Print

The Last Flying Pencil

By SAMIR S. PATEL

September/October 2013

Pencil2More than 400 were flown by the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, but today there is just one. The Royal Air Force Museum has lifted the last known intact Dornier Do 17—known as the “Flying Pencil” for its svelte profile—from the English Channel. The German bomber crashed following a dogfight in August 1940. Conservation of the plane will include spraying it continuously with a solution of citric acid for 18 to 24 months.