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Meet the aircraft
Claude Dornier's Do X was conceived on a scale far beyond the light flying boats of its era. Completed in 1929, it combined a broad hull with a high wing and six tractor-and-pusher engine pairs. Its accommodation and public demonstrations reflected ambitions for large-scale air travel over water. The aircraft's engineering is as interesting as its size.
Aircraft background
Wikipedia contributors · Read more ↗The chief pilot is there at the beginning and after a difficult return
Wagner’s first encounter with the Do X in the air reportedly came sooner than intended. During the initial trials on Lake Constance, the great flying boat lifted a few metres above the water. Bartmann attributes that description to the chief pilot’s recollections, then follows the aircraft into its subsequent test programme. Four years later, Wagner had another task that connected him with the aircraft’s changing fortunes.
Bartmann’s historical account places Wagner at the first 1929 flight and the September 1933 return after repairs. The unintended liftoff is presented as his reported recollection.
fliegermagazin · Read more ↗Managing twelve engines in the simulator
The linked August 2023 guide explains the MSFS 2020 engine controls. It provides equipment background; this older manual does not establish unchanged MSFS 2024 controls.
Do X · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Imagination Strikes · 4 min ·
A flight aboard the DoX - 1930
Period footage presents life aboard the Dornier Do X in 1930.
Real aircraft · Dornier Do X
Watch on YouTube ↗Preview images are served by AirframeDB. Videos open on YouTube only when you choose to watch.
Meet Dornier Do X
Claude Dornier's Do X was conceived on a scale far beyond the light flying boats of its era. Completed in 1929, it combined a broad hull with a high wing and six tractor-and-pusher engine pairs. Its accommodation and public demonstrations reflected ambitions for large-scale air travel over water.
A separate flight engineer managed the twelve engines. The simulator manual describes how that crew role is represented for a single player.
Dornier Do X
Aircraft type designators
A model-specific ICAO or FAA designator has not been confirmed in the references reviewed for this aircraft.
History & design
Engine cooling changed the aircraft before its overseas travels
The Smithsonian finding aid records difficulties cooling the original rear engines. Twelve water-cooled Curtiss engines replaced the earlier air-cooled installation, and the modified aircraft first flew in August 1930. Photographs of the initial 1929 aircraft therefore show an earlier powerplant configuration.
National Air and Space Museum Archives · Dornier Do X Photograph Album: finding aid ↗Museum collection history; album photographs have separate reuse conditions
Development milestones
Designer: Claude Dornier
First flight: 12 July 1929
Wikipedia contributors · Dornier Do X ↗Dornier Do X · family/variant named by the source · Wikipedia revision 1324113414
Pilot accounts
The chief pilot is there at the beginning and after a difficult return
Wagner’s first encounter with the Do X in the air reportedly came sooner than intended. During the initial trials on Lake Constance, the great flying boat lifted a few metres above the water. Bartmann attributes that description to the chief pilot’s recollections, then follows the aircraft into its subsequent test programme.
Four years later, Wagner had another task that connected him with the aircraft’s changing fortunes. After a landing accident at Passau, repairs took months, and he brought the Do X back to the place where it had been built. The account sets those two flights at very different moments in its life. It does not supply a detailed first-person handling report or make that return its final flight.
Bartmann’s historical account places Wagner at the first 1929 flight and the September 1933 return after repairs. The unintended liftoff is presented as his reported recollection.
Read the full account · fliegermagazin ↗The flying boat depends on a whole crew above the passenger cabin
During a New York demonstration flight, Schildhauer explained the flying boat to reporter Morris Markey. He placed value on the captain’s maritime experience: managing the crew and coordinating the machinery mattered as much as the act of flying. He compared that responsibility with running a steamship.
Schildhauer then invited Markey upstairs to the operating deck. The visit revealed the people working above the comfortable passenger rooms, with navigation and engine management occupying separate spaces. His comments presented the aircraft as a coordinated crew effort. The report records that particular flight and his assessment, without making his comparison a handling guarantee.
Copilot’s remarks during the flight reported by Morris Markey. The reporter visited the operating deck; his own role was passenger.
Read the full account · The New Yorker ↗A postcard records the excitement of joining the Atlantic crew
Strassmann’s postcard to friends expressed her delight at being allowed to join the Do X crew for its return to Europe. The opportunity followed years of flying, demonstrations and aviation promotion that had brought her into contact with manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic. She had already made ocean crossings in airships, but this journey placed her aboard the large flying boat.
The museum account records that Captain Friedrich Christiansen handed her the controls over the ocean. Her participation therefore included flying as well as the other duties named in her appointment. The postcard conveys the excitement of securing the place; the biographical record supplies what happened aboard. Her later South American demonstration tour used a separate Klemm aircraft.
Museum biography drawing on archival material. May 1932 return crossing, signed aboard as assistant pilot and assistant paymaster; the captain gave her time at the controls.
