World War II Database

Contributor: Alan Chanter

ww2dbaseThe Arado Ar 96 was the standard advanced trainer of the German Air Force (German: Luftwaffe), designed by Walter Blume and first flown in 1938. A cantilever low-wing monoplane of all-metal stress-skin light alloy construction with a fully enclosed tandem accommodation for the student pilot and his instructor, the prototype Ar 96V1 was powered by a 240-horsepower Argus As.10C inverted-Vee engine and was fitted with a main undercarriage that retracted outwards into the wing, but this was soon repositioned with inward retracting landing gear legs, in order to widen the track, to make to improve stability on the ground and make it easier for student pilots to handle.

ww2dbaseThe German Air Ministry (German: Reichsluftfahrtministterium) trials were completed successfully and the Ar 96 aircraft proved to be an exceptionally versatile trainer in service. A modest number of Ar 96A-1 initial production aircraft were manufactured in 1939 with the As.10C engine, however it was soon realised that the basic design would be able to handle a more high-speed engine. So the main production model, the Ar 96B, was ordered in 1940 with the 465-horsepower Argus As 410A-1 engine driving a two-bladed propeller. This model had a lengthened fuselage to provide greater fuel capacity for the more powerful engine. It was built in several variants, including the unarmed Ar 96B-1 and the Ar 96B-2 which carried either a 7.92-millimetre MG 17 machine-gun or a camera gun for gunnery training. Other models were the Ar 96B-5 pilot gunnery trainer and the Ar 96B-7 which had provision for the external carriage of bombs for ground-attack and dive-bombing training. An Ar 96C bomb aiming trainer with a transparent panel in the cockpit floor was evaluated but did not enter service.

ww2dbaseArado built only a small number of Ar 96B aircraft. Manufacture was transferred to the Junkers subsidiary, Ago Flugzeugwerke at Oschersleben (Bode), southwest of Magdeburg in central Germany, in 1940 and from mid-1941, to the Czech company, Avia, which was joined in the programme in 1944 by the Prague-based Letov organisation. Czech production continued until 1948, supplying aircraft to the Czech Air Force under the designation Avia C.2B.

ww2dbaseThe Luftwaffe used the Ar 96 aircraft for advanced night instrument flying training duties with the pilot training schools, fighter training wings, fighter training and replacement units and the officer cadet schools. Numbers were also supplied to the Axis Air Forces of Hungary and Romania.

SPECIFICATIONS

Ar 96B-2

Machinery	One Argus As 410A-1 12-cyl inverted-Vee piston engine rated at 465hp
Armament	1x7.92mm MG 17 machine gun or 1x camera gun
Crew	2
Span	11.00 m
Length	9.10 m
Height	2.60 m
Wing Area	17.10 m²
Weight, Empty	1,295 kg
Weight, Maximum	1,700 kg
Speed, Maximum	330 km/h
Speed, Cruising	295 km/h
Rate of Climb	5.08 m/s
Service Ceiling	7,100 m
Range, Normal	990 km

Photographs