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

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1531

54. On that afternoon of 24 June 1945, Lt. Cdr, (RN), Eric Brown and S/Ldr. "Tony" Martindale of RAE Farnborough arrived at Grove-Karup, Denmark, to ferry two Arado recces back to England. "Winkel" Brown, on page 17 of his Wings of the Luftwaffe, (Hirori, 2010), described his first test flight that evening.

"...My Blitz was the first ready to fly so I taxiied out to the end of the runway and ran up the engines to full power. All seemed well and I was just about to release the brakes for take-off when the starboard engine almost blew itself out of the airframe, spewing compression blades out of the back and onto the runway. I shut down the port engine and vacated the cockpit like a scalded cat!"

Brown claimed that it was the result of sabotage by a member of the German ground crew.

In this photo, note the tarp covering a jettisoned canopy hatch cover, the lack of a periscope and the height of the vegetation growing around the neglected Arado.
Smith & Creek, on page 213 of their 1992 Monogram edition of Arado Ar 234 Blitz, captioned this photo as:
"Royal Danish Air Force officers examine an Arado Ar 234 B-2 of 1.(F)/33 at Karup-Grove airfield during the summer of 1945."

It is likely that this aircraft was scrapped at Grove and that it was W.Nr. 140486.

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1532

55. At Grove-Karup, Denmark, British Air Ministry numbers were carefully painted by German ground crew using stencils on captured aircraft to be flown to England. Here, Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4/R3 W.Nr. 730037 "D5+DK" became "AIR MINISTRY 30". Similarly, Arado Ar 234 B-2b W.Nr 140466 became "AIR MINISTRY 24", W.Nr. 140608 became "25" and W.Nr. 140476 became "26", Phil Butler, War Prizes, (Crecy, 2022), pp. 103-104.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1533

56. "On 4 April 1945 ... it was the turn of "DH" which tried to cover Ipswich and Harwich from 14:58 - 15:54 hrs. but was ordered to turn back after the pilot tried to switch between fuel tanks only to find the transfer pump had failed ...", cf. Nick Beale, https://ghostbombers.com/recon/234/Denmark/norway3.html.
This was probably Arado recce Ar 234 B-2b W.Nr. 140476 "8H_DH" (black "D") of 1.(F)/33 that was captured intact by British forces at Grove.
The British had German personnel carefully stencil on "AIR MINISTRY 26" and, on 25 June 1945, it was flown by S/Ldr. "Tony" Martindale in formation with Lt. Cdr. (RN) Eric Brown in "AIR MINISTRY 25" from Grove to Schleswig, Germany. That same day, they both flew from Schleswig in a 1 hr and 55 min. dog-leg flight over Gilze-Rijen, Holland,to RAE Farnborough, England.
Note the outer ring of yellow on the roundels, as well as the different shade of the nacelle cowl.

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1534

57. On 3 July 1945, "AIR MINISTRY 26" was transferred to No. 6 Maintenance Unit at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, where it was assigned the RAF serial "VK877". On 7 October it was ferried back to Farnborough for trials. From 29 October to 9 November it was displayed statically in the RAE German Aircraft Exhibition. The RAF serial and the yellow outer ring of the roundel can be seen in this photo.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1535

58. This is another view of "VK877" at the Farnborough Exhibition. Note the distictive nacelle cowl. Smith & Creek, Arado Ar 234 Blitz, (Classic, 2022), on page 310 say that it was "eventually scrapped, presumably at Farnborough".

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1536

59. It is likely that in early May 1945 Arado Ar 234 B-2b W.Nr. 140466 "8H+HH" (black "H") of 1.(F)/33 was transferred from Wittmundhaven, Germany, to Grove-Karup, Denmark and it was captured there intact by elements of the RAF Regiment. In the 1992 Monogram edition of Smith & Creek's Arado 234 Blitz, on page 255, they wrote:
"140466
First flew December 29, 1944, to 1.(F)/33 as 8H+HH, captured by the RAF at Grove, flown to the UK as AM 24, arrived at the RAE on August 27, 1945 ...".
This photo shows "8H+HH" in its Luftwaffe markings at Grove with its werknummer visible.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1537

60. This poor resolution copy of one of Phil Butler's photographs found on page 102 of the 2020 Crecy edition of War Prizes is captioned:
"Arado Ar 234 B-2, W.Nr. 140466, alongside a pair of Messerschmitt Me 262s, possibly at Schleswig, prior to transfer to Farnborough ...".

