Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS2020), I’m going to be flying an airplane that played an important but often forgotten role in the early history of aviation, the Dornier Do J “Wal.”
Claude Dornier, born in 1884, was the son of a French wine merchant and his German wife. Dornier grew up in Bavaria and graduated from engineering school in Munich. He went to work for Ferdinand von Zeppelin at his base in Friedrichshafen and soon rose to become the count’s top technical adviser, helping design dirigibles and airplanes. In 1914, Dornier formed his own airplane company, also based in Friedrichshafen. A museum is located on the site today.
