Country of origin:

Germany

Description:

Two-seat reconnaissance seaplane

Power Plant:

One 716 kw (960 hp) BMW 132 K nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

History:

The Arado Ar 196 was designed as a two-seat low-wing reconnaissance floatplane in 1937 for operation from German Navy (Kriegsmarine) warships and was built at the Arado Flugzeugwerke at Warnemunde in Berlin. Production began in 1938 and some 526 examples were built, not including prototypes and pre-production aircraft. A number were also produced at the SNCA plant at St Nazaire in France (23) and by Fokker in The Netherlands (69). Most German large warships were allotted examples for reconnaissance work, including the ‘Bismark’, ‘Tirpitz’, ‘Scharnhorst’, ‘Prinz Eugen’, ‘Gneisenau’, ‘Admiral Hipper’, ‘Deutschland’ (renamed ‘Lutzow’), ‘Graf Spee’ etc. Each ship usually carried between two and four Ar 196s,and the Tirpitz and the Bismarck carried six each. One Ar 196 was responsible for the capture of the British submarine ‘HMS Seal’.

Four prototypes were built comprising the Ar 196 V1 (D-IEHK) and V2 (D-IHQI), both with twin floats, V3 (D-ILRE) and V4 (D-OVMB) with a single-step centre-line float with small floats under the wings. After trials the twin-float configuration was chosen, and production commenced in 1938. Two further prototypes were built, the V5 (D-IPDB) and V6 (registration not known), these also being built with single floats and a three-blade propeller. Two pre-production aircraft known as the Ar 196A-0 were built (D-IYFS and D-ISFD) and these were tested at Travemunde in 1939. By 1941 nineteen units operated the type from the French coast to the Mediterranean.

The first production model was the Ar 196A-1 with the BMW 132K engine. Construction was of steel tube fuselage, the forward section covered with stressed metal skin and the remainder with fabric. The wing had two spars and was of all-metal construction.

In 1940 production changed to the AR 196A-2, which had the armament increased by the installation of a 20 mm MF FF cannon under each wing, and the rear cockpit armament was increased to two MG 17 machine guns.

Last model built was the Ar 196A-5. Whereas the Ar 196 was able to be catapulted off the large German warships, this facility was not available on Armed Merchant Cruisers and the aircraft took off and landed on the open sea.

A number of German surface raiders operated in Australian waters during World War II, particularly around Australian and New Zealand ports where they laid magnetic mines to sink vessels operating between ports on war duties. A number of these operated with one or two Ar 196s on board for searching for vessels following coastal routes which the German raiders would attack with gunfire. A total of 14 raiders was converted of which ten actually conducted operations at sea. A few operated with the Heinkel He 114 floatplane and others operated in the South Pacific mainly with the Ar 196.

‘HSK Orion’ operated in the Australia – New Zealand – Noumea area from June to September 1940 and is known to have laid mines off Albany, WA. In December 1940 it underwent a refit in the Caroline Islands in  the western Pacific and replaced its Ar 196 with a Japanese Nakajima E4N2. Operations were mainly in the Indian Ocean, the Nakajima seaplane being lost near Madagascar on 27 May 1941.

Other raiders which operated in the Pacific area and which operated the Ar 196 were: ‘HSK Pinguin’, which laid mines off Western Australia and operated alongside the east coast, ‘HSK Komet’, ‘HSK Thor’, ‘HSK Michel’ and ‘HSK Kormoran’. Each vessel had either one or two Ar 196s on board and these were regularly used for reconnaissance operations along the Australian and New Zealand coasts.

HSK Kormoran [HSK-8] was equipped with two Ar 196s. The vessel was converted to surface raider configuration, its Captain Theodore Detmers, requesting it be fitted with a catapult in order to deploy the aircraft but the catapult could not be hidden from view and was not installed. In order to deploy and recover the aircraft, it was necessary to hoist the Arado Ar 196 over the side, thus requiring fairly smooth seas.

The vessel was tasked to place magnetic mines off Australian and New Zealand ports, including Fremantle, WA, Adelaide, SA, Hobart, TAS, Sydney, NSW, Brisbane, QLD Wellington and Auckland, NZ; disrupt shipping travelling between ports in the shipping lanes, and capture or sink such shipping. The vessels record’s indicated that the two Ar 196 aircraft were stored when not in use in the No 5 hold. However, because of the difficulty in deploying the aircraft, and because of extensive maintenance problems, the aircraft were only used on seven occasions whilst the vessel was at sea.

On 13 August 1941 the raider was 322 km (200 miles) off Carnarvon, WA when it was sighted by patrolling aircraft and plans to lay mines off Carnarvon and Geraldton, WA were abandoned and the vessel proceeded further into the Indian Ocean. A refit was carried out at sea and the ship approached the West Australian coast, meeting up with the Royal Australian Navy cruiser ‘HMAS Sydney’ on 19 November 1941 off Carnarvon. There then ensued a battle, both vessels being sunk, the two Ar 196s going to the bottom with the ‘Kormoran’ and the Walrus with ‘HMAS Sydney’. There were no survivors from ‘HMAS Sydney’ but more than 300 of the crew of the German vessel were captured and were eventually repatriated after the War.

On 27 September 1940 ‘HSK Komet’ was patrolling in the area of the Bismarck Archipelago north of New Britain and in order to search for shipping in the area launched its Arado 196 on a patrol mission but the aircraft was lost when it crashed into the sea and was wrecked.

The RAF is known to have captured four Ar 196s and operated them for a time but none of these survived.

Of the 526 built only three have survived. One Arado Ar 196A-3 (serial 0219) was at the Maritime Museum at Varna in Bulgaria for a time, this aircraft having been used for a period by the Bulgarian Air Force, but now being in the Bulgarian Air Force Museum.

Another, an Ar 196A-5 (T3 + HK – serial 623183), was awaiting restoration for some years for the US Navy collection at Pensacola in Florida this aircraft being one of two recovered from the German Navy heavy cruiser ‘Prinz Eugen’ when it was surrendered at Copenhagen in Denmark in 1945. It is believed this aircraft has been shipped to Germany for restoration and will ultimately be placed on display at the German Naval Aviation Museum in Nordholz in Lower Saxony.

A further Ar 196A-5 (623167 – painted as 68967 – GA + DX) has been held at the Paul E Garber Facility at Silver Hill in Maryland, USA also having been recovered from the ‘Prinz Eugen’ heavy cruiser when the ship was captured intact at Copenhagen in Denmark.

The wreck of one Ar 196-A3 has been located in the Mediterranean Sea off Herakleia where it crashed on 17 September 1943. The fuselage framework of one, an Ar 196A-2, has been held by the Aviation Historical Museum of Norway at Sola where it has been under long-term restoration.