![]() ![]() The Ar 234B Schnellbomber, or “fast bomber” introduced a widened fuselage that permitted conventional landing gear, albeit with a very narrow track. ![]() It was a single-seater so we didn’t have time to practice much, so we had some ‘dry classes.’ Landing and taking off was very different from a prop plane.” Kriessmann noted that the RATO units often didn’t work properly. I thought it was designed better than the Messerschmitt Me 262. “I liked the Arado very much,” said former Luftwaffe pilot Willi Kriessmann, who lives today in Burlingame, Calif. 2, 1944, Leutnant Erich Sommer whizzed over the Normandy beachheads at about 460 miles per hour and used two Rb 50/30 cameras to take one set of photos every 11 seconds. ![]() Still, an early prototype became the first jet aircraft ever to fly a reconnaissance mission. This permitted more space in the fuselage for fuel, but had a serious drawback: Until it could be loaded onto a specialized vehicle to be moved, the Arado was a sitting duck for any Allied aircraft that might strafe the airfield. For increased thrust during takeoff, Ar 234s used rocket-assisted takeoff (RATO) boosters.Įarly versions did not have a conventional undercarriage, but took off using a three-wheeled trolley and landed by means of skids. ![]() The eventual production version of the engine, the 004B-1, was rated at 1,980 pounds thrust (8.80 kN). With tricycle gear, a flush nose canopy and twin jet engines slung under its wings, the remarkably clean and straightforward Ar 234 was handicapped by developmental and reliability problems with the Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine. The German penchant for greenhouse canopies in their bomber aircraft carried on into the jet age, but with a crew of one, the need for a rear-view periscope and two MG 151 tail guns was a new requirement. The Ar 234 V1 prototype made its first flight on June 15, 1943, at Rheine Airfield.Ī production example Ar 234B. The design of the aircraft was finalized fully 18 months before the first engines became available. One of about a half dozen jet warplanes developed by the Third Reich, the Ar 234 was a product of the German company Arado Flugzeugwerke and was designed by an engineering team headed by Walter Blume and Hans Rebeski. Adolf Hitler considered it to be one of the wunderwaffen, or “wonder weapons” that would reverse his fortunes at a time when Nazi Germany was losing the war. It was initially used for reconnaissance. #BLITZ BOMBER CREW FULL#Just when it looked like we were going to get some easy targets the German pilots gave their planes full power and took off at a 45-degree angle and left us like we were standing still.”Ĭapable of 461 miles per hour at 20,000 feet and faster than any Allied fighter it was likely to face in the sky during its era, the Arado Ar 234 was the world’s first operational jet bomber. They let us get close to them but not within range. “The German pilots knew what they were doing. “We were doing at least 500 miles per hour and closing in on them very fast,” wrote Lopez, probably exaggerating his own velocity. Lopez and his fellow fighter pilots rolled into a dive, straining for a chance to attack the faster, seemingly untouchable jets. Lopez spotted three Arado Ar 234 Blitz jet bombers, flying in a wide “V” 10,000 feet below. Ed Lopez looked down from his P-47 Thunderbolt at a sight none of his buddies had ever seen. At high altitude east of the Rhine bridgehead at Remagen on March 13, 1945, American fighter pilot 1st Lt. ![]()
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