Dornier Spatz

The Dornier Spatz, German for sparrow, was a high-wing light aircraft built by the Dornier works in the 1920s and planned as a training and sports aeroplane, of which only one example was made. It was a landplane version of the Dornier Libelle II flying boat and differed from it only in the shape of the fuselage: the boat step, the keel and the side stabilising sponsons were left out, the nose could be shortened because no spray protection was needed, and a fixed undercarriage with a split axle and rubber-cord springing replaced the sponsons. The duralumin shell hull had three open seats, two side by side with dual controls and one behind, and the folding wing was braced on a cabane. A Bristol Lucifer three-cylinder radial engine of 100 horsepower was fitted. It first flew on 12 February 1924, handled unsatisfactorily, and, with no demand, no more were built.