Dornier Do 217

The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War, a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17. It was designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bomber, refined during 1939, and entered production in late 1940 and service in early 1941, with a much larger bomb load and a much greater range than its predecessor. It served on all fronts as a strategic bomber, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft and anti-shipping aircraft, and was also converted into a night fighter that saw considerable action in the Defence of the Reich campaign. In 1943 it became the first aircraft to use precision-guided munitions in combat, when Fritz X radio-guided bombs sank the Italian battleship Roma in the Mediterranean. At least one Do 217 stayed in operational service with the Swiss Air Force until 1946.