Encouraged by the success of the Do 17, the Dornier design team developed a larger and more powerful version of their bomber, the Do 217E. While outwardly it resembled the Do 17 it was in fact a brand new airplane using little to none of the tooling from the earlier bomber. The result was an excellent and extremely versatile aircraft with powerful engines and the ability to carry three times the bombload of the Do 17 for twice the distance. Its top speed was 60 MPH faster as well. The Luftwaffe actually considered it a "heavy" bomber but it was for all practical purposes in the same weight class as the later He 111s and Ju 88s. To get an idea of how efficient the design was, one needs only to consider the fact that it could carry a ton of bombs more than the famous American B-26B at slightly greater speed, range, and heights on 900 less horsepower. The Do 217E was aiso better armed than any of the other German medium bombers. It had a fixed 15mm cannon in the nose and a 13mm turret-mounted gun in the dorsal position plus another 13mm gun in the ventral position along with three light machine guns. Its speed and extra armament certainly enhanced its survivability and when it first appeared in combat in 1941 it gave the RAF a shock. Later in the war the Do 217 was even produced as a heavy night fighter but that version of the plane was never very popular with its pilots.
DEFENSIVE GUNS: The Do 217s defensive armament is similar to that of the Do 17, except that in the E-3 model the dorsal and ventral guns are placed in small, powered turrets and upgraded to 13mm.
