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Dora Nine for sale...

This aircraft has been restored to static condition
I just wonder if this fits into my back yard. Guess I have to talk to the wife about necessary investments than...:costumed-smiley-034

I always preferred the bubble-canopy, but seeing an original Dora today sure is a little (or even a bigger) miracle.

Does anybody happen to know if there´s any airworthy D9 at all? Wasn´t Flugwerk busy with a D9 kit?

Regards
Alex
 
I've heard from various sources involved in the warbird industry that you're not to trust anything being sold by the company that 'restored' this aircraft. Weighing on the side of caution (for myself, and this site), I won't go into further details why. It's been up for sale for quite a while now, and the current price is about half of what what it was initially listed at ($1.2-million).

Alex, unfortunately none of the Flugwerk Doras have flown yet (and all of the original Doras in existence are static). The only Flugwerk Dora that has been finished to a completed state was the one owned by Tom Blair, powered by an Allison V-1710. The engine, mounted up-right, still fits inside the confines of the D-9 cowl and the special-made exhaust stacks exit out the same area as on the inverted Jumo. That aircraft only ever got as far as doing engine runs and taxi-tests while it was based in Florida. I'm not sure what prevented it from ever going as far as flight tests. The aircraft is now owned by Jerry Yagen and is on static display at his Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach. The plan is to eventually ship the aircraft over to MeierMotors in Germany and have them re-engine the aircraft with a restored/operating Jumo engine, and get it flying (MeierMotors is currently nearing the completion of restoring a DB605-powered Bf-109G-4 for Jerry Yagen/Military Aviation Museum).

There were five Dora airframes built by Flugwerk. The only other one that I know any current details of, other than Jerry Yagen's, is the one owned by Eric and Frederic Vormezeele, based in Belgium. It is intended to be completed with a restored/operating Jumo engine as well, and is intended to be flown when completed (they also have a Buchon, Fiat G.46, Harvard, and recently purchased the Hurricane AM274 to complete/fly).
 
Nothing of the WWII or post-WWII history of this aircraft is given on the aircraft's sales page. The identity that this airframe goes by is WkNr. 400616.

What is known, is that Fw 190D-9 400616 was shot down on February 13, 1945, by P-47's of the 22nd FS, 36th FG (9th AF) near Hubingen/Montabauer. The aircraft, assigned to 9./JG54, as "White 16", was being flown by Uffz Gunther Koch, who was killed in the crash. The aircraft was reported to have been 99% damaged. The remains of the aircraft were recovered in the 1980's/90's at around the same time that the crash-sites of a number of other JG54 and JG26 Fw 190's were also tracked down and the remains recovered. Sandy Air purchased the remains in 2008, consisting of the original Jumo 213, two extra Jumo 213's, and a selection of recovered D-9 parts, from a German collector. Sandy Air was required to have much of the entire airframe largely built from scratch, incorporating any of the original D-9 parts and engine they had from the original wreck, where they could. A section of the cockpit is Flugwerk manufactured (and there is/was some speculation that perhaps the tail section is also Flugwerk-related). For a static-build, it looks great, and with only two other original Dora's in existence (the D-9 at the USAF Museum, and the D-13 at the Flying Heritage Collection (not to mention the TA-152 with the NASM in storage)), it is wonderful to have another example - and the only complete example outside of the U.S.
 
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