Photograph:
The second prototype of the Arado Ar 79 D-EHCR during its trip to Australia (Author’s collection)
Country of origin:
Germany
Description:
Two-seat light touring monoplane
Power Plant:
One 78 kw (105 hp) Hirth HM-504a-2 four-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 10 m (32 ft 9½ in)
- Length: 7.6 m (25 ft)
- Height: 2.1 m (6 ft 10½ in)
- Wing area: 14 m² (150.7 sq ft)
- Max speed at sea level: 230 km/h (143 mph)
- Cruising speed: 205 km/h (127 mph)
- Initial rate of climb: 305 m/min (1,000 ft/min)
- Service ceiling: 5,500 m (18,045 ft)
- Range: 1,025 km (636 miles)
- Empty weight: 460 kg (1,014 lb)
- Loaded weight: 760 kg (1,675 lb)
History:
In 1937 Dipl Ing Walter Blume designed the Arado Ar 79 high-performance two-seat cabin touring monoplane, the prototype of which, the Ar 79A (D-EKCK), set a new 1,000 km (621 miles) record in its class by averaging 229.04 km/h (142.32 mph). Two weeks after the second aircraft (D-EHCR) set a record average speed of 227.029 km/h (141.07 mph) for 2,000 km (1,243 miles). On 29 December 1938 the latter aircraft was flown a distance of 6,903 km (4,289 miles) at a speed of 160 km/h (99.4 mph) from Benghazi in Libya to Gaya in India.
The Ar 79 was of mixed construction, the fuselage being a welded steel tube structure and an Elektron monocoque aft, the single-spar wing being a wooden structure with plywood and fabric skinning. Power was provided by a 78 kw (105 hp) Hirth HM 504A-2 four-cylinder inverted in-line engine. All three undercarriage members were retractable. A total of 48 was built. One (D-EMVT) survives in an airworthy condition with the Museum fur Verkehr in Berlin, Germany.
An Arado Ar 79 (D-EHCR) flown by Oblt Horst Pulkowski and Lt Rudolf Jennet was flown from Brandenburg, Germany to Australia, leaving on 17 December 1938 and arriving in Darwin, NT on 14 January 1939. The flight continued on to Sydney, NSW on the 16th where they stayed for two days and then commenced the return trip on 22 January 1939. However, at Madras in India, whilst being flown by Pulkowski, who was demonstrating the aircraft to an Indian passenger, the aircraft crashed and was destroyed, both persons aboard being killed.