Arado Ar 196
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Ar 196A-3
Technical data
Type: Two-seat Shipboard Reconnaissance and
Coastal Patrol Float Seaplane.
Power Plant: One BMW 132K nine-cylinder radial
air-cooled engine, rated at 960hp at take-off and 820hp at 3280 ft.
Armament: Two 20-mm. MG FF cannon with
60 r.p.g. and one 7.9-mm. MG 17 machine gun fixed to fire forward, and
one 7.9-mm. MG 15 on flexible mounting with 525 rounds, plus two 110-lb.
SC 50 bombs on ETC 50/VIII wing racks.
Performance:
- maximum speed: 194 m.p.h. at 3280 ft
- cruising speed: 166 m.p.h.
- initial climb rate: 1358 ft./min
- service ceiling: 22965 ft
- range: 497 miles
Weights:
- empty: 5148 lb.
- empty equipped: 5670 lb.
- loaded: 7282 lb.
Dimensions:
- span: 40 ft. 9.75 in.
- length: 35 ft. 11.5 in.
- height: 14 ft. 7 in.
- wing area: 304.618 sq. ft.
Versions
Prototypes:
- V1 - A series, flew summer 1937
- V2 - A series, flew summer 1937
- V3 - B series, single float
- V4 - B series, single float
- V5 - B series, single float, flew autumn 1938
Models:
- Ar 196A-0 - 10 delivered 11.38 - 12.38
- Ar 196A-1 - 20 delivered from 6.39
- Ar 196A-2 - delivered from 11.39, first production model with the
fixed forward firing armament of 2 20-mm and 1 7.9-mm
- Ar 196A-4 - delivered from 12.40, strengthened structure, additional
radio (FuG 16Z), air-screw spinner
- Ar 196A-3 - delivered from 3.41, strengthened structure
- Ar 196A-5 - delivered from 3.43, improved radio equipment (FuG 16Z
and FuG 25a, later supplanted by FuG 141), the flexibly-mounted MG 15 in
the rear cockpit giving place to an MG 81Z (twin 7.9-mm MG 81s) with 2000
rounds.
- Ar 196B-0 - 10 delivered 1940-41, single floats
- Ar 196C - project
Production:
- 1938: Arado (Warnemünde), 10
- 1939: Arado (Warnemünde), 40
- 1940: Arado (Warnemünde), 98
- 1941: Arado (Warnemünde), 97
- 1942: Arado (Warnemünde), 94; S.N.C.A. (St. Nazaire), 13
- 1943: Arado (Warnemünde), 83; S.N.C.A. (St. Nazaire), 10; Fokker
(Amsterdam), 11
- 1944: Arado (Warnemünde), 22; Fokker (Amsterdam), 58
Units:
- Bordfliegergruppe 196
- Küstenfliegergruppe 706
- Seeaufklärungsgruppe 125
- Seeaufklärungsgruppe 126
- Seeaufklärungsgruppe 130
- Seeaufklärungsgruppe 131
- III./KG100
- 1. and 3./KG200
Exports:
- Bulgaria: few Ar 196A-3 delivered autumn 1942, used by 161st Coastal
Sqn.
- Rumania: few Ar 196A-3 delivered 1943, used by 101st and 102nd Coastal
Reconnaissance Squadrons
Preserved aircraft:
At least 3 Ar 196A are known to have survived: one in the Maritime
Museum at Varna (Bulgaria), one in the Smithsonian Institution (Washington,
D.C.), and one at Willow Grove Naval Station (Pennsylvania).