Talk:Dornier Do 31

And the Purpose of the Stabby Nose?
To skewer enemy troops trying to prevent it from landing by standing in front of it?

Seriously, there has to be a story there.

* Septegram * Talk * Contributions * 21:59, 29 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I'd wager it was an instrumentation probe for the trials a/c.  TREKphiler   any time you're ready, Uhura  22:19, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

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Were the DO-960s actually on board?
From the reference: "Dornier started the business of building analog computers when they got into VTOL design (namely the already mentioned DO-31) - the mathematical problems posed by these aircraft made the development of advanced computer systems necessary. Since no digital processor then (and maybe even today) was able to solve all of the differential equations necessary to describe the airplane in detail, Dornier started building analog computers." 

This seems ambiguous to me, were the computers used during takeoff to make adjustments based on real-time calculations, or only in the design phase? From the source I assumed the latter, but the article states the former. I haven't been able to find another source that talks about this, so for the time being I'm adding an "additional citation needed".

Radeklew (talk) 22:53, 7 February 2020 (UTC)
 * They were used long beforehand, in the design process, a Do-960 was a full-height rack across two cabinets. These were lab equipment, not flight gear. They were an analogue computer, controlled by a small minicomputer, a Data General NOVA, later an IBM-PC. Andy Dingley (talk) 23:15, 7 February 2020 (UTC)


 * That's what I figured, but I didn't know enough about VTOLs to confidently make the edit. I agree that this is the more reasonable interpretation, so I have edited the article. Radeklew (talk) 03:34, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

Likely incorrect weight figure
Right now the stated empty weight in the Specifications section (49500 kg) is more than the stated thrust of the aircraft (298 kN -> 30400 kgf after adding up all the engines), which would make this aircraft unable to take off vertically in any conditions. I do not have access to either of the two main sources cited in the Specifications section, so I cannot check if this is a misreading of the sources, however the recent Youtube video by Military Aviation History listed in the "External Links" section gives the following weight figures (at 1:28 in the video): MTOW 21000 kg for vertical takeoff and MTOW 27500 kg for conventional takeoff, the video cites primary sources in the video description. TheDestroyer111 (talk) 19:08, 21 November 2020 (UTC)


 * Agreed, Imperial and metric measurements were transposed in this April 2019 edit. I have corrected those figures and others that do not agree with the paper source in my hand (Observer's book of aircraft - 1968). Good spot. Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by)  19:59, 21 November 2020 (UTC)