Doflug 3803, the ultimate Swiss prop fighter

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Doflug D-3803

The ultimate Swiss prop fighter

About this aircraft and its interest in War Thunder

In an effort to possibly flesh out existing tech trees and to bring new and unique aircrafts in the game, this ultimate Doflug fighter derived from the original Morane Saulnier boasts superior performance and armament which would fill nicely the gap that exists in the French WW2 fighter line. Beyond that, It would also be welcomed in a Swiss or international tree.

History of the D-3803

The Swiss Doflug line of fighters were inherited from the French Morane Saulnier. Indeed, after acquiring MS 406, the Swiss air force realised its shortcoming during the Battle of France. They wanted to improve the design following the French evolutions of the original aircraft, so they purchased MS 410 and got interested in the MS 450 which would have improved the original further. But as the Battle of France took a catastrophic turn for the French Air force, the Swiss army was left without the possibility of purchasing new aircrafts. This is why they started working on the Ms 406, giving to their creation the name of Doflug 3800 serie. The Doflug 3801 was the first evolution of the bunch, benefitting from a more powerful engine, armament and a bit of armor. But the real evolution came with the Doflug 3802, which saw the removal of the Mgs for canons and the use of a much more powerful engine to keep up with the fast evolution of the fighters of WW2. However, when the first Doflug prototype made its first flight, in 1944, the skies were already being filled with the latest evolutions of the Emil, and, more importantly, the American Mustang. This is how the Doflug 3803 came to be.

The Doflug D-3803 was the last evolution of the Morane Saulnier fighter line, and the last evolution of the Doflug aircrafts. It was developped as the pre-production D-3802 were being built. It was the first aircraft of the Morane family to drastically alter the shape of the fuselage, adding a bubble canopy to follow the natural evolutions of fighters of the time like the Thunderbolt, the Mustang or the Spitfire. It benefitted from the same improved armament as the 3802A, 3 x 20mm canons. But the most important improvement was certainly the engine, a Hispano-Suiza YS-3 boasting 1430 HP. Its first flight was in May 1947, however the engine had its fair share of problems, which delayed its development. By the time those were resolved, jets were starting to fill the skies, and the era of prop fighter was reaching its twilight. The more cost effective solution for the Swiss government was to purchase American P-51 and pursue their own jet programs. Thus, only one prototype was created, and it joined its 12 Doflug 3802-A predecessors in the Fliegerstaffel 17 squadron, bearing the number J-405. It remained there until the whole bunch was retired in 1956, marking the end of the Doflug prop era for the Swiss airforce.

General Characteristics :

Empty Weight: 2 945 kg
Max take off Weight: 3 898 kg
Wingspan: 10.02 m
Length: 9,33 m
Height: 3,75 m
Engine: Saurer YS-3 12 (1430HP)
Maximum Speed: 679 km/h at 7000 m
Climb Rate: 15.3m/s (918m/min)

Internal Armament : 2 x 20mm HS.404 (license built in Switzerland) cannons in the wing (90 RPG), 1 x 20mm HS 404 in the propeller hub (140 rounds)

Suspended Armament

6 × 8cm Flz Rak Oe

4 × 50kg Sprengbombe

2 × 200kg Sprengbombe

Photos :






Sources :

Spoiler

Doflug D-3803
Doflug D.3803 - Destination's Journey
FWA D-3802 / D-3803
DOFLUG D-3803 Monoplane Fighter Prototype

6 Likes

Almost unrecognizable as a Morane but pretty cool. Obviously very obsolete by the time it was flying but that shouldn’t matter in War Thunder.

1 Like

+1 for Swiss/Alpine independent tree

4 Likes

Huge +1! One of my most wanted planes. It’d be great in a Swiss tree but could also add a unique plane to tier 4 France, which is currently pretty much entirely copy paste.

2 Likes

Note that the rockets used by the aircraft are already in the game thanks to a couple israeli aircrafts :

https://wiki.warthunder.com/Flz.-Rakete_Oerlikon

1 Like

…and the Swiss Hunter of course!

1 Like