Arado Ar 95

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Arado Ar 95
Ar 95, label D-OHGV
Arado Ar 95 V5
Type: Sea-based multipurpose aircraft
Design country:

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire

Manufacturer:

Arado aircraft works

First flight:

December 3, 1936

Number of pieces:

42 or 43

The Arado Ar 95 was a German two- or three-seat multipurpose aircraft for sea and land use. Although initially rejected by the Air Force , Arado Flugzeugwerke was finally allowed to build the biplane in small numbers for export. The airplanes that were not sold until the beginning of the war were taken over by the Luftwaffe and used in the Baltic Sea until the end of the Second World War .

history

The genesis

In March 1935 the companies Arado and Heinkel received the order from the Reich Ministry of Aviation (RLM ) to develop a new, catapult- capable reconnaissance aircraft for use at sea ( Borderkunder ). This was followed by the Heinkel He 114 design, and the Ar 95 at Arado under the direction of chief designer Walter Blume. Construction work began immediately and the dummy could already be viewed in June 1935. According to the construction contract, the first and third of the three test aircraft were to have the Jumo 210 in- line engine , the second the SAM 22 B radial engine - soon to be renamed Bramo 322 B. In the development program (Epr.) Of October 1, 1936, the intended use was extended to coastal and border scouts and the serial numbers (Wnr.) For the three aircraft were set as 946 to 948. It was not yet possible to plan for the pre-production series, which was intended for ten, as the engine to be used had to be decided first.

Arado Ar 95 V3

The first flight of the V1 D-OHEO with the Jumo 210 engine took place on December 3, 1936, and testing began on February 8, 1937 at the Travemünde electrical station . In their final report of July 28, 1937 on the comparison of the Ar 95 with the He 114, it was found that both designs did not quite meet expectations, but that the He 114 was superior to the Ar 95 in almost all points. The RLM then stopped testing the Ar 95 V1 and canceled the planned pre-series, but released the sample for possible export. The second aircraft, the V2, registration D-OLUO, factory number 947, flew for the first time in March 1937 and remained, as did the V3, D-ODGY, Wnr. 948, at the company in preparation for foreign sales. While the former had installed a Bramo 322 B engine, as planned, the V3 received the BMW 132 Dc with 845 HP / 622 kW , which was also released for export, instead of the planned Jumo 210 . This aircraft already had three seats and, unlike the first two, had a three-part sliding hood to cover the crew compartment. At V1 and V2 there were still separate windshields for guide and observer.

Promotion for export

The company only received written export approval for 50 aircraft from the RLM on January 20, 1938. But even before that, she had tried very hard to find interested parties for the Ar 95. The aircraft could be seen both at the exhibition in The Hague in July and at the aviation exhibition in Milan in October 1937, albeit only as a model. It was not until the aviation exhibition in Helsinki in May 1938 that an Ar 95 was shown publicly for the first time; it was the V3 D-ODGY as a float plane, which the works pilot Schnirring with radio operator and on-board mechanic had flown from Warnemünde along the Baltic coast in 3 hours 50 minutes to Helsingfors. At the same time, an airplane on a wheeled chassis was shown for the first time as the Ar 95 L at the exhibition in Belgrade. Two months earlier, on March 24, 1938, during a visit by a Chilean delegation who showed interest in the aircraft, the then chief pilot, Count Johannes Rességuier de Miremont, had fatally crashed with a float machine, probably the V2. Despite this, Chile ordered nine aircraft, which were delivered in 1939. They could be flown with swimmers as well as with wheeled undercarriages. Apparently three Ar 95s on floats went as Luftwaffe aircraft, together with two Heinkel He 115s, to be tested by the Sea Reconnaissance Group A / S 88 of the Condor Legion in Pollensa on Mallorca in early 1939 . While the two Heinkel were brought back to Germany after the fighting soon ended, the Spaniards took over the three Arados, but did not want any more. Turkey also showed interest, but there was no purchase.

Ar 95 in action

Ar 95 with wheel chassis

In the meantime, production of further Ar 95 aircraft as so-called sales aircraft had started in Brandenburg. The original target number of 50 had since been reduced to 39 and finally to 27. They were delivered under the designation Ar 95 A-5 until July 1941 (Wnr. 2343 to 2369). Since no more aircraft could be exported, they finally took over the air force and thus equipped the 3rd squadron of the reconnaissance group See 125 (3./SAGr.125) Due to multiple disruptions and because the squadron was converted to Blohm & Voss BV 138 , the planes became Pulled out of service in the summer of 1942 and put into storage, after which it was again thought of surrendering to foreign air forces. That broke up too, and so the aircraft that were still operational were used in the formation of reconnaissance group 127, which was mainly made up of Estonian volunteers and which flew sea reconnaissance and submarine combat in the eastern Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland from Reval. From the beginning of January to the end of June 1944, according to the Luftwaffe flight operations statistics, 14 Ar 95s were still available. Two losses were only recorded in July, although little was flown, presumably because of the deterioration in the supply of fuel. During the two months of June and July there were only 180 flights with a total of 128 hours. In September the number of aircraft fell again by three. Because of the approach of the Red Army, their crews had left Reval for Sweden on the afternoon of September 21st and early morning of September 22nd, some with relatives. The Reich government demanded that Sweden return the three aircraft (Wnr. 2350, association code 6R + BL, original trunk code DK + UL, Wnr. 2351, 6R + UL, before that DK + UM and Wnr. 2346, 6R + LL). Sweden agreed to do so, but the surrender was delayed until the war was over. All three aircraft received Swedish license plates (SE-AOD, SE-AOE and SE-ANT) and went into private hands. The last of these aircraft was in service with an airline until it was destroyed in an accident on July 30, 1951.

