Arado Ar.64

Today we start with the rearmament of the Luftwaffe.

The Arado Ar.64 was a German biplane fighter that was designed in the very late 1920s and built for the first time in the very early 1930s.

It was basically a variant of the previously built Arado SD.II and SD.III, it was manufactured by the Arado Handelsgesellschaft in order to comply with an order from the Reichwehrministerium of developing a successor to the Fokker D.XIII, which were the backbone fighter force of the clandestine German air force.

Some variants of this airplane existed:

• Ar.64a: The first prototype, it was flown for the first time in the spring of 1930 and was powered by a Siemens und Halske built 530hp direct-drive Bristol Jupiter VI nine-cylinder radial engine. Just like its predecessors, it was of mixed construction. As we couldn't find a single pic or photo about this one, it's left undrawn
• Ar-64b: Two examples were built of this variant which was powered by a 640hp BMW VI 6,3 12-cylinder Vee-type water-cooled engine. This and the previous one, the 'a' variant were among the last fighters evaluated in Lipetsk. This is undrawn because there aren't graphical references. At least we couldn't find any.
• Ar.64c: This variant, which only one example was built, was powered with the same engine as the prototype, but some minor structural changes were made. Again, we couldn't find graphical evidence, so it's left undrawn.
• Ar.64D: Together with the next variant, the E, it was the first massively produced fighter in Germany since the end of the World War I. This variant introduced redesigned and enlarged vertical tail surfaces plus a revised and improved undercarriage. It was powered by a geared version of the Siemens built 530hp Bristol Jupiter VI nine-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine which required a four-bladed propeller in order to function properly. 
• Ar.64E: Another production model which was powered by a direct-drive version of the Siemens built Bristol Jupiter VI engine which required only two bladed propellers to work properly. Both this variant and the previous D one, were armed with a pair of 7,92mm MG 17 machine guns. 

A contract for 20 aircraft was placed by the Reichwehrministerium and in the summer of 1932 the deliveries started to roll-out. Those 20 were assigned to the Jagdfliegerschule at Schleißheim and later to the Jagdstaffeln of the Fliegergruppe Döberitz and Fliegergruppe Damm together with some Ar.65s. 

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_64
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Arado SSD.I

As it has been a long time since we drawn a floatplane, here comes another one. About time!

The Arado SSD.I was a German floatplane fighter of 1930 that was intended to be launched from catapults on warships. It hadn't any resemblance with any other Arado airplane of the period.

It was designed by Walter Rethel, the same who designed the Arado SD.I, SD.II and SD.III and consisted in a single-bay equi-span biplane in sesquiplane configuration with plywood-covered wooden wings with N-type struts. Unlike another designs of Rethel, it had ailerons both in upper and lower wings. The upper wing was slightly gulled into the upper side of the welded steel-tube of the fuselage ahead of the cockpit and the lower one was suspended below the fuselage and the gap was where the tunnel-type radiator was placed.
It was powered by a 640hp BMW VI 6,3 12-cylinder vee-type water-cooled engine and was armed with two 7,92mm machine guns.

The initial water trials were performed in Travemünde, where it was tested with a central main float and twin outrigger stabilising floats and, in order to cope with the restrictions of the Versailles treaty, it was unarmed. The floaters were latter replaced by a rudimentary wheeled undercarriage in order to transport it to Lipetsk, to perform the weaponry trials, where the twin 7,92mm machine guns were fitted in order to compete agains the Heinkel HD.38, which was selected. The sole prototype of the SSD.I was assigned in April 1932 to the Luftdienst GmbH and, one year later, to the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (DVS) which was the German commercial pilots school. Apparently, once fitted with the wheeled undercarriage, it never got the floaters back.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_SSD_I
2. Salamander Books - The complete Book of Fighters.

Albatros L.84

Today we finish with the last Albatros fighter aircraft that was completed before the company was taken over by Focke-Wulf.

The Albatros L.84 was a German two-seater biplane fighter that flew for the first time in 1931.

It was powered by a water-cooled 660hp BMW VIu 12 cylinder engine and the fuselage was covered in fabric made by welded steel tubes. The wings were made out of wood and were skinned in plywood. It was armed with a total of three 7,92 machine-guns, two forward firing ones and a third one placed in a ring at the observers ' position. Only one airplane was completed by Albatros Flugzeugwerke before being amalgamated into Focke-Wulf and it was destroyed during a flight test, in fact of the five airplanes manufactured, four were made by Focke-Wulf.
A second airplane was modified in order to instal a modified cooling-system.

Initially, the Reichswehr ordered 12 airplanes but the order was cancelled after only three of them were completed. Of those three, one was powered by a Rolls-Royce Kestrel IIIS, the L.84E and another one, the L.84F featured a more advanced version of the BMWVIu engine with a fuel-injection system.
At least one of them was sold to the Chinese Kuomintang government, but, as we couldn't find graphical evidence of this, that drawing should be considered specultative.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatros_L_84
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.