Arado Ar 96


The Arado Ar 96 was a German single-engine, low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction, produced by Arado Flugzeugwerke. It was the Luftwaffes standard advanced trainer during World War II.

Design and development

Designed by Walter Blume as the result of a 1936 Reich Air Ministry tender, the prototype, powered by a 179 kW Argus As 10c engine, first flew in 1938. In 1939, an initial batch of Ar 96A aircraft was produced. This was followed by the major production series, the more powerful Ar 96B, fitted with the Argus As 410 engine.

Operational history

The Ar 96 was used for advanced, night and instrument-flying training.
During the Battle of Berlin, on the evening of 28 April 1945, test pilot Hanna Reitsch flew with then-Luftwaffe head Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim out from Berlin under Soviet fire in an Arado Ar 96 trainer, from an improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten.
Shadow production was undertaken by Letov and the Avia factory in occupied Czechoslovakia, where manufacturing continued for some years after the war, being designated the Avia C-2B.
A wooden version, known as the Ar 396, was built in France and was designated the SIPA S.10. Further developments were the SIPA S.11, and the SIPA S.12, a metal version; 188 of all versions were produced until 1958. The S.11 was operated with some success in Algeria, carrying machine guns, rockets and light bombs.

Variants

;Ar 96A
;Ar 96B
;Ar 96B-1
;Ar 96B-2
;Ar 96C
;Ar 296
;Ar 396A-1
;Ar 396A-2
;SIPA S.10
;SIPA S.11
;SIPA S.12
;SIPA S.121
;Avia C.2B

Production figures up to 1945

VersionAradoAGOAviaLetovTotalConstruction period
Prototypes4 41937–1938
A-06 6including 3 delivered on 1 April 1939, W.-Nr. 2879-2884
A2369 92Mid 1939 – May 1940
B-02 21940
B-1144223997171,381July 1940 – April 1944
B-3 210 2101941–1943
B-6 100 100July 1943 – January 1944
B-7 518378896May 1944 – March 1945
B-7/B-88181December 1944 – March 1945
B-87474June 1944 – January 1945
Sales series45 451939–1940
Total22429218255502891

Operators