Arado Ar.440

The technical performance of the the Ar.240 wasn't liked by the Arado company and in 1942 they decided to slightly modify the design. The first prototype was a DB-603G powered Arado Ar.240V2, while the fourth prototype was another DB-603G powered Ar.240V4.

By late November 1942 four prototypes were completed and tested. One of those test pilots was Lt. Werner Thierfelder who, in his final evaluation gave the Ar.440 a very positive rating and wrote that it was an excellent heavy fighter-bomber. However, considering that Luftwaffe had already the Me.410 and Ju.88 in service, they didn't order any Ar.440 even if Arado could start the production of the Ar.440 inmediately using older parts from the Ar.240.

It was powered by two 1874hp (1539hp in combat) Daimler-Benz DB-603G engine with a four-bladed propeller. It was armed just like the Ar.240 with two backward-firing 13mm MG131 machine guns in remote-controlled turrets. In the front part of the fuselage it was going to be armed with two 30mm MK108 gun placed in a pod under the cockpit. In the wings, it could have two 20mm MG151. The pod under the cockpit could be replaced with additional MG131 machine guns. Hardpoints were installed under the middle part of the fuselage in order to make it able to carry up to 1800Kg of bombs or, if needed, aerial cameras.

The maximum speed of the Ar.440 was 700km/h but with the help of the GM1 device it could achieve 750 Km/h. It self-sealing fuel cells in the wings plus a main fuel tank inside the fuselage. It could also carry up to four additional wing-mounted external fuel tanks in order to increase it's maximum range up to 2700km. It was also equipped with a radio direction finder, a shortwave radio, radar altimeter, and a "Friend or Foe" identification device.

Arado presented the Ar.440 to the 1944 emergency fighter program contest but it was won by the Dornier Do.335 "Pfeil".

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_240
2. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/ar440.html (translated)
3. http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/arado_ar-440.php

Arado Ar.240 C-2 - Night Fighter variant

Many fighter variants were projected of the Arado Ar.240 but only the Ar.240 C-2 progressed further than the drawing board. One prototype, the Arado Ar.240 V10 (AKA Ar.240 C-2) was flown.

It was flown in the early summer 1943 and was powered by two 1850hp (1750hp for take-off) Daimler-Benz DB 603A-2 12-cylinder liquid cooled engines.

It was armed with four forward firing 20mm MG151 cannons and two backward and downward firing remote-controlled turrets with a pair 13mm MG 131 each of them. It was equipped with a FuG 202 Liechtenstein radar array. No further prototypes were made and the development was discontinued.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_240
2. Salamander Books - The Complete book of fighters

Arado Ar.240 - Prototypes and early versions.

The Arado Ar.240 was a German twin-engined heavy fighter developed during the Second World War by the Arado Flugzeugwerke for the Luftwaffe.

Initially it was the Arado's response for the 1938 second generation Zerstörer contest in order to get a fighter that could replace the Messerschmitt Bf.110 which was already becoming outdated. Arado and Messerschmitt placed their candidates, being the Messerschmitt candidate the Me. 210 which was a totally new design that thanks to Messerschmitt experience developing the Bf.110 it was able to enter into service quickly. Being Arado a smaller company than Messerschmitt, their design was really ambitious and was the dreamed project of Walter Blume, the Arado's chief designer. Even if the deliveries would take some time, the RLM was interested enough in this design to order some prototypes.

Before that contest, Arado had invested in several lines of basic research, one of their developed lines was the "Arado travelling flap" which delivered excellent low-speed lift performance. Another development line was the investment into pressurized cockpits which decreased pilot's fatigue above 4500m. Finally, they also invested heavily in remote controlled turrets that, thanks to the gunsights placed both on top and bottom of the aircraft, it allowed aiming in any direction. They decided to combine all those inventions into one single airframe.
In order to achieve outright performance, they employed the smallest wing reasonably possible lowering that way the parasite drag, even if it meant the increase of the lift induced drag. Normally that would've meant that the airplane would have impossibly high landing speeds but it was offset by employing a huge travelling flap and leading edge slats for high low-speed lifts.

