Arado Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer, originally established as the Warnemünde factory of the Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen firm.

History

Ar 234
Role	Reconnaissance Bomber
Manufacturer	Arado Flugzeugwerke
Designed by	Walter Blume
First flight	15 June 1943
Introduced	September 1944
Status	Retired
Primary user	Luftwaffe
Number built	210

Ar 196
Role	Reconnaissance
Manufacturer	Arado
Designed by	Walter Blume
First flight	May 1937
Introduced	November, 1938
Primary users	Kriegsmarine Bulgarian Air Force Finnish Air Force Romanian Air Force
Produced	1938-44
Number built	541

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ar 65

Arado Ar 66

Ar 68

Ar 96

Ar 196

 

 

 

 

With its parent company, it ceased operations following the First World War when restrictions on German aviation were created by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1921, the factory was purchased by Heinrich Lübbe, and in 1924 re-commenced aircraft construction for export, opening a subsidiary, Ikarus, in Yugoslavia. Walter Rethel, previously of Kondor and Fokker was appointed head designer.

In 1925, Lübbe re-named the company Arado Handelsgesellschaft ("Arado trading firm") but in 1933 when the new Nazi government re-established aviation in Germany, changed this to the more specific (and accurate) Arado Flugzeugwerke GmbH. Just prior to this, Walter Blume, formerly of Albatros replaced Rethel.

Arado achieved early prominence as a supplier to the Luftwaffe with the Arado Ar 66, which became one of the standard Luftwaffe trainers right into World War II. The firm also produced some of the Luftwaffe's first fighter aircraft, the Ar 65 and Ar 68. In 1936, the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium - "Reich Aviation Ministry") insisted that, as a show of loyalty, Lübbe should join the Nazi party. When he refused, the Arado company was nationalised and placed under the direction of Erich Serno and Felix Wagenführ.

 

As Germany entered World War II, two more Arado products rose to prominence, the Ar 96 which became the Luftwaffe's most used trainer, and the Ar 196 a reconnaissance seaplane that became standard equipment on all larger German warships. Unfortunately for Arado, most of their other designs were passed over in favour of stronger products from their competitors. Perhaps Arado's most celebrated aircraft of the war was the Ar 234, the first jet-powered bomber. Too late to have any real effect on the outcome of the conflict, it was nevertheless a sign of things to come.

Until their liberation in April 1945 by the Soviet army, 1,012 slave laborers from Freiburg, a sub-camp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, worked at the Arado factory, beginning with the first trainload of 249 prisoners arriving in August 1944. The prisoners were mostly Polish Jewish women and girls sent to Freiburg from Auschwitz.

Arado also licence-built various versions of the Focke Wulf Fw 190.

In 1945, the company was liquidated and broken up.

The Ar 96 continued to be produced by zLIN for many years after the war as the C.2B.

Wikipedia