist two [ex-USAF Grumman §4-164s assigned to the Spanish ait-sea rescue service had arrived in Getafe, part of the equipmen the Spanish armed forces were to receive asa of the Spanish-US Defence Treaty, signed in Septembe! 1953. The days of the old reliable Domiers scemned to be numbered Surpesingly, 2 week later the Pol HQ sent the MAB a letter in which all th rsa workshops material and HC We AIRENTHUSSTCOM ‘equipment necessary to make the five Do 248 alrworthy was thoroughly detailed. At this point, ft mst be recalled that the toughness ofthe Do 24 was much appreciated by Spanish pilots. They love the robust quality which made It capable of operating in heavy seas with waves of nearly Sit and winds of over IC knots, This was the main reason why, after having been withraven from service, the refurbished Do 24s were later reinstated, After the SA-16As were brought into service, the [EGA SAR pilots realised they were notable toperate in seas as rough as those the German flying boats could negotiate. On one occasion, curing che fn campaign an SA-16A landed too violently at sa, losing one of its undering floats. The pilot intended! to stabilize the aircraft, but it rolled to the ‘opposite side and lost the other float, whereupon it bankec and immediately sank in what sas, fortunately, shallow water, This kind of accident was not possible with thekaif the Do 24% rom fle St et ay propels HS-1 lamp and none tam for igh tpetons art design bow Ia apt 1965, 9 fscundlta dof rit ‘nar ar hs back trmmed ght moi. Do 24s, asthe two flossenstummela gave itan extraordinary apacity to float. iteame as no surprise then, when on February 15, 1955, the MABissued a document detailing all the material necessary to make the five remaining Do 24s of $1 Fscuadrila fully operative in answer, no doubt, toa request from the EdA Sia. Early in May 1955, Do 2413-3 and -& were official withdrawn from use. On August §, Do 247-39 crashed into, the sea, further weakening the strength ofthe thiec-engined aircraft tlet. Its fuselage broke and’ it sank, preventing is luse asa spate source. A SAR SA-16 the Spanish SAR servi hhad been formed on June 17, 1955 -seatched for hous tor survivors and rescued four alive, The four operational Do 24s continued to carty out the dally sorties as far as possible including search exereises, co-operation lights with the AAA, and instruction flight, Iby November that yeas, the lst four Do 248 HK.S-6,-7, -L] and-12 - remained atthe Pollensa workshop. Two of them were serviceable, though the other pair needed materials, in order to be repaired. What happened later i still uleat, but from) the evidence it can be concluded that between 19S6 and late 1987 of carly 1958, the fous Do 24s were celurbished, probably in the main repairshoparRotlensa, with spare parts from most of the withdrawn machines. Over the whole ofthe Do 247 3-7's revision process, 12,239:58 hous were worked an a great deal of new equipment fitted. In Febraary 1957, tor example, eight Marconi A-440 and “441 artificial horizons Wore acquited for installation in the Dorniets. And at las the Spanish aviation industry was able to produce good «quality - and a good quantity - of pipes for fue, oi, CO2) to replace the heavily-repaired ones in the Do 24s, Painting over pedigrees In August 1958, the four alrcraft were assigned to the recently formed $8 Escuadrilia del SAR (S8th SAR Flight) which superseded the disbanded 51 Escuaduilla, also at Pollensa. After being released for service, they were allotted fuselage unit codes from ‘58-1’ to, very probably according to the delivery oider of the new unit. They Continued to sport the bottle green overall livery with large yellow bands, though two years later, when they needed repainting, the tall secials were omitted, making external identification dificult. There have been doubts for a long. time about which alcraft wore which fuselage untt number Though at frst this might sccm somewhat irrelevant, i i not, as the ordinal nuunber of the Fuselage unit code was later applied asthe ordin original one. This change inthe aircraft’ identities did no allow confirmation of the feal ones of the last operational in the whole world! ~ Do 247-35, nowadays preserved in tifferent aviation museums, tor researching this aspect for many years, th il serial number, replacing the thorsmade a breakthrough late in 2004. The kis ineticulous Spanish aviation historian Paticio Hebresomade it possible to analyse an! study more than S00 FA documents relating to the Do 24's Spanish service. It has taken more than 200 hours to read and process all the information, but the results have clarified the matter of the elusive final icentities, as stated later in this article In February 1959, the Do 24s were designated "HD.1', but this was a short-term measure as the former ‘HILS" was reinstated the