It was powered by two 1175hp inverted V-12 liquid cooled Daimler-Benz DB 601 inline engine with a three-bladed propeller. The radiators were a copy of the Junkers Ju.88 and they consisted in an annular block placed in the front part of the engine. That made the engine to look like a radial engine instead of an inline one. This system was later used in the Focke-Wulf Fw.190D, Ta.152 and in the twin-engined Ta.154.

Fuel cells had a self-sealing system that employed thinner tank lines allowing that way more fuel capacity and the airplane was also required to have dive bombing capabilities. Given the thick wing panneling, the aircraft wasn't suitable for conventional air brakes systems, so a "petal"-style was added at the tail of it, just like the one that had already been tested in the Do.217.
The cockpit was fully pressurized, thanks to the remote-controlled turrets, because that way the cockpit wasn't "penetrated".
Finally the airplane had to support a very high wing loading of 330 kg/ per square meter, compared to the average of 100 in a common fighter.

In May 1939 the RLM ordered six prototypes:

• Ar.240V1: The very first prototype. First flown on 25th June 1940 and proved to have poor handling in all axes and tended to overheat when taxiing. 
• Ar.240V2: Not drawn due to the lack of sources. However it's known that had larger thick wings and an additional vertical fin area in the dive brakes to reduce the yaw. It was also equipped with additional radiators to the gear legs in order to improve the cooling. It flew for the first time on 6th April 1941 and was used for experiments in the Arado factory.
• Ar.240V3: The first one to be equipped with the FA 9 rear-firing armament system. Such system was developed jointly by Arado and DVL and was armed with a 7,92mm MG 81Z machine gun.
• Ar.240V4: AKA Ar.240 A-01First one to include an operational dive brake.
• Ar.240V5 & V6:AKA Ar.240 A-02 Flown in December and January of 1941 and 1942 respectively and featured the FA 13 armament system which used two 13mm MG 131 machine guns instead of the MG 81Z in order to increase the firepower. 
• Ar-240 A-03: A reconnaissance/light bomber pre-production version.

The A-01 and A-02 were assigned to the 13. "Zerstörer"/Jg.5 based in Petsamo, northern Finland, where they were employed in reconnaissance missions over the railway lines leading to Murmansk.

The A-03 were assigned to the 3.(F)/100 and operated along the Ju.88 from February 1943 until July 1943 when passed to served under Luftwaffen-Kommando Don.

Some other are said to have served with the 1.(F)/100 which was fully incorporated in the Luftflotte 6 where it's claimed that, stripped from their armament, they flew reconnaissance missions over England in 1942, where no other German two-seater could venture in by 1942.
By the summer 1943 all those belonging to the Jg.5 were transfered to the 2.(F)/122 based in Frosinone, located South-East from Rome where this airplane saw it's first combat action but it was so badly damaged that was destroyed during landing. The continual problems with the machinery made the squadron staff to send the airplanes back to Germany without taking more fighting.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_240
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=35260.0

Arado Ar.234 B-2/N

Initially the RLM (Reich's Air Ministry) intended to modify up to 30 Ar.234B-2 airframes to fit them for the night-fighting role. From a proposal made in 12th September 1944 between Walter Blume (Arado's director) and Hermann Goering's top aviation technologist Siegfried Knemeyer.
It was named Arado Ar.234 B-2/N, since it was made over the B version of the airplane and was given the nickname of nachtigall (Nightingale). Only three of them were converted and were fitted with a FuG 218 "Neptun" radar with the antennas reduced in order to operate better from such airplane. In the gondola section intended to carry bombs, a gun pod containing two MG 151/20 autocannon was fitted instead and a second crew member was acommodated inside the fuselage in a very cramped space.
It was first flown by the Sonderkommando Bonow, which was an experimental night fighter unit that operated until the end of the war which was under direct control of the Luftflotte Reich.
Only two of them were converted. This unit began operating really late in the war, on late March 1945 and the team soon found that the airplane wasn't suit for aerieal combat and no kills were recorded.
Update: 18/02/2020. We have replaced the drawings with some better ones.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_234
2. http://weaponsandwarfare.com/2015/09/17/arado-ar-234b-2-nachtigall/

Arado Ar.68F - Wartime users

Good morning, today we are going to deal with the wartime users of the Ar.68F.

