The Do 24 entered Luftwaffe service as an expensive rescue asset - the equivalent of today's heavy combat SAR helicopter. As such it saw action all around Europe. Built on the Dutch Do 24 production line, CH-EV was delivered to Seenotstaffel 7 in Athens in December 1941. It was damaged by Allied naval gunfire in this small Egyptian port on 12 August 1942, and declared a Totalverlust (total loss) on 28 August. The Allies retook Mersa Matruh during the Second Battle of El Alamein early in November. Photo by: MD Elias/Alexander Turnbull Library