08/31/2014. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "First flown on October 1, 1940, the Do 217 E was built in the versions E-1 to E-5. The versions differ in the turret design, the armament and the bomb kits, in the empty and all-up weights, partial installation of dive brakes, cable cutters in the wing leading edges, cable deflectors near the turrets, maritime rescue equipment carried by aircraft used on the Atlantic Ocean, partly reinforced fuselage design, different armor plating, radio aiming and photographic equipment. The Do 217 E-5 was a special version for two Henschel Hs 293 gliding bombs with special pylons under the wing. One Do 217 E-2 was used to carry Professor Sänger's ram jet engine in 1942.

A total of 590 Do 217 E were built by Dornier in Friedrichshafen and Munich. Other aircraft were built by Norddeutsche Dornier-Werke GmbH at Wismar and under license by Henschel. All Do 217 E were equipped with BMW 801 A engines and three-blade variable-pitch VDM propellers with a diameter of 12 ft 9.5 in (3.90 m). Fuel was carried in wing and fuselage tanks, total volume 782 gal (2960 l), and two additional tanks were carried on bomb racks on the fuselage (396 gal, 1,500 l) and in two wooden tanks on bomb carriers on the wing (476 gal, 1,800 l) for longer ranges."