Arado Ar.197

The Arado Ar.197 was a German biplane fighter designed for carrier operations in the never-completed Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier.

It was designed to fullfil a requirement for a fighter capable of operating from the Graf Zeppelin and Peter Strasser aircraft carriers that were never completed. The basis of the design was the Arado Ar.68H that was the very first Arado airplane to feature a fully enclosed cockpit.

Three prototypes were built plus other three pre-production "A" versions. The first prototype, the V1 was powered by a 1086hp Daimler-Benz DB600A inline engine and a three bladed propeller, however it was a pure land fighter and had any carrier equipation whatsoever. Being almost similar to the V1, the V2 was the second prototype and was powered by a 838hp BMW 132Dc radial engine and was fitted with naval operations equipment that included an arrester hook and catapult spools. It flew for the first time, together with the V1 in the spring of 1937.

Later in that summer, a third armed prototype was flown. It was armed with two 7,92mm MG 17 machine guns in the fuselage plus a 20mm MG FF cannon in the upper wing. Thanks to the racks located under the fuselage, it could carry either four 50Kg. bombs, an auxiliary fuel tank or a smoke-laying cannister.

The pre-production airplanes were chosen for evaluation but, it was rejected because by the time the Graf Zeppelin would have been completed, biplanes such as this one would have been hopelessly obsoletes. In 1939, the Bf.109T, which was the navalized version of the renowned Messerschmitt Bf.109 was chosen as the naval fighter for the never completed carriers and in 1941 the Messerschmitt Me.155 was chosen as the successor of the Bf.109T.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_197
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. http://histaviation.com/ar_197.html