Pfeil appears in late 1941 or early 1942

Suppose Dornier manages to get his P.59 project, which first flew in 1937 and served as a basis for the later P.335, updated in time for an early P.335 equivalent to fly in numbers by late 1941 or early 1942. DB 603 engines would be available in limited numbers in mid-war but perhaps another engine could do the trick? Does any measurable impact on the war occur or does this become another radical German idea seen as neat or even wasteful decades later?
 

trurle

Banned
The design was not unique. I remember Dutch and Polish designers tried similar prototypes with nose and tail propellers.
Rear engine in all tail-pusher designs had severe cooling problems, therefore it was not interchangeable with nose engine. Also, handling problems at takeoff and landing were severe (cannot takeoff/land at high angle of attack without tail propeller striking ground, therefore increasing stall speed near ground). Long driveshaft of rear propeller of Do. 335 did not solve the rear engine cooling problem adequately.

Both problem of cooling and landing become more severe as engines were upgraded (resulting in more waste heat and larger diameter propeller (increasing only number of propeller blades is sub-optimal)). Therefore, even if developed earlier, Do.335 will be disliked in army, plus development will constantly lag beyond competing designs with similar funding for R&D, therefore Do.335 would be eventually phased out during war in favour of more easily upgrade-able designs.

In other words, early P.335 would be deviation of development in opposite direction from Bf.109->Fw.190 direction of development. P.335 will be very efficient as fighter, but operational readiness and deploy-ability will be awful.

P.S. I can image similar design with collective-pitch heads (similar to helicopters) at nose and tail propellers. It can takeoff/land as STOL aircraft, reducing the handling problems, but the design is insanely complex, even by modern standards.

P.P.S. Moving engines above center of mass (to reduce handling problems of tail-pusher designs) is unacceptable for military aircraft. Guarantees sudden stall if engines are damaged.
 
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It depends on how well Messerschmitt does putting its Me.210/Me.410 in service. The Do.335 being in essence a heavy twin-engine fighter, it might end up taking over for the Messerschmitt as a fast heavy attack aircraft.

Of course, once Hitler learns about the British De Havilland Mosquito as a fast bomber with no defenses but its speed and maneuverability, the Dornier.335 will immediately be 'upgraded' to Blitzbomber.
 

trurle

Banned
It depends on how well Messerschmitt does putting its Me.210/Me.410 in service. The Do.335 being in essence a heavy twin-engine fighter, it might end up taking over for the Messerschmitt as a fast heavy attack aircraft.

Of course, once Hitler learns about the British De Havilland Mosquito as a fast bomber with no defenses but its speed and maneuverability, the Dornier.335 will immediately be 'upgraded' to Blitzbomber.
May be possible. The Me.210 and Ar.240 airframes development was riddled with failures. On the other hand, i mentioned what development of Do.335 airframe was even more difficult. For designs like Do.335 to become popular, speed of engines development vs airframes development must be heavy skewed to airframes side, compared to OTL development ratios.
 
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