Altogether, including the three V-planes, about 42 or 43 Ar 95 planes were built, mostly in the float version. Not a single one of them has survived.

technical description

The Ar 95 was a catapult capable, braced double decker in all-metal construction with surfaces that could be folded back.

The fuselage in Dural shell construction with an oval cross-section had three seats arranged one behind the other, under a three-part sliding hood as a cover.

The two-spar outer wings sat at the top on a wide canopy and at the bottom on wing stubs firmly attached to the fuselage in order to achieve the same center-to-center distance for pivoting. The wing noses and the tops between the spars were planked with sheet metal, the rest was covered with fabric. The wing had ailerons up and hydraulically operated landing flaps down.

The tail unit in the typical Arado shape has fins made entirely of light metal and balanced rudders with fabric covering. The elevator was undivided.

The armament consisted of a rigid, forward-firing MG 17 , a movable MG 15 in the rear cockpit on an Arado mount and an 800 kg torpedo, a 500 kg bomb or six 50 kg bombs on mounts under the Hull.

Each of the single-stage , heavily keeled swimmers was divided into several compartments, separated from each other in a watertight manner, and had a water rudder that could be pulled up at the stern. In order to be able to hang in and drop the torpedo freely, each float was attached to the fuselage and lower wing with six struts each. Four of the strut levels in the longitudinal direction had tension wire crossings. The pant leg landing gear was braced towards the torso. The wheel chassis and floating gear could be exchanged for each other.

Technical specifications

Parameter Ar 95 Ar 95 L (land version)
crew 2-3
length 11.10 m 10.80 m
span 12.50 m
5.80 m folded
height 5.20 m 3.90 m
Wing area 45.4 m²
Empty mass 2450 kg 2235 kg
Payload 1120 1065 kg
Takeoff mass 3570 kg 3300 kg
Engines 9-cylinder radial engine BMW 132 Dc , 850 PS (625 kW)
Fuel volume 1370 l 800 l
Top speed 265 km / h near the ground
302 km / h at 3000 m altitude
308 km / h at an altitude of 3000 m
Marching speed 260 km / h near the ground 268 km / h near the ground
Landing speed 91 km / h 88 km / h
Rise time 2.5 min at 1000 m altitude
5.0 min at 2000 m altitude
11.0 min at 4000 m altitude
22.0 min at 6000 m altitude
2.2 min at 1000 m altitude
4.4 min at 2000 m altitude
9.8 min at 4000 m altitude
19.0 min at 6000 m altitude
Service ceiling 7300 m 8000 m
Range 2200 km 1400 km
Armament a rigid, forward-firing MG 17 with 500 rounds,
a movable MG 15 in the rear cockpit on an Arado mount with 750 rounds,
under the fuselage mounts for an 800 kg torpedo, a 500 kg bomb, six 50 kg -Bombs or 375 kg fog machine

literature

  • Helmut Schneider (Hrsg.): Airplane type book: Handbook of the German aviation and accessories industry; Compilation of all important data and essential characteristics of German motorized and glider planes, aircraft engines, aircraft, building materials, ground equipment and all accessories . Main output A .; 3., rework. and exp. Ed., Year 1939/40, reprint, Gondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1989, ISBN 3-8112-0627-3 .
  • Volker Koos: Arado Flugzeugwerke, 1925–1945 . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2007 (= type books German Aviation), ISBN 978-3-89880-728-9 .
  • Air force documents such as development programs, delivery schedules, monthly reports, inventory reports and meeting minutes (Federal Archives Freiburg), flight logs.
  • Christian König, Axel Kleckers: The large aircraft on board. Arado Ar 95 and Heinkel He 114 . Helios, Aachen 2018, ISBN 978-3-86933-215-4 .
  • Bo Widtfeld, Raymond J. Dempsey: The Luftwaffe in Sweden, 1939–1945 . Monogram Aviation Publications, Boylston (Massachusetts / USA) 1983, ISBN 0-914144-28-6 . (English)

Web links

Commons : Arado Ar 95  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. The air traffic control ship Hans Rolshoven also went to Helsinki to support him.
  2. ^ Koos, page 71
  3. ^ Koos, page 71