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Arado Ar 240 (PDFDrive)

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Rafael R A
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416 views25 pages

Arado Ar 240 (PDFDrive)

Uploaded by

Rafael R A
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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THE LUFTWAFFE PROFILE SERIES No.8 ‘An Arado Ar 240°A In service with 3(F}0b.a.. Clearly visible on tho nose of the aircrat is the Staffel emblem; it hes often been ‘misidentified as t bears a striking similarty to the emblem of JG. The Arado Ar 240 A-10 with 3(F}Ob.d.. in the Kharkov area atthe end of 1942. The Statel emblem was dosigned by the unit chaplain, ‘The emblem depicted the two ravens of Odin; according to legend their arrival was followed by death and terror. ‘This photo shows an Ar240 A during takeot, ‘The Arado 240 (project designation E-240) was the result of a specification issued by the Reichsiuftiahrtministerium (Giate Ministry of Aviation). Blueprints of this combat aircraft were submitted to the LM atthe end of 1938. On April2, 1939 ‘Arado received a contract to build three prototypes. Development work began under the leadership of Protesso- Walter Blume and Dipl-ing. Wilhelm van Nes. At the same time, work was under way at Messerschmitt on the Me 210, which was designed forthe same roles asthe Ar 240. Evon before the Arado 240 V1 took off on its maiden fight the contract was increased to ten prototypes and an un- determined number of pre-production air- craft. ‘Major aificuties that developed with the first two prototypes wore attributable to engine overheating, however these problems were solved through modifying the engine cowiings and installing addi- tional oll coolers beneath the engine gon- dolas, Further major modifications at ‘ected the fuselage, requiring an exten- sion of the cockpit into the nose area, The feason for this was the airratt's instabil- ity about all three axes, which made it i ficult to fly. All of these changes were in- corporated into the Ar 240 V3 and sub- sequent aircraft. The aircraft's remotely. controlled defensive armament also gave problems and had to be reworked sev- eral times. Fundamentally, the Arado 240 was not a bad design; however, as the objective was maximum performance, there Were serious problems in davelop- ment and production. The aircraft's de- Signers often reached the limit of what was possible in their efforts to achieve this, ‘objective with the means and technology available. The Ar 240 series was prob- ably ready for production in 1941, how- ever delays continued and it was can- celed by the RLM in December 1942 af- ter most of the jigs and materials were fon hand. Existing aircraft ware subse- {quently handed over to various Luftwaffe, units. ‘The first jet aircraft were by now ty- ing, and continuation of development work on the Ar 240 was cut of the ques- tion, The Ar 240 thus progressed no fur- ther than the prototype siage. The high- est known Werknummer is 240078, ‘Whether that many aireratt ware in fact builtand flown is questionable, Surviving flight reports mention only the prototypes Vi to VB and V10 and from the A-Series the A-01 10 A-O4. It remains to be deter- mined which aircratt were assigned Werknummem 240009 and 240010, \which also appear in the log books. An- tther question concerns the Ar 240 VB and V6. Existing literature states that the VS and the A-01 were the same aitcratt, {89 were the V6 and the A-02. This claim ‘seems to be very questionable, and itis more likely that four different aircraft are involved. The Arado Ar 240 V6 with the code TS+KH appears in one log book centr (irom June 1942). In a wellknown Photograph of aircraft GL+QB, the leg fend Ar 240 A-02 is clearly visible on both tongine cowiings, which suggests that this code did nt belong to the V6. This would suggest-but not prove-that the code GL+QAbelonged tothe Ar 240-01. This means then that the code of the Ar 240, \VS is stil unknown, Pethiaps the Ar 240 illustrated in this volume wearing the code 22YP isin fact the V5 and not the A-Ot as is sometimes suggested. It appears that there is stil a large question mark beside the identities of he Ar 240 VS and the Ar240 A.01 ‘Technical Description ‘The Arado Ar 240 was @ twin ‘engined, mic-wing monoplane with twin fins and rudders and a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. The fuselage hhad an oval cross-section which became Circular aft of the rear weapons stations. AA dive brake was incorporated into the fuselage tail, consisting of four petals Similar to that of the Do 217. the fuselage was a stressed-skin, monocogue struc ture ‘The wing center-section was rectan gular, the outer wing sections trapezoi-

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