Re: Some enlarged and "tweaked" known photos of Ar 234s

[Nick Beale]

Probably due to overcrowding at Burg bei Magdeburg

Overcrowding of bases was certainly a concern as German-held territory shrank. Another reason might be that the Americans were getting dangerously close to Magdeburg by that time. The aerodrome was heavily bombed on 10 April and was evacuated round about the 12th, I think.

[Peter Achs]

Originally Posted by Karoband

Berlin-Aldershot.

Berlin-Adlershof.

First photo shows the Ju 88/8086 with Jumo 004 at Rechlin, has nothing to do with BMW.

[Karoband]

Thank you, Peter. It was the only photo I could find of a Ju 88 with a turbojet and I mistakenly assumed it was a BMW.

[egbert]

Thanx, great continuation of the thread

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1644

Both Messerschmitt and Arado had developed a system of dispersed manufacturing of modules that made up an aircraft and then assembling the modules at various locations. In creating the Ar 234 C-series, a pressurized cabin module would be wedded to a separate fuselage module containing a new undercarriage. For both Messerschmitt and Arado, the fitting of modules was inexact and any gap in the joint was filled with a light grey putty. Over the putty, an adhesive tape covered the gap and was hidden by the camouflage paints. Unfortunately, due to poor adhesive qualities of either the tape or putty, this covering was often ripped off in flight by the slip stream. In this photo, the joint putty between the first pressurized cabin module and the fuselage can be seen on Ar 234 V19 (W.Nr. 130029; "PI+WX") due to the missing tape.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1645

164.The V19 appears to have the same grey wings and same shaped paired nacelles with slots as the V13.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1650

165. This is a close-up view of V19's port nacelles.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1646

166. In this head-on view, the new "Cesar" undercarriage to carry the weight of four engines and a pressurized cabin can be differentiated from those of the "Berta" by the two mainwheel doors on each side of the fuselage. As well the slots separating the pairs of the engine nacelles as seen on the V13 are visible. However, the main spar for the cockpit canopy is almost horizontal, indicating an almost total redesign of the periplex panels for pressurization.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1647

167. Arado's test pilot, Ubbo Janssen, first flew the V19 on 16 October 1944. It didn't matter that pressurization made the cabin hot. It didn't matter that, on landing, Janssen didn't pull the lever to deploy the brake chute but the one to jettison it. It didn't matter that the Arado overran the runway and came to a stop against a fence. And it didn't matter that the handle to jettison the new canopy hatch didn't work. What did matter was that the four new BMW 003 A-1 turbos with their Graetin fuel pumps worked perfectly, Pawlas, pp. 340-341.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1648

168. On the second test flight report on the V19, Janssen wrote "Engine test: All four engines ran without difficulties," Smith & Creek, Arado Ar 234 Blitz, (Classic, 2022), p.165
The V19 was possibly the four-engined Arado sent to BMW's Sonderkommando at Burg bei Magdeburg under Peter Kappus and reputedly flown by Ludwig Bambach. Dambach complained that it was overpowered with the tail shaking as it approached maximum speed. He also related flying the V19 from Burg to Neubiberg and that the V19 was "blown up in the Hofoldinger Forest," Smith & Creek, pp. 174-175.
This photo, however, shows the tail of V19, "PI+WX", in British hands. Note the "029" of the werknummer on the tail and the "WX" of the stammkennzeichen on the fuselage.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1649

169. Flugkapitän Gunter Eheim was another Arado civilian test pilot flying the prototypes of the Cesar. Eheim's flugbuch shows that Arado's test unit had moved to "Briest" [Brandenburg-Briest] and that he was still making Erprobung flights in "V19 PI+WX" there on 9, 13 and 28 March, and as late as 7? April 1945. The date is hard to read.