Dornier Do 215 was a German twin-engine, metal high-wing combat aircraft produced by Dornier Werke GmbH that served as a light bomber, long-range reconnaissance plane, and heavy night fighter for the Luftwaffe, the Hungarian Air Force, and the Soviet Air Forces. Developed as an export derivative of the Do 17S/Z airframe, early prototypes tested radial Gnome-Rhône 14N engines (V2) before adopting 1,175 hp liquid-cooled Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa inline engines (V3). Though orders were placed by Sweden (Do 215A-1), Holland (Do 215B-1), and Yugoslavia, a German military export embargo in late 1939 caused these production batches to be impounded and completed for the Luftwaffe as the Do 215B-0 and B-1. A specialized reconnaissance variant (Do 215B-4, featuring internal cameras and bomb bay fuel tanks) saw extensive action with the Luftwaffe conducting strategic high-altitude overflights across the Atlantic, the British Isles, neutral nations like Switzerland and Sweden, Yugoslavia, Greece, and eventually the USSR, while two units (Do 215B-3) were evaluated by the Soviet Union.Between late 1940 and 1941, twenty B-4 airframe conversions and six factory-built units were upgraded into the Do 215B-5 “Kauz III” night fighter, replacing the glazed nose with an unglazed nose housing three 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns and a 20 mm MG-FF cannon (supplemented by two additional lower MG-FF cannons, making it the most heavily armed Luftwaffe night fighter in early 1941), alongside passive infrared Q-Rohr sensors and the FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C radar. While praised for its performance in Nachtjagdgeschwader units, the Do 215 was phased out of frontline reconnaissance duties in 1942 as obsolete, with remaining aircraft transferred to secondary roles or supplied to Hungary, though select night fighters remained in operational service until 1944.
