Arado Ar 440 A

TT33a · December 22, 2023, 11:07pm

[Add in the Arado Ar 440 A?]

Yes
No

0 voters

The Arado Ar 440 A was the final evolution of the Ar 240 series. Equipped with the powerful DB 603 engine, it was a development of the previous Arado Ar 240 zerstörer. The generally unsatisfactory characteristics revealed by the Ar 240 and the difficulties experienced by Arado Flugzeugwerke in its attempts to rectify the shortcomings of the aircraft led the design team to consider, at the beginning of 1942, more drastic measures. While every effort was expended in eradicating the defects still suffered by the Ar 240, the design team initiated parallel work on a progressive development of the basic design as a safeguard against the total failure of the Ar 240. Designated the Ar 440, the design was considered an entirely separate program, despite the fact that it made use of modified Ar 240 components. The Ar 440 differed from its predecessor primarily in its engines, an increase in the span of the wing center section, which resulted in the engine nacelles being positioned further outboard from the fuselage, lengthened engine nacelles, extended wing outer panels, additional sections inserted immediately aft of the cockpit and in the rear fuselage, and a longer span tailplane. The Ar 440 featured heavy firepower, the Fernantriebe FA 13, & a maximum speed in excess of 700 km/h when utilizing GM-1. Armed with two forward firing MG 151 in the nose, two forward firing MK 108 in the wing roots, two rearward firing MG 131 in the B & C-Stands (rear dorsal & rear ventral), and a fixed, rearward firing MG 151 as a rüstsätze, its bomb load, carried externally on two ETC 500 bomb racks, comprised of the following loads:

1 x 1,000 kg
2 x 500 kg
2 x 250 kg
8 x 50 kg

In War Thunder, the Ar 440 A would be a 1942-1944 mid to late war aircraft competitor to the Heinkel He 219 or Messerschmitt Me 410 already in the game, possessing impressive speed & flying qualities. About 4 Ar 440 A were produced throughout 1942 with an unