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.

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1655

170. This photo, despite the caption by Kurmark-Antik, I suspect shows Arado Ar 234 V20 (130030; "PI+WY") with a cabin shape similar to that of V19 but with modified engine nacelles closer in shape to the V21 with no slots and with a dark, not grey, camouflage.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1658

171. "With the Soviet advance into eastern Germany in February 1945 the Arado test flight division was forced to move from Sagan to Brandenburg-Briest on or before the 24th ... A detachment of the division was sent to Wesendorf ... where it was bombed out in a US Eighth Air Force raid by 97 B-24s on 4 April 1945. Two of its aircraft, the Ar 234 V12 and V20, were badly damaged ...," Smith & Creek,Arado Ar 234 Blitz, (Classic, 2022), p.177. American troops raced pass Flugplatz Wesendorf on 11 April and occupied the airfield on the 13th. On 8 May 1945, the Americans handed Wesendorf to British control.
Smith & Creek on p. 166 caption this photo as:
"The Ar 234 V20 was wrecked at Wesendorf airfield on 4 April 1945 as a consequence of a USAAF raid."


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1656

172. In this photo the final letter of the stammkennzeichen can be made out to be a "Y", making it Ar 234 V20 "PI+WY". V20 was first flown on 5 November 1944 and three days later was rammed by a FW 190. Repaired, it flew again on 14 January 1945.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1657

173. While this photo does show the debris from the bomb raid, I suspect the damage to the cockpit and engines was done by retreating German troops.

[Matolion]

I think the photos show Ar 234V19, W.Nr.130029, PI+WX when the Americans occupied Wesendorf. You have this Ar 234 at Wesendorf in your post above already after the British or Americans pulled it out of the hangar. The photo was sold together with others that were photographed in the same place, with three identically dressed British soldiers and it was managed to be identified according the hangars in the background as Wesendorf

[Karoband]

Hi Matolion,

In the 1992 Monogram edition of their Arado 234 Blitz, Smith & Creek in their appendix of werknummern have V19 "blown up in Hofoldinger Forest in April 1945" and V20 "badly damaged in an air raid on 4 April 1945, at Wesendorf." In their revised 2022 Classic edition, the new appendix on p. 305 has V19 "Found by British troops blown up in a hangar at Wesendorf in April 1945" and on p. 306, V20 "badly damaged in an air raid on 4 April 1945, at Wesendorf. To my eye, the final letter of the aircraft photographed in the hangar has the splayed prongs of a "Y". So I concur with their identification of V20.

best regards,

Jim

[Matolion]

So according to that, both Ar 234 were found in the Wesendorf (definitely found V19 there). That could be it. The last letter is difficult to read, it could be X or Y, in the photos I have on the Ar 234 in the hangar

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1659

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1660

These two drawings, dated 9 September 1944, show Arado's concept for a new Ar 234 C-3 bomber with four BMW 003 A-1 turbojets, a pressurized cabin, new landing gear, two pairs of MG 151 cannon front and back, and the variations of bomb loads it could carry. These drawings can be found on pages 28 and 29 of Karl R. Pawlas' Arado Ar 234 Der Erste Strahlbomber der Welt.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1661

175. The Arado Ar 234 V21 (W.Nr. 130061) was the first prototype of the C-3 bomber. Its stammkenzeichen was "PI+WZ" according the Ubbo Janssen's flugbuch and "RK+EK" according to that of Günther Eheim, Smith & Creek, (Classic, 2022), p. 306. It was first flown on 24 November 1944 by the experienced Janssen.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1662

176. In this view of the rear of V21, not only can the gun ports of the rear firing MG 131 20mm cannon be seen, but the cartridge ejection hole is visible just below the balkenkreuz.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1663

177. Despite the spurious caption with this photo, this is indeed the much smaller hatchway to the pilot's seat of the V21 (compared to that of the Berta) and the redesigned periplex panels of the canopy can be seen. According to Smith & Creek, p. 104, in the background is the only image they can find of the V11 "PH+SS".


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1664

178. This poor photo possibly shows V21 with an extended periscope.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1665

179. Arado was not happy with the air flow around the paired engine nacelles. Here we see an evolution of nacelle designs.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1666

180. The design of the pressurized cabin also evolved.