Okay this is a picture taken in the early 1930’s of a Dornier Do-J “Wal” (Whale) of the Royal Netherlands’ Navy. The Wal, for its time, was a very advanced flying boat of all metal construction with a low hull and twin engines mounted above the wings where they would be away from any boat that moored close to it or from people making their way into that plane.

The Wal was a popular plane, sold all over the world, easy to fly and very sea worthy but it also had some drawbacks: it had an open cockpit leaving the pilot and crew open to the elements and it also was rather small in what it could carry as payload. So the Royal Dutch navy specified that they wanted a bigger version of the Wal.

The result was arguably the best seaplane ever made.

The Do-24 had much in common with the Wal, most notably the shallow hull and the set up of a high wing and the engines far removed from anything that could get in the way, but it could carry twice payload of its older sibling. The Dutch used their Do-24’s to great success in the east indies where they served as supply planes to remote islands and after the Japanese invasion they were used with good success as a search and rescue plane. Interessting tibit: the Dutch flew both the Do-24 and the better known Consolidated PBY Catalina and the Dornier proved itself to be a superior plane in terms of durability, accident rate and ease of on the spot maintenance, which was always a good thing seeing as how you might land in open seas with a busted engine and no way of knowing how long you were going to be stuck there.

Meanwhile back in Europe, the Luftwaffe recognizing the genius behind the Dutch’ reasoning began to use their own version of the Do-24 which differed from the Dutch version by having BMW engines rather than the USA-made Wright Cyclones the Dutch had. The Germans used the Do-24 in pretty much the same role as the Dutch specification said it was for: Search and rescue and as a sea going supply plane. Again it performed that role wonderfully.

After the war, the Royal Dutch Navy continued flying the Do-24 until they were replaced by the more modern Martin Mariner amphibious planes and the very sea worthy Doniers were officially “Uit de vaart genomen” (Literally: “taken out of the seas” which is a Dutch term for when a ship is decommissioned.

A surviving Do-24 in the Dutch airforce Museum, it’s actually a former Spanish Navy example. this picture shows the shallow hull to great effect.

Of the 279 built, there are sadly only four left and of those three remain in stationary condition in museums. Perhaps the most surprising post-war use of the Do-24 was to save the forward section of the hull after the aircraft was scrapped and to use it unsurprisingly as boats.

A Dornier hull converted to a boat.

There is however one still in flying condition albeit it having very little in common with the original specs of the Do-24.

The Do-24 ATT is an extensively modified Do-24, with a tricicle undercarriage, modern avionics and turboprop engines. It’s been flown by the grandson of Claude Dornier, the company’s founder. It flew charity missions for Unicef, doing exactly what it was designed to do.

And as a final reminder what a great sea plane the Do-24 was: the one in the Dutch airforce museum, when it was bought, was in such good condition that it actually was deemed airworthy after sixty years of not having flown.