Arado Ar 234

Arado Ar 234
Type:	Jet turbine-powered reconnaissance / bomber
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Arado aircraft works
First flight:	July 30, 1943
Commissioning:	September 1944
Production time:	July 1944 to March 1945
Number of pieces:	214

The Arado Ar 234 of the German Luftwaffe was towards the end of the Second World War, the first operational - and actually used - jet-powered bombers in the world. The first flight of the improved B version took place in March 1944, the first missions as a reconnaissance aircraft followed in June 1944. The bomber version Ar 234 B-2 was used from the beginning of 1945, with the bombs being carried externally. However, this reduced the speed so much (to approx. 660 km / h) that fast piston engine-powered fighters of the Allies could fight the Arado. Even if the bomber played a rather modest role in the final days of the war, as it stayed on the ground most of the time due to the general German lack of fuel, the few missions showed that it was almost impossible for the Allied fighters to intercept it.

history

Arado Ar 234 B-2 in the National Air and Space Museum ( Steven F. Udvar-Házy Center)

Arado Ar 234 B-2

At the end of 1940, the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) put out an order for the development of a fast jet-propelled reconnaissance / bomber with a range of at least 2150 kilometers. Only Arado Flugzeugwerke responded to this tender and offered the RLM its draft E.370. It was an all-metal shoulder -wing wing with unearthed wings and a Junkers Jumo 004 jet engine under each wing.

The Arado-Werke estimated a maximum speed of 780 km / h at an operating altitude of around 11,000 meters with a range of almost 2,000 kilometers. Since there were difficulties in reaching the minimum range prescribed by the RLM, Arado began to drastically reduce the weight of the aircraft. This went so far that the Ar 234 no longer had its own landing gear, but instead used a drop-off launch vehicle. The landing finally took place on skids.

Although the range requirements were not met, the RLM ordered two prototypes of the Ar 234, probably also in the absence of alternatives. The prototypes were completed and demonstrated before the end of 1941; However, they could not be flown in front because the Jumo 004 engines were not yet ready for use and could only be delivered towards the beginning of 1943. The first flight of the Ar 234 took place on July 30, 1943. Since the use of the launch vehicle proved to be impractical during testing, a normal landing gear with nose wheel was developed. Since the fuselage structure also had to be strengthened, the first flight of the improved machine could not take place until March 1944.

After the Ar 234 V2 crash with the pilot Selle, it was planned to install an ejection seat for all subsequent models. However, this was not realized or there are no documents or specifications showing an ejection seat. One of the first 3-axis autopilots of the PDS type was used for the bomber version .

The first bomber was the Ar 234 B-2 . In addition to the PDS autopilot, these machines were equipped with an LKS 7D control device. The Lotfe 7C / D / K bomb targeting device (vertical telescope) was used for horizontal attacks, and the BZA 1B with PV 1B periscope for gliding attacks . The aircraft could carry a maximum of 1,500 kilograms of bombs, the then available Jumo-004 engines served as propulsion, with which the machines reached speeds of up to 780 km / h at an altitude of 6,000 meters and achieved a considerable climb rate of over 1,320 m / min. The plane reached an altitude of 8,000 meters in just six minutes. With the exception of the Gloster Meteor, the flight performance of the Arado 234 was far superior to that of all other allied aircraft.

The prototypes V5 and V7 flew unarmed reconnaissance missions from Juvincourt airfield near Reims to southern England in July 1944 and were able to escape all interceptors with their high speed. On July 27, the association was relocated to Chièvres . After the relocation to Rheine on September 5, 1944, where two more Ar 234 B units came to the association, further reconnaissance missions were flown from there to southern England.

From various special commands, the first Ar 234 squadron arose in January 1945 in Biblis - the 1st squadron of long-range reconnaissance group 100 (1st (F) / 100). In addition there was the 1st season of long-range reconnaissance group 123 (1st (F) / 123) in Schwäbisch Hall and in Grove / Denmark the 1st season of long-range reconnaissance group 33 (1st (F) / 33). The final season was later moved to Stavanger-Sola . The (F) in the unit name stands for long-distance reconnaissance group.