When the war started, the Ar.68 was already outdated by the much more effective monoplanes like the Bf.109 or, on the other side, the Hawker Hurricane, the Supermarine Spitfire or the French Morane-Saulnier Ms.406 among others.

That's why the Ar.68, in every variant, was relegated to the second line in order to fullfil the adavanced trainer role and, until January 1940, the night fighter role. In fact, in order to achieve better night stealth rates, some versions were equipped with flash suppressor tubes, just like some Italian contemporary night fighters like the Fiat Cr.42CN had.

When much better night fighters were available, like the Bf.110, the Ar.68 was fully retired from the combat line, in order to serve as an advanced trainer, not just in the day flying role, but also in the night fighter role. They served mainly in the Czech academies until, at least 1942.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_68
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. http://histaviation.com/ar_68.html

Arado Ar.68E - Wartime users

The Arado Ar.68E was a single-seat biplane fighter, that was a contemporary of other famous biplane fighters of the 1930s like the Italian Fiat Cr.32, the British Gloster Gladiator or the Russian Polikarpov I-15. It was intended to be the successor of the excellent but already aging Heinkel He-51 which was very popular among the pilots of the Luftwaffe thanks to it's excellent flying capabilities.

In order to convince the doubtful pilots of the Luftwaffe Ernst Udet decided to organise some mocked-up combats between an Arado Ar.68 and a Heinkel He.51, Udet flying himself the Arado. In this fictional dogfight, the He.51 found itself outmaneouvered in every count as the Arado appeared to out-turn, out-climb and out-fight the Heinkel without further effort and so, some months later the Jg. 134 "Horst Wessel" was the first unit to be reequiped with Arado Ar.68.

That way, the Arado Ar.68E progressively replaced the Heinkel He.51 until the much better Messerschmitt Bf.109 was fully developed and improved.

When the war started, the Ar.68 had already been fully replaced by the Bf.109 and it had been relegated to the night fighter role until the winter of 1939-1940 and to the advanced trainer role.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_68
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighter
3. http://histaviation.com/ar_68.html

Arado Ar.65 - Training and wartime users

With this post we finish with the Arado Ar.65.

As we previously wrote, the Arado Ar.65 was a German biplane fighter of the 1930s that was intended as the successor of the Ar.64. It appeared in 1931 and various prototypes and versions were made:

• Ar.65a: The prototype that was built in 1931. It was powered by a 750hp BMW VI 7.3 12-cylinder water-cooled engine. It was also armed with two 7,92mm MG17 machine guns that armed all the variants. As we couldn't find graphical evidence, it's left undrawn.
• Ar.65b: The second prototype that was identical to the first. It only differed from the first in some minor structural and equipment changes. Undrawn due to the lack of sources.
• Ar.65c: The third prototype. Was identical to the previous two ones. Just some minor structural and equipment alterations were made. Not drawn because the sources are scarce.
• Ar.65d: Initial production model. First built in 1933. It featured a vertical fuselage magazine to carry six 10kg bombs. 
• Ar.65E: Another production version. Probably the most manufactured one. The bomb magazine was removed, probably because it slowed down the performance of the aircraft.
• Ar.65F: Final production model with some minor improvements from the E version.

As it was retired from the active service in 1935, it was relegated to the training role in Czechia, where it served in the flying schools of Olomouc, Prostějov and Plzeň. Later, in 1942 and 1943 a not documented variant which featured two extra fuel tanks under upper wings and glider towing equipment, served with the Erganzungs-Schleppgruppen 1 and 2 towing the DFS 230 gliders carrying troops from the Kuban bridgehead in Russia.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_65
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuban_bridgehead
4. http://histaviation.com/ar_65.html

ANF Les Mureaux 190

Good morning. We start the day with another French prototype fighter.

The ANF Les Mureaux 190 was a French lightweight fighter prototype aircraft, in order to response to a program created by the French Ministry of Air.

