Arado Ar 240 Versuchsflugzeuge - Revell re-release 72nd scale Ar 240

 Ar 240 V-3 'KK+CD'

Here's what the average web site - ie ChatGPT (AI) - will tell you about the Ar 240;

" The Arado Ar 240 was a twin-engine, multi-role aircraft developed by Germany during World War II. Intended to replace the Messerschmitt Bf 110 as a heavy fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, the Ar 240 was designed with advanced features for its time, including a pressurized cockpit, a remotely controlled defensive armament system, and excellent high-speed performance. However, the aircraft suffered from persistent stability issues, poor handling, and mechanical problems during its development and testing phases. Although prototypes demonstrated promising speed and versatility, these shortcomings prevented the Ar 240 from entering full production. Despite its limited deployment and operational use, the aircraft provided valuable lessons for German aviation engineers and remains a fascinating example of ambitious wartime aircraft design.."

 Or in other words, a promising design that failed to deliver. A rare Luftwaffe type, but one that failed to get a production order..

Let's put a slightly different take out there. The Arado Ar 240 was an experimental and test aircraft. In 1937 Dipl.Ing Walter Blume had proposed a twin-engined Zerstörer with both engines in the fuselage driving twin props - a concept rejected by the RLM, who nonetheless recommended that Blume submit a more conventional proposal. A mock-up was produced by March 1939 and in May 1939 the RLM asked for six 'Versuchsflugzeuge' or test aircraft (see Hans-Jürgen Becker, 'Schwere Jäger und Zerstörer der Luftwaffe', p117). The type was never conceived with the idea that it might go into series production. At all. It was designed to the same specification that had already resulted in orders for 3,000 Me 210s - the Ar 240 V1 first flew in June 1940 nearly one year after the Me 210. For more on this see Mankau/Petrick, " Messerchmitt Bf 110, Me 210, Me 410 - die Messerschmitt Zerstörer und ihre Konkurrenten", (Aviatic Verlag, 2001)

'Konkurrenten' means 'competitors' ..but the Ar 240 was never in the race - it was a 'technology demonstrator'.

" Das RLM hatte die Me 210 für die Grossserienproduktion vorgesehen und die Ar 240 in wenigen Exemplaren als Experimentalflugzeug, mit der neue Techniken erprobt werden sollten. Ein Einsatz der Ar 240 war bei der Luftwaffe zunächst nur in Einzelexemplaren zu Erprobungszwecken geplant..."

The Me 210 had been ordered into large-scale production by the RLM who had also ordered a handful of the Ar 240 as an experimental aircraft to test new technologies. Initially, the Luftwaffe only planned to use the Ar 240 in individual examples for testing purposes.

With little prospect of a production order - in the Luftwaffe's planning of 7 November 1938 approx. 3000 Me 210 units were to be delivered up to 1942 - Arado was encouraged to innovate in their design. The company received preliminary approval for the development and construction of six prototypes on 16 May 1939 and began work on a design based on the Bf 110, but with much smaller dimensions. However, the small wings required special high-lift devices. These were provided in the form of automatic leading edge slats, double-slotted flaps outboard of the engines and Fowler flaps inboard of the engine nacelles, along with 'full-span' ailerons on the outer wing. Early examples had tail-mounted dive brakes which were soon dispensed with. 

Following the first flight, instability problems led to extensive redesign work- the V3 pictured here was a rather different beast from the V1. Lengthening the fuselage, relocating the cockpit and enlarging the wing cured the problems - partially. The last line of an Arado report on the instability issue (reproduced in Becker p119) confirmed that " this state was no longer significantly affected by further enlargement of the wing and lengthening of the fuselage. It was considered tolerable, as the instability only occurred with intentional actions or complete removal of the feet from the pedals..." Testing continued on the design. For example, this included development of the pressure cabin and the testing of warm air in a double-glazed canopy to prevent the panes from fogging up for the Arado 234 programme. Elsewhere the Me 210 was in full-scale production - large production orders were a done deal in the case of the Me 210. No such orders were ever likely to have been forthcoming in the case of the Arado - not least because the aircraft did not have a bomb bay. 

In August 1941 the V3 was still at Rechlin being flown by Oberst Siegfried Knemeyer - head of the Amtsgruppe Entwicklung von fliegerischem Gerät - and Oberst Theodor Rowehl. The V4 first flew in June 1941 and crashed on 7 August 1941. The V5  'T5+MH' was powered by two DB 601Es and in March 1942 the Versuchsstelle für Hohenflüge took over the aircraft to test it as an Aufklärer. Initial motorisation with the DB 601 and later DB 603 gave the type relatively good performance - max speed 350-400 mph saw the type deployed over England in the high altitude Aufklärer recce role " with some success". Independently of the Versuchs aircraft 1-6, a further five Ar 240s were built for 'unarmed reconnaissance'- the first of these, the A-01 ('GL+QA'), entered flight testing on 5 June 1942.  

Our good friend Michel Wilhelme has built Revell's re-release of the Arado Ar 240 for this blog. The unit code 'T5' represents a machine of the Aufklärungsgruppe Ob.d.L. (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe) or Aufklärungsgruppe Rowehl..