Read the full account · National Air and Space Museum ↗In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
Compare simulator versions →MSFS 2024Do X
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Do X
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
MSFS 2020Do X
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Do X
Microsoft Flight Simulator · Released
Aircraft specifications
Published figures for the named real-aircraft variant. Simulator equipment and performance can differ.
| Specification | Published value |
|---|---|
| Length | 40.05 m (131 ft 5 in) |
| Wingspan | 47.8 m (156 ft 10 in) |
| Height | 10.25 m (33 ft 8 in) |
| Wing area | 486.2 m² (5,233 sq ft) |
| Empty weight | 28,000 kg (61,729 lb) |
| Gross weight | 49,000 kg (108,027 lb) |
| Powerplant | 12 × Curtiss V-1570 12-cylinder Liquid-cooled aircraft piston engines, 450 kW (600 hp) each |
| Propellers | 4-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propellers |
| Maximum speed | 242 km/h (150 mph, 131 kn) |
| Cruise speed | 170 km/h (110 mph, 92 kn) |
| Range | 1,700 km (1,100 mi, 920 nmi) |
| Service ceiling | 3,200 m (10,500 ft) |
Manuals & resources
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Choose a topic for a short introduction and a link to the original source. Simulator references identify the developer and edition they cover.
Simulator documentation
Managing twelve engines in the simulatorDo X · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2024
The linked August 2023 guide explains the MSFS 2020 engine controls. It provides equipment background; this older manual does not establish unchanged MSFS 2024 controls.
Legacy guide; MSFS 2024 interface remains unverified
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗The LOTSE panel controls the anchor and tugDo X · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
The tug requires all engines off and wind below 10 knots. With tug operation enabled, separate knobs set towing speed and direction. The same panel controls the anchor.
August 2023 MSFS 2020 guide · PDF pages 4–5
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Cockpit throttles depend on the engine-room clutchesDo X · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
The cockpit levers command groups 1–6 and 7–12. Only coupled engines respond there; an uncoupled engine requires its individual engine-room control.
MSFS 2020 guide · PDF pages 14 and 27; coupling diagram visually checked
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗A separate wheel controls the water rudderDo X · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
The cockpit illustration identifies a dedicated water-rudder handle wheel beside the other controls.
MSFS 2020 guide · PDF page 13
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Open the windows or hide either yokeDo X · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
Cockpit window handles operate the front and side windows. Pilot and copilot yokes have separate visibility controls.
MSFS 2020 guide · PDF pages 12–14
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Radio navigation has its own crew stationDo X · Microsoft Flight Simulator · MSFS 2020
The radio room contains the avionics master, NAV heading selectors, ADF controls and separate NAV frequency adjustments. Its illustrated panels supplement the cockpit instruments.
MSFS 2020 guide · PDF pages 30–34
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Read the source ↗Pilot account
The chief pilot is there at the beginning and after a difficult returnBartmann’s historical account places Wagner at the first 1929 flight and the September 1933 return after repairs. The unintended liftoff is presented as his reported recollection.
Wagner’s first encounter with the Do X in the air reportedly came sooner than intended. During the initial trials on Lake Constance, the great flying boat lifted a few metres above the water. Bartmann attributes that description to the chief pilot’s recollections, then follows the aircraft into its subsequent test programme. Four years later, Wagner had another task that connected him with the aircraft’s changing fortunes.
Richard Wagner
fliegermagazin · Read the source ↗The flying boat depends on a whole crew above the passenger cabinCopilot’s remarks during the flight reported by Morris Markey. The reporter visited the operating deck; his own role was passenger.
During a New York demonstration flight, Schildhauer explained the flying boat to reporter Morris Markey. He placed value on the captain’s maritime experience: managing the crew and coordinating the machinery mattered as much as the act of flying. He compared that responsibility with running a steamship. Schildhauer then invited Markey upstairs to the operating deck.
Clarence “Dutch” Schildhauer
The New Yorker · Read the source ↗Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Manual
Dornier Do X ManualMicrosoft / aircraft developers Microsoft Flight Simulator aircraft manualsMicrosoft / aircraft developersAircraft background
Dornier Do XWikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1324113414 · retrieved 2026-09-12 Dornier Do X Photograph Album: finding aidNational Air and Space Museum Archives · Patricia Williams and Melissa Keiser; updated 2022 · PDF pages 3–4Resource
MSFS 2024 FAQ and edition aircraft inventoryMicrosoftDeveloper documentation
Microsoft Flight Simulator Releases Local Legend 12: The Dornier Do X Flying BoatMicrosoft Flight Simulator Team · 2023-08-23 · release and package scopeBuilt-in force-feedback profiles
Read the documentary basis, editable starting settings and remaining questions for the aircraft you fly. Each explanation refers to the exact profile revision shown.
Catalogue programme-20261022-v1 · 1 profile choice
Dornier Do X
Free and Pro · Revision 2 · Partial review
MSFS 2024 · MSFS 2020
Dornier Do X: The profile supplies selected transport resistance while engine cues remain separate.
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