Dornier Delphin

Dornier · Germany · first flew 1920 · light aircraft

The Dornier Delphin was a small German flying boat designed in the early 1920s for civil passenger transport, seating three to four passengers in a comfortable enclosed hull. It was among the first civil flying boats produced by Claudius Dornier's company.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, straight
E — Engines	1 × piston, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	10.5 m fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

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Spot it by:

Early 1920s German flying boat
Parasol-mounted engine above the hull
Smooth wooden hull with passenger cabin

A compact single-engine flying boat with a high parasol wing and hull-mounted stabilising floats. The engine is mounted above the wing in a pusher or tractor arrangement, and the smooth wooden hull tapers to a conventional tail assembly.

Specifications

The Dornier Delphin has a length of 10.5 m (34 ft).
It has a wingspan of 17 m (56 ft).
Its maximum speed is 165 km/h (103 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 1920, the Delphin was developed under the constraints of post-World War I Allied restrictions on German aviation. Dornier produced two versions, the Delphin I and II, with successive improvements to the hull and engine installation.

Variants

The Delphin II introduced a more refined hull and improved passenger accommodation; both variants used single pusher or tractor engine arrangements mounted above the wing.

Where you'll see it

A small number of Delphins were operated by early German civil airlines and private operators in the early 1920s, representing pioneering commercial flying-boat operations on European routes.

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