Arado Ar.234, part two

Production B series aircraft, whose prototype was the Ar.234 V-9 were slightly wider at mid-fuselage to house the main landing gear, with a central fuel tank present (the middle one of a trio of fuel tanks) in the mid fuselage location on the eighth earlier skid-equipped prototype aircraft having to be deleted for the retracted main gear's accommodation. According to the 1.942 plans for a skid-equipped machine, the forward tank had a capacity of 1.430 litres, the central one 830 litres and the aft one 1.540 litres. The V-9 had the forward one enlarged to hold up to 1.800 litres and the aft one enlarged up to 2.000 litres, in order to compensate for the lack of the central fuel tank. Testing with three SC 500 bombs showed that the Ar.234 V-9 could reach 672 km/h (418 mph) at 5000 m (16.000 ft). Those numbers were still better than any other Luftwaffe's bomber at the time and made the Ar.234 the only bomber with any hope of surviving the massive Allied air forces. The normal bomb load consisted on two 500 kg (1.100 lb) bombs suspended from the engines or one large 1.000 kg (2.200 lb) semi-recessed in the central fuselage with a maximum bomb-load of 1.500 kg (3.310 lb). There were plans for the aircraft to be fitted with a Henschel Hs.293 air-to-ground missile or the BT 1.400 unguided bomb-torpedo.
Manufacturing lines were already set-up and twenty Ar.234 B-0 pre-production aircraft were delivered at the end of June 1944. However, later production was slow as Arado factories were tasked with manufacturing other types of aircraft that other factories couldn't due to American bombardments. Meanwhile, many Ar.234's prototypes were pushed forward in the reconnaissance role where, in most cases they went undetected cruising at 740 km/h (460 mph) at over 9.100 m (29.900 ft) high, with the seventh prototype being the very first jet aircraft to conduct a wartime reconnaissance over the United Kingdom.
The Ar.234B entered service in late autumn and impressed their pilots as they were fast and completely aerobatic. The long take-off runs led to several accidents so a search for a solution led to improved training and the use of two HWK-built jettisonable RATO (Rocket Assisted Take Off) units, one mounted under each wing. The real problem however, lied on the Jumo 004 engines as they suffered from constant flameouts and required overhaul or even replacement after just 10 hours of operation.
The most notable action of the Ar.234B was the raid on Ludendorff bridge at Remagen. Between the 7th March 1945 and the 17th March when it finally collapsed, it was constantly attacked by Ar.234Bs of the III/KG.76 equipped with up to 1.000 kg of bombs. The aircraft continued to fight in a scattered fashion until Germany surrendered on 8th May with some of them having been destroyed in air combat, destroyed by flak or 'bounced' by Allied fighters during take off or on the landing approach, just like it was happening with the Messerschmitt Me.262. Some others, simply sat on the airfield awaiting for a fuel that never arrived.
Overall, from mid-1944 until the end of the war, a total of 210 aircraft (206 according to other sources) were manufactured from July 1944 until February-March 1945 when production was switched to the C variant. It was expected that by November 1945 production would reach to 500 machines per month. All of them were manufactured by Arado at their factory in the city of Brandenburg.
The Ar.234C was another variant powered by four lighter BMW 003A engines mounted in a pair of twin-engine nacelles based on the eighth prototype. The main reason for this switch was to free up some Jumo 004 for use by the Me.262. The change managed to improve overall thrust to nearly 3.2 tonnes (7.040 lbf) with all four BMW engines at full take-off power. An improved cockpit design with a slightly bulged outline for the upper contour integrating a swept-back fairing for the periscope and a simpler window design that used less glazing panels. The quarter of BMW engines gave the aircraft the much needed increased airspeed so they could achieve better climbing speed which meant a more efficient flight and increased range.
An operational test squadron was intended to be founded by Hptm. Diether Lukesch, however, only 14 C-series airframes were completed by the end of the war and, of that number, fewer than half were fitted with engines. A few of them were found at the end of the war in Prague's airport (the airframes were manufactured there) sitting in the open, otherwise complete but with empty nacelle engines as the BMW 003A were most of them destined for the Heinkel He.162 emergency fighter.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_234
2. https://www.valka.cz/Arado-Ar-234-B-2-Blitz-t6476
3. https://www.valka.cz/Arado-Ar-234-C-3-Blitz-t177275
4. AJ-Press - Monografie Lotnicze 32 - Arado 234 ''Blitz'' (translated)