The 11th squadron of Kampfgeschwader 76 (11./KG 76) in Alt-Lönnewitz (near Falkenberg / Elster ) was converted from Ju 88 to the Ar 234 B-2 as the first bomber formation . Ar 234 of the 6th season of the KG 76 flew missions from Achmer and Hesepe (Bramsche) during the Ardennes offensive and from Hopsten afterwards in the Kleve area . However, the operations had to be abandoned in April 1945 due to lack of fuel.

Shortly before the end of the war, Kampfgeschwader 76 received a few copies of a further development of the Arado Ar 234, the four-engine Arado Ar 234 C-3 . The first two aircraft of this type (serial numbers 250002 and 250004) were flown from Alt-Lönnewitz on March 27, 1945. The first test flights led to an altitude of 15,000 meters and resulted in a top speed of around 900 km / h. Another source cites a maximum speed without bomb load with a half-filled tank of 853 km / h at an altitude of 6000 meters and a peak altitude of 12,000 meters. At the beginning of April 1945 the III. Group of the Zusatzkampfgeschwader 1 (III./ EKG 1) still three airworthy machines. Combat missions of these aircraft are not known. These three Arado Ar 234 C-3s were (reportedly) destroyed by blowing up shortly before the arrival of British troops at the Kaltenkirchen / Springhirsch airfield.

production

Between July 1944 and March 1945, 214 series aircraft were built in the Arado factory at Alt-Lönnewitz airfield (code name Altan ), 150 aircraft alone from October 1944 to January 1945.

202 aircraft were assigned to the Luftwaffe from August 1944. Since these aircraft were not all ready for use, 101 Ar 234 had to be delivered to the aftermarket between November 1944 and March 1945. 42 of them were assigned to the conversion command A (probably stands for reconnaissance aircraft) for use as reconnaissance aircraft. How many of these were actually delivered to units is not noted in the assignments. Of the remaining Ar 234s delivered to the aftermarket, 57 aircraft were used as bombers for the Air Force. The Kampfgeschwader 76 received a total of 132 Ar 234s between August 1944 and March 1945, the General of the Reconnaissance Airmen received seven bombers between August and December 1944. This was probably a makeshift measure to bridge the time until the delivery of regular reconnaissance aircraft.

In December three Ar 234s were delivered for conversion as night fighter. The required FuG 218 Neptun radar equipment was installed at the Deutsche Lufthansa workshop in Werneuchen .

Versions

There were several versions of the Ar 234:

Ar 234 A-0: reconnaissance aircraft without landing gear
Ar 234 B-0: pre-series
Ar 234 B-1: Recon
Ar 234 B-2: Bomber Blitz
Ar 234 C, D, E, P: further designs, some with four engines
Ar 234 R: High-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, only rocket engine propulsion

Calls

The Air Force High Command sent two prototypes of the Ar 234 to a test unit on the Western Front. On August 2, 1944, Lieutenant Erich Sommer photographed the entire Allied landing area in Normandy during his first mission . About 50 reconnaissance missions were flown from July 1944 to October 1944.

On December 24, 1944, nine Arado Ar 234 B-2s flew their first bombing raid on Liège under the command of Major Diether Lukesch from KG 76, who received the Knight's Cross . In a hurry, the Kampfgeschwader 51 was converted to the Arado Ar 234 after the Kampfgeschwader 76 . Both squadrons flew around 30 aircraft missions during the Ardennes offensive against Antwerp , Brussels and Bastogne . In the largest bombing raid, nine Arados dropped 4,500 kg bombs on allied attack spikes. From March 9 to 14, 1945, the Remagen bridge was the main target for the Ar 234 B of III./KG 76. Isolated attacks followed in the Berlin area. On April 10, 1945, an air force reconnaissance aircraft flew over England for the last time. The last mission took place on May 3, 1945 near Bremervörde.

Technical specifications

Multi-side view of an Arado Ar 234 B

Parameter	Arado Ar 234 B-2 "Blitz"
crew	1 pilot / navigator
length	12.64 m
span	14.41 m
height	4.30 m
Wing area	26.40 m²
Wing extension	7.6
Climb performance	22 m / s (6 min / 8000 m)
payload	1500 kg
Empty mass	4650 kg
Preparation mass	5006 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	9408 kg (9968 kg with launchers)
Wing loading	197 kg / m²
Top speed	742 km / h at 6000 m altitude without bombs 665 km / h at 6000 m altitude with 1000 kg bombs
Service ceiling	12,000 m
Range	1400 km without bombs 1100 km with bombs
Engine	two Junkers Jumo 004B-1 jet engines with 8.8 kN (900 kp) each of thrust
Armament	up to 1500 kg bombs at three outstations