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1538

61. Note the position of the nose wheel of "AIR MINISTRY 24" in these photographs as well as the outer yellow ring on the RAF roundel.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1539

62. This is a picture of "AIR MINISTRY 24", also taken at Schleswig. The racks under the nacelles are prominent as are the Me 262s. They are W.Nr. 500443 "yellow 5" and W.Nr. 110635 "red 10" of 10./NJG11.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1540

63. In this photo there is a good view of the rack's attachment to the fairing with its hose tucked in. Butler on page 103 reports:
"Ferried Grove - Schleswig - Farnborough on 27th August 1945, by S/Ldr. J. C. S. Turner. While the aircraft was landing at Farnborough, its port main undercarriage collapsed due to mis alignment of the undercarriage locks and the aircraft was written off.
The tail section served as a static display ant Farnborough's German Aircraft Ehibition 29 October - 9 November, but on 15 November it was formally SOC [struck off charge]."

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1541

64. Jan Horn, on page 290 of Die Augen des OKW ... Teil 1, (2021), identifies this two-seater Arado W.Nr. 140355 (captured by the Soviets at the Bachmann repair facility at Fl.Pl. Putnitz near Rostok on 2 May 1945), not as a night fighter but as a horchflugzeug, probably an early form of sigint aircraft. He ascribes it on page 332 as an Ar 234 B-2/H. Like the two-seat Arado night fighter conversions of 3./NJG 10 (also on p. 332), the space for the second crewman was made possible by the removal of the cameras. In this photo, the werknummer can be seen as well as the very small circular window marring the balkenkreuz.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1542

65. Like the Me 262 B-1a/U1s, to increase range and time aloft, the two-seater Arado night fighters and "listeners" had fairings and racks under the engine nacelles for auxiliary fuel tanks. This is another view of W.Nr. 140355.

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1543

66. To convert Oblt. Josef Putzkuhl and Oblt. Gustav Francsi (both from NJG 100) to the Ar 234 for night time missions, a single seat Ar 234 B-2b W.Nr. 140608 "T9+GL" was used in daylight hours, training that would have included the use of the oversized auxiliary fuel tanks seen here.
Francsi's last flight was on 10 April 1945, the day that Fl. Pl. Oranienburg was bombed. W.Nr. 140608 was then evacuated to Rechlin-Lärz. Oblt. Günter Korn of 1./FAGr 5, seconded as a test pilot for Arado at Alt-Lonnewitz, transferred a "T1+GL" from Rechlin-Lärz to Lübeck-Blankensee on 19 April and to Grove-Karup on 22 April, flying a platzflug there on the 25th. It was then captured by the British at Grove.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1544

67. In this cropping of the previous photo, the unit letters and werknummer are excruciatingly obscure, but the yellow in the middle of the "G" can be seen.
In his Wings of the Luftwaffe, page 17, Lt./Cdr. (RN) Eric Brown related how he flew Ar 234 W.Nr. 140008 from Grove, via Schleswig, to Farnborough on 25 June 1945. Curiously, the British FO 1062/66, "German Aircraft ferried to Farnborough up to 3/7/45" lists it as TI+GL, W.Nr. 140008 (Steve Coates, TOCH archives, 18 Feb 2018). In his note on "Air Ministry 25", Phil Butler in War Prizes, (Crecy, 2022), p. 103 relates:

"... AM 25 was ferried Grove-Schleswig-Farnborough on 25th June 1945 and onwards, To No. 6 MU, Brize Norton, on 30th June. The RAF serial number VK880 was allocated on 26th July... AM 25 was at the No. 6 MU in the Census of Aircraft on 21st March 1946 and was SOC there on 1st October 1948."

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Karoband

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1541

64. Jan Horn, on page 290 of Die Augen des OKW ... Teil 1, (2021), identifies this two-seater Arado W.Nr. 140355 (captured by the Soviets at the Bachmann repair facility at Fl.Pl. Putnitz near Rostok on 2 May 1945), not as a night fighter but as a horchflugzeug, probably an early form of sigint aircraft.

An Ar 234 B-2 was allocated for »Funkhorschumbau« (radio-monitoring conversion) on 17 March 1945. Source: Bundesarchiv RL 2-III/620.

[Karoband]

Thanks for the tip, Nick. Both RL 2-III/619 and RL 2-III/620 are now on line and the allocations of 17 March 1945 can be found on page 0237 of RL 2-III/620.

[egbert]

I just want to thank for this great thread. Please keep it flowing