following September. In every ease, neither appeared on the aircraft, For the whole of that year only 8 Uuaining exercises, and making short deployments to Valencia and Bareclona, anu training sorties to Forney, Formentera where there were clementary naval facilities. They also carried ou minor rescue aness of the ‘and -2' were serviceable, catrying o missions an! dropped coloured dyes over the sea arly in 1960 only the {wo aforementioned alrcratt continued to operate. In June C a North American POF Sabre of the Son San juan (Palma de Mallorca -based Ala de Caza 4 (Ath Fighter Wing) crashed into the sea and 8.2" took part in te search operations for more than five hours, A few days later, the same aircraft carried out search and rescue for the aircrews of two French Lockheed 7-335. later in the year, ‘S82 replaced °S8-1’, which had 10 undergo maintenance, Owing to the chronie spare scarcity, it was only possible to keep two aircraft flying. Again the Pollensa workshop issued a document detailing the interminable tank welding problems. Even in 1960 Spanish industry was not able to achieve German (or Dutch?) standards as regards welding techniques. In mid-September 1960, construction of the nose observation turret of the'S8 ¥ began, though completion was a year away, Somewhat surprisingly, the aircraft still operating had accumulated! Flying in formation with Do? 1.9.48 of 80 Esau Skt MDS iw fad 804 Escuaa markings. 05-4 about be hifed to Pte Shoe by the age crane, uit Scotland, snd Installed 1938. 2 ood many flight hours, The maintenance teams kept working wonders. No sooner had 1961 begun than an BUA B.2I (a Merlin= engined He 1114-16) got lost over the Mediterranean and 8-2! and “-3' undertook a search, In May '58-2' joined the others and Domier activity remained hight carrying ‘out training sorties, escort missions and taking part in International SAR exercises, chiefly In Hay, including Exercises auaroiaand nossa: during the latter, held at Vigna 4 Valle, HR.S- made an emergency landing at Olbia. The Dorniers escorted a group of EdA North American T Texans visiting Cagliary/Elmas in June. HR.S-3 again had to make an emergency landing —in St Ant central engine problems. In November 1961, in order to update the Dorniers ‘avionics’ the EdA purchased eight Bendix P/N 6610-526. 4717 antificlal horizons for fitting to the HR.Ss, at a cost of 56,100, though there is some doubt as to whether the final Installation was carried out, During 1962 and 1963, some rescue missions were carried out. Sometimes, modification work lasted two years scatter it was beset by Silver machines In the summimer of 1964 the aircraft began to receive a new silver overall livery Ill serials were reinstated, but the serial numbers were those which had previously accompanied the fuselage unit markings, not the original ones. The aitcratt also sported black-irimmed yellow bands on the fuselage and wingtips, “SAR insignia and lettering on the nose and the squadron badge on the rear fuselage, just behind the 58 Escuadailia unit markings. Interestingly, the S8tht light insignia ~ the first caried by the Do 2s since their delivery to FA — bore more than a passing resemblance to that of the Luftwatte’s 4/Seenotgruppe. The new tail serlas allotted to the four Do 24s were HRS to the former HI. S-7 (489:20 Hight hours since delivery to EA); HRS-2 to HRS-11 (840:55); HRS-3 to HRS-6 ($3225), and HRSA to HR S-12 41758), On April 1, 1965, §8 Escuadrilla became 804 Escuadsilla and continued to operate from Pollensa. The alcratt’s ddocoration suffered some changes. The fuselage badge and anit markings disappeared and the yellow band was moved backivards; the national flag covering the whole ot the tailfins. One month late, serials HD.5+1 to-4 replaced the previous HRS-1 to -4. These were the serials with which the Docniers ended their FAA career. In July 1958, HD.S-8 and -4 took part In Exercise menus with other EdA alrcrait. En route to Naples, HD.S-4 had to land beside the Israel steamship Jerusalem in order to pick up a sick child and ferry him to Faima for immediate HER Sr eNOS CmSPAIN'S BIG ‘BOATS COLOUR SCHEMES he Spanish ins tok ye of poucasan appr put fr the Do 2s Aer sme ensues temps it 1985. of he [nah the socalled bt green’ dept to prve ecient rele. he rts wert made attr meer epee HS, 5. iat primer and ‘gn apron a the summer of 1958.0 nee wit somedrila del SAR was formed with the four esining Do 2s, The preven sic was html, as sho by i HR-11)- In 1950 tal ells wer ndtted, ender visual entiation very fl. ce sures oF 184 te area began wo eetse anew ther oerl vey. useage uit codes were Rpt but che mums he tl sna were these fhe wait codes ot the aihna nes. Note te ace $8 Escada othe rear fuselage =the fcr by any EAA Do 24a the are of Indigenus design ‘The ls scheme worn bythe EA Do 24. HD.-4 wus te exemple present ny he Spank Ar Misty ta the Dara company er sme ben re ger ‘her thre reser the absence (0 faslag ait narKngs and the esi ofthe SAR yin band, {sell asthe ncnprution ofan alae ae. aft was, emblem ofthe Spanish SAR ongmisation, ‘rated by Gee Sera de Pablo in 195 row then oomerds it Dy te Du 24 unl der recent the EAA invent. Th tain mets facsliter (Go and do te same) MAY DUNE 2006 123 BEFLYMO-BOATS AND FLOATPLANES: Albacete (MAA), the Pollensa workshop managed to maintain three of the four arcraft in flying n (HD.5-3 was kept in stora ing the unit to carty out a number of taining only ones flown during the Do % tuedrilla aircraft continued to fly, carrying out several last yearin spain 1 and rescue missions In all their years of Spanish service, the Do 24s with their Byerly 1967 only twooperatonal aia remained. In May semernber acres case out wide valety of mis AAA phic sorties, and undertook the escort ot remained in hangar aircraft. The search techniques they used in over Yo operate training ope as were based upon hn missions, for which the nose lamp Quarter century and retirement teach the Hallan coast and take part in combine Farly in 1969, 25 years after thelr arrival, the Dorniers with French and Italian SAR elements, operating, continued to fly mis ‘Ordetello and Char to804 Fscuadl rember 11, 1969, the 804th Flight was disbanded retired from F-86rs withdrawn from service, were fitted to from the Eds inventory the HD Scand mach of the equipment updated. With the been refurbished, The last support of MAB, and help from the Maestranza Aérea de Spain took place on November 28, 1969: 2 1:2S-hour taining AE Moo ARENTHUSUST CONPowerplant: Three 1,000hp (746hv2) BMIW-8rano 3238-2 nine- aYAWUME 2006 123 EEC= all sd — the Dornier company to lend them HR splay at Oberpfaffenhoten. According 10 some sources, the wings of HD.S-3, replaced by those the TT version, were fitted — for some unknown reason to HRS. fuselage Mystery solved Since the delivery of the last four Do 247-35 to m ‘one mystery remains. Despite the fact that the BdA dk! not aequite any new Do 24s, none of the w/ns of the quactet HD.5eL, w/e $294, HD.S-2, wine 5341, HD-S-3, win S344 and HD.S-4 wine S445) cosncked with those of the [2 former «examples! Aviation historians and weiters were involved ia esearci in order tosolve the puzzle, Some production Hsts included ~ and sill include the four w/aes ust mentioned followed by a question mark, The authors albo began investigate the origin of these odd serial numbers. Had EAA, maintenance personnel changed the original factory plates new ones? If <0, why It scemed like a good idea to take a look at theinterior ofthe 26 24 atthe EAA Museum. Having gained permission, late in March 2000 the authors and their colleague Roberto Vance got Into che aireraft. Walking on a totten wood floor and seeing all that 1930s equipment was an exciting experience, not to mention the mysterious atmespherein there. Aterten mines or so, Roberto pointed toa small platesetin the cockpits reat brlkhead, just behind the pilot’ seat, There ft asl Bu we were to becisappointed the w/nrin the plate was, in fact, $341. We took some pictures ofthe aircraft's interior ao! lett, We wen ertheless, our colleague murmred something which would later be Significant in solving th rhe: “Ws that really He aera w/t? ne authors decided to contact Dornier’s Dipl In Karl Kessler, to get an authoritative opinion on the subject We sont him the picture of the plate we had taken at the TA Museum. As soon as he saw it, he noticed that it as not similar to those he had seen in the two examples in Germany. After studying the plate and the spot where it conclusion: thatthe w/nrs in the 5000 range were not those of the airayt, but the ones applied to the fuselage by ehe manufacturer Furthermore, the letters ‘mtb’ indicating the Aviolanda factory at Papendtecht), shown at the bottom of the plate in the Spanish aircraft, seem to eliminate the last dA ceria) Hus H5-2 HRS 3 WRS6/ Hosa HRS.2 ) HOSA HR S10 HR SAI /HDS2 HR S-12 /1D5-4 * Aoproximete The sea of bear, ZAS4S—Nov9, 1954 S248" on 18, 1948 39653 May 3, 1955 Daan ay 28,1954 57120 Nov 18,1969 406:09—Nov5, 1955 mn fan 0, 1954 1,008.35" Nov 8, 1969 70925 Nov 18, 1969 Burnteut Nov 9, 1954 Serkan 16, 1948 Hangarec nay 1953, Crashed November 1984 Nangarec on Sep 11, 1945, 804 Fight disbandment {804 Fight disbandenent Accident at Pllersa jun 20, 1888 £804 Fight disbandvent 04 Fight diabandhvent remaining doubts. To fully 6 plate somewhere In the wings, but infirm this point, it would b this presents something of a problem, On the one hand, it would be rather difficult to get into there. On the other, it vnnibalization was 4 feequent ircraft could have fitted with wings from a sister alcraft, In every case, Here Késsh assured the authors, the originalbut HAYDUNE 2006 123