Preserved copies

Arado Ar 234 B-2

As far as is known, only one Ar 234 has survived. The Ar 234 B-2 with the serial number "140312" was used in the last weeks of the war with the 9./KG 76 and was handed over to the British armed forces as one of nine copies at the Sola airfield near Stavanger (Norway) after the war . The aircraft, along with three others, was selected for flight tests in the United States and flown from Sola to Cherbourg on June 24, 1945 , where it was transferred to Newark with 30 other seized technically advanced German aircraft on board the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper (" Operation Seahorse "). Upon arrival, two Ar 234s, including the "140312", were reassembled and flown by USAAF pilots to Freeman Field in Indiana . "140312" got the registration number FE-1010. The fate of the second Ar 234, flown to Indiana, is unknown. One of the other two Ar 234s was reassembled by the US Navy for test purposes, but then found unable to fly and scrapped.

The "140312" was equipped with new engines, radio and oxygen supply, transferred to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton (Ohio) and there in July 1946 handed over to the Flight Test Division's Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Squadron (ASTMS) . The flight tests were completed in October 1946, but the aircraft remained there until 1947. It was then transferred to Orchard Place Airport in Park Ridge and handed over to the Smithsonian Institute on May 1, 1949 with several other machines stored there . It was moved to a Smithsonian facility in Suitland for storage and restoration in the early 1950s .

The Smithsonian restored the aircraft from 1984 to 1989. The entire paint had already been removed before it was handed over to the Smithsonian, so the aircraft was now given the markings of the 8./KG 76, the first unit, the Ar 234 machines had started. The restored aircraft was initially displayed in the main building of the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC as part of the Wonder Weapon? The Arado Ar 234 shown.

In 2005, the Arado was one of the first aircraft to be brought into NASM's new air show, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, DC. Today the "140312" is shown there next to the last surviving Dornier Do 335 , which was also on board the HMS Reaper in 1945 .

literature

William Green: War planes of the Third Reich. Galahad Books, 1970.
Manfred Griehl: Jet Airplane Arado 234 Blitz. Technology and use 1944/45. Long-range scouts, jet bombers, night fighters, attack aircraft. 1st edition, Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-613-02287-7 .
Aviation archive Hafner: Arado Ar 234 B, technical compendium with 1,325 pages. Aircraft manual, operating instructions, engine manual and spare parts list, weapons and radio equipment manuals. ISBN 978-3-939847-19-9 .

Web links

Commons : Arado Ar 234 - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Operating instructions for Lotfernrohr 7C (PDF; 5.4 MB)
↑ Griehl (2003), p. 203.
↑ Green (1970), p. 58.
↑ Griehl (2003), pp. 203 ff.
^ Federal Archives / Military Archives Freiburg, Production Programs and Aircraft Allocation, RL 3; National Archives, Washington, Monthly Procurement Reports 1944.
↑ Christoph Regel: E -stelle Werneuchen . In: Beauvais, Heinrich et al. (Ed.): Flight test centers until 1945 . Bonn 1998, p. 280-283 .
^ Fleischer, Rys: Ar 234 Blitz . AJ-Press, Gdynia 1997.
^ Karl R. Pawlas: Arado 234, The first jet bomber in the world . In: Aviation Documents . 1976.
↑ Use of the Arado Ar 234

[1] Operating instructions for Lotfernrohr 7C (PDF; 5.4 MB)

[2] Griehl (2003), p. 203.

[3] Green (1970), p. 58.

[4] Griehl (2003), pp. 203 ff.

[5] Federal Archives / Military Archives Freiburg, Production Programs and Aircraft Allocation, RL 3; National Archives, Washington, Monthly Procurement Reports 1944.

[6] Christoph Regel: E -stelle Werneuchen . In: Beauvais, Heinrich et al. (Ed.): Flight test centers until 1945 . Bonn 1998, p. 280-283 .

[7] Fleischer, Rys: Ar 234 Blitz . AJ-Press, Gdynia 1997.

[8] Karl R. Pawlas: Arado 234, The first jet bomber in the world . In: Aviation Documents . 1976.

[9] Use of the Arado Ar 234