|
|
The Arado Ar 232 was a radical design for a transport aircraft that was produced in small numbers, but never enough to be really significant.
The Ar 232 was one of a number of designs that were ordered to replace the increasingly elderly Junkers Ju 52/3m, not of which actually achieved that. The Arado Ar 232 was one of the most radical designs to emerge from that process, including a number of features that went on to be used on more successful post-war aircraft.
Pre-war cargo aircraft such as the Ju 52/3m or the American C-47 Dakota tended to suffer from the same design problems. They used tail wheel landing gear that meant the cargo compartment sloped down towards the tail when on the ground, and had to be loaded through doors in the side of the fuselage, making it difficult to load large items into the aircraft.
The Ar 232 used a pod and boom type fuselage, with the cockpit in front of a large slab sided cargo compartment which was the same width throughout its length. The tail was carried on a single narrow boom mounted above the cargo compartment. This meant that a large hydraulically operated door could be installed at the back of the cargo compartment, allowing heavy cargos to be driven straight into the aircraft.
In order to keep the cargo compartment level when on the ground two different undercarriages were installed. The main system was a nose wheel type, with retractable wheels mounted under the engine nacelles, and the nose wheel just under the cockpit. All three of the main wheels were attached to hydraulic rams which allowed them to be lengthened or shortened as required. For flight operations they would be lengthened. A second system was installed for use when loading or unloading the cargo compartment. This consisted of a long row small wheels under the fuselage. When on the ground the main undercarriage could be shortened to allow this secondary undercarriage to take the weight, thus bringing the cargo compartment lower to the ground. The Ar 232 could carry up to 9,920lb of cargo, allowing it to take two Kubelwagen and their crews or similar loads.
Similar designs were developed in other countries during and after the Second World War. The basic idea of a cargo bay that was low to the ground, level with the ground, and loaded through a large rear door is common to most post-war designs (most famously the C-130 Hercules). The pod and boom layout was used by the wartime Fairchild C-82 Packet and the post-war Armstrong Whitworth Argosy. The C-5 Galaxy takes the small wheel undercarriage one step further and uses it as its main undercarriage.
The Ar 2312 had level, angular wings with straight edged centre sections and tapering outer panels, with the rear section tapering more than the front. The tail had twin rudders carried at the end of the horizontal surfaces.
The Ar 231 V1 and V2 were powered by two 1,600hp BMW 801MA radial engines, and had eleven idler wheels in the secondary undercarriage. They were to have been prototypes for the Ar 231A series. V1 was ready early in 1941, V2 later in the year. However the BMW engine was also chosen for the Fw 190, which had much higher priority, so Arado had to look for an alternative.
Ar 232 V3 was thus given four 1,200hp BMW-Bramo 323R-2 radial engines. Wingspan was increased by 5ft 7in to cope with the extra engines, but the number of idler wheels was reduced to ten. It was also armed, carrying a 13mm MG 131 machine gun in the nose, a second rear firing MG 131 above the loading door and a 20mm MG 151/20 cannon in a power operated dorsal turret behind the cockpit. There was also space for up to eight 7.9mm MG 34 machine guns to be fired through the cargo compartment windows.
V3 was the first of a pre-production batch of twenty Ar 232B-0s (also designated as V3 to V22). However only the two A series prototypes and these twenty B series aircraft were built, for a total of only twenty two aircraft.
Although only a small number were produced, the Ar 232 was used in both experiments and with operational units. At least one of the first two prototypes underwent flight testing at E-Stelle at Rechlin from the autumn of 1942. An A-series aircraft from Rechlin was the first to be seen by the Allies, during reconnaissance sortie N/870 of 28 June 1943. The unidentified aircraft was given the code name Rechlin 104. This may have been V2, as V1 had crashed on 5 February 1943 (however V1 was repaired)
One aircraft at Rechlin was used to tow a Go 242 using a rigid link.
At least one Ar 232B underwent tests at Rechlin. One took part in an flight demonstration programme at Rechlin on 12-13 June. Ar 232B-010 (V12) crashed on 14 June 1944 during tests.
Ar 232 V8 was given four Gnome/ Rhone 14M radial engines and double the normal fuel capacity of the aircraft.
Ar 232 V11 was given a fixed undercarriage and skis for use in Norway, where it eventually crashed.
In May 1943 Ar 232 V8 (B-06) was used to carry meteorogical equipment to Spitzbergen, and then joined Wekusta 5 (a weather reconnaissance unit) based at Banak in Norway.
The Ar 232 entered operational service late in 1943 when V1 and V2 and four B-0s were issued to a Staffel of the Erganzungstransportgeschwader serving on the Eastern Front, commanded by Obstlt Fabiunke. This unit was disbanded late in 1944 and its aircraft went to Transport-Staffel 5 at Muhldorf.
In March 1944 I./ TG 5 at Odessa (Major Gunther Mauss) was issued with a small number of Ar 232s, using them alongside the Messerschmitt Me 323 and SIAI Marchetti S.M.82.
Arado kept one aircraft to help with production of the Arado Ar 234 twin engined jet bomber. This aircraft was flown to Britain after the war.
A single Ar 232 B-0 went to I./KG 200 (a special operations unit) in March 1944, and 1. and 3./ KG 200 both eventually operated small numbers of the aircraft. At least one of their aircraft was used in Operation Zeppelin, an attempt to fly saboteurs to the Moscow area, as it crashed into a tree and caught fire near Moscow on 5 September 1944.
In March 1945 Transport-Staffel 5 became 14./TG 4. At that date it had four Ar 232B-0s and Ar 232 V2. However later in the same month the unit was disbanded and its aircraft went to I./KG 200. All but one of its Ar 232s were destroyed on 8 May 1945, while the survivor was flown to Britain by Feldwebel Funk.
Work also began on the Ar 432, which would have replaced the aluminium and duralumin of the Ar 232 with less scare wood and steel. Several sub-assemblies were built but the Ar 432 was abandoned before making its first flight.
Engine: Four BMW-Bramo 323R-2 radial engines
Power: 1,200hp each
Crew:
Span: 109ft 10 3/4in
Length: 77ft 2in
Height: 18ft 8in
Empty weight: 28,224lb
Loaded weight: 46,600lb
Max speed: 211mph at 15,090ft
Climb Rate:
Service ceiling: 26,247ft
Normal range: 658 miles
Cargo capacity: 9,920lb
Armament: Two 13mm machine guns, one 20mm cannon
Bomb load:
Aircraft of the Luftwaffe 1935-1945, Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage.
Combines a good background history of the Luftwaffe with a comprehensive examination of its aircraft, from the biplanes of the mid 1930s to the main wartime aircraft and on to the seemingly unending range of experimental designs that wasted so much effort towards the end of the war. A useful general guide that provides an impressively wide range of information on almost every element of the Luftwaffe (Read Full Review)
