Laté-Dornier 2XR6

[Mr Ten]

This is a joint venture between Dornier and the famous french firm Latécoere specialized in hydroplanes in the 30's...


After the death of the german nazi leader and most of his relatives in a vegetarian orgy in april 1938, the German Republic was re-established in june after a the vote for a new constitution.
In march 1939, a french engineer from Latécoère was in business visit in Berlin. At Tempelhof airport, he stopped on the Dornier X exposed.
Facing the impressive and majestuous machine, he had a sight.

Going back to the BMW motorist, he asked the staff about their turbo engine in study. Could a prototype be ready before the end of the year ?
Finally, a joint-venture between Latécoère, Dornier and BMW was concluded in september 1939.
Economic crisis was rising again in Germany, and aeronautical industry needed new projects.

Very active, the company Latécoère proposed her new revolutionary project to the newly formed transport company Air France.
Seduced by the advanced concept of a colonial hydroplane jet, Air France agreed for immediatly financing 1/3 of the program, considering an acquisition for the first plane, and for the prototype to bear the brand new colors of Air France.

So the Laté-Dornier 2XR6 did the show on Air France commercial ads before flying ! (to be continued... )

[ericr]

waaaahhhh

[Mr Ten]

The Dornier X technology being no more state-of-art in 1940, the plans were sold to Latécoère for a cheap price with just a condition : the name of Dornier should be associated to the project.
The french firm upgraded the cell with lighter parts and alloys, changing also riveting for welding, but without drawing a new plane.
The main idea was to double the capacity of the original DO-X without too much investment.
To do so, two fuselages were joined under a wider wing equipped with new revolutionnary turbojet engines.

The complete cell was assembled and completed in november 1940 near the lake of Biscarrosse in the french deparment named "Les landes" (south of Bordeaux).
However, the engines weren't ready. BMW encountered some various technical and cash problems.
The first engine BMW03F began it's trials in september 1940, but the dispatch of the six engines ordered was retarded until july 1941.

Mounting the engines on the plane, difficult ground testing and bad weather made the things worse. So the the first flight occured only on march 8 1942.

Being a bit heavy on controls, the plane however performed well on test, counting 60 hours of flight at the end of the month.
Facing a year of delay , Air france orderer to put in commercial service the only one actually built plane on a line Biscarosse to Dakar.
So the Laté-Dornier 2XR6 entered serious business on october 17 1942, but only for mail and goods. Administrative certification were done later for 120 passenger in february 1943, with a new line Dakar Biscarosse Fort-de-France (Martinique) opened on july 15 1943.
To cross the Atlantic Ocean, the plane carried only 35 passengers, being overloaded with fuel ! (To be continued... )

[PR19_Kit]

Tophe will be ECSTATIC over this. 

[Army of One]

Kit......he will go dissappear into a darkened room for days is my bet.......great looking build as well......

[Modelling_Mushi]

Tophe will be ECSTATIC over this. 

He is by no means the only one 

Mr Ten, where have you been hiding? That is a gorgeous, esoteric subject photographed and built well. I love how you have canted up the two inboard nacelles to get the right thrust line.

Ahh, and god bless revolutionary rutabagas ....

[Tophe]

Tophe will be ECSTATIC over this.  

Yes I am! this is very lovely
Thanks! (Reality is so boring, when compared...)

[Mr Ten]

(thanks for your appreciations... )

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean took 17 hours between West Africa and the french Martinique. The hydroplane used only 2 to 4 engines for most of the flight. Passengers enjoyed the onboard luxury service, with original drawings from Picasso used to decorate the main decks (in fact, two were stolen by an unknown indelicate customer using a small cutter, and definitely lost).
The comfort was quite good, mostly free of vibrations and noise, thanks to the jet engines on the upper wing, far from the fuselages. The favorite game of some silly passengers was to play hide and seek in the twin fuselages, going from one to the other through the inner corridor in the wing.
However, everything was not so cool for the french builder.

Air France didn't order more than one Laté-Dornier, and was now more interested by a new proposal from Lioré and Bréguet about an advanced multi jet plane.
Economic situation in Germany had improved, and BMW was no further able to deliver new engines at the original price, the plant being at full run for other companies.
The cell used for the Laté-Do 2XR6 was now old, and sometime mocked by aeronautical professionnals (the nickname "old rocket whale " was used by irresponsible newspapers).
(an exceptional color shot from the old days !)
The plane made weekly travels between the french metropolitant territory and the Martinique until august 11 1949, crossing the Atlantic more than 200 hundred times. But she wasn't built in serie as expected a few years ago.
Exploitation costs were high ( engines replacements, excessive fuel consumption.. )

(to be continued... the end of the story next.... )

[Tophe]

Marvelous new pictures, like Real (or proven Real, of course)...

[NARSES2]

Marvellous 

[Captain Canada]

Very cool ! Love the look of the engines !

[Mr Ten]

Exploitation costs were high ( engines replacements, excessive fuel consumption.. ), and the old fashioned image the hydroplane sent over time finally led the national company to sell her to a local transporter named Zenith-Mart.
just before ditching in Fort de France
She was back in service in july 1951 to enjoye a new destiny by discovering the Caribbean islands with hundreds of amazed tourists...
She was then repainted and wore a beautiful yellow and blue livery, and was known as the (Farting) Yellow Seabird.
In 1957, Zenith-Mart ceased the exploitation, spare parts for the engines being unfindables.
Unable to fly, she was transformed in a floating restaurant called The Baratie, a huge floor then being deployed between the two fuselages to accommodate twenty tables. Her specialties of grilled lobsters were then known throughout Martinique .
A violent hurricane ripped the wretched machine in 1966 , carrying off whole cell to make it disappear .
It remains today a fragment of wing three meters in an individual who uses it as a roof for his chicken coop.

Thus ended the career of an imaginary mythical giant transport seaplane ...

Technical Data :

Length: 40 m

Empty Weight : 35.100kg

Engines : 4 turbo BMW 3F 1100 kgp + 2 turbo BMW 3GB ​​1400 kgp

Crew: 6 + 8 cabin crew

Passengers: up to 120 version comfort. ( 180 in "economic " version never built )

Autonomy: 4900 km

Cruising Altitude: 2500 m

Cruising speed: 220 mph (350 km/h) maximum : 310 mph (500 km/h)


And now... Let's talk about the real stuff !!!
Of course, the model is done with 2 Dornier X from Revell/Otaki, and the conversion is relatively easy.
Cut the wing, add a few inner spars, align 2 fuselages... The turbo engines are from frog's (revell edition) arado 234 (what else can you do with a such oldie ?) for the inner, and revell's old B47 reedition for the outer.
You need some filler everywhere... The 2 rudders are thanks to Glencoe venom's wings (again, what can you do with a such shitty thing ? ). Most of the rest came out of the boxes.

Actually, i have no pics of an earlier building process, but it wasn't very impressive.
Painting was made with some tamiya sprays : gun metal, silver and only one shade of grey.
The hardest part of the job was the decaling, especially finding usable logos and filets for an Air France seaplane. I used a lot of xtra-decals stripes for the finish...

[Tophe]

Yes, this is  marvel