It was designed by André Brunet. It was an all-metal monoplane first tested in July 1936 and took part in the Paris Air Show celebrated in November of that same year, where it proved to be very manoeuvrable. Less than one year later, in mid 1937, the project was abandoned due to the poor quality of the engine.

It was powered by a 450hp Salmson 12vars inverted V-12 engine. It was going to be armed by a 20mm cannon firing through the propeller hub and two 7,7mm machine guns mounted in the wings. A version with a retractable undercarriage, the ANF Les Mureaux 191 was planned but its' development was dropped.

This airplane was the last fighter of ANF Les Mureaux before being nationalized and become part of SNCAN (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord).

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANF_Les_Mureaux_190
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANF_Les_Mureaux

ANF Les Mureaux 180

We keep going with the French ANF Les Mureaux fighters and now it's the turn for the ANF Les Mureaux 180.

The ANF Les Mureaux 180 was a French fighter prototype of the early-to-mid 1930s. It was a single-engined two-seater, gull-winged monoplane. Only one was built and modified because the program was abandoned due to obsolescence.

The original ANF Les Mureaux 180 flew for the first time on 10th February 1935 and was powered by a 690hp Hispano-Suiza 12xbrs engine and a single fin and rudder. In April of the same year it was modified to be powered by a 690hp Hispano-Suiza 12xcrs engine in order to fit a 20mm cannon that could fire through the propeller hub. It was also armed with a pair of wing-mounted 7,7mm machine guns, it had another 7,7mm machine gun mounted in a flexible mount located in the observer position and the tail was changed to two vertical stabilizers. Testing continued until April 1936, but it was abandoned because the design was considered to be obsolete.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANF_Les_Mureaux_180
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.

ANF Les Mureaux 170

Today we keep going with the French ANF Les Mureaux fighters.

The ANF Les Mureaux 170 was a French single-seat parasol fighter monoplane which was rejected to enter into service with the French Armée de l'Air.

In 1930 the French government issued a contest for a single-seat fighter that should reach the 350 km/h and that should be powered by a supercharged engine. In order to win the contest, ANF Les Mureaux presented the ANF Les Mureaux 170 which was a parasol winged monoplane of all metal construction. It was powered by a 690hp Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs V12 engine and was armed with two wing-mounted 7,7 Vickers machine guns.

The wings were slightly gulled and tapered out in order to give it maximum chord and thickness along the wing. They were braced to fuselage by struts, both undercarriages, the tailwheel and the front one were fixed and the pilot sat in an open cockpit.

The prototype was flown on 19th November 1932 and, in spite of the good performance shown, it was in fact described as "the fastest French service aircraft", the view from the cockpit was very poor, specially when landing. A second prototype was flown for the first time in March 1934 but it wasn't chosen for production, because the contest was won by both the Dewoitine D.500 and the Blériot-SPAD S.510. This type served as the basis for the next ANF Les Mureaux airplane, the ANF Les Mureaux 180.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANF_Les_Mureaux_170
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

ANF Les Mureaux 114

We have another French night fighter to present you today.

The ANF Les Mureaux 114 was a night fighter variant of the original 113 version which also had a field modified night fighter version.

In 1930 the Ateliers des Mureaux, joined with the Ateliers de Construction du Nord de la France (ANF) and their first airplane was the ANF Les Mureaux 110 and 111 both designed by André Brunet in order to take part in the 1928 reconnaissance airplane contest. The very first of these all-metal parasol airplane was flown in April 1931 being the first production model the ANF Les Mureaux 113, which was a reconnaissance airplane capable of performing light bombing missions and even night fighting missions.

Two production airframes were completed during the summer of 1933 as two-seat night fighter and were given the designation of ANF Les Mureaux 114 and were different from the 113CN basically in having an integrated searchlight on the center of the main wing.

It was powered by a 650hp Hispano-Suiza 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engine and it was armed with two forward-firing 7,7mm MAC machine guns in the fuselage and two Lewis guns in a flexible mounting in the observers' position.

Sources: 
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANF_Les_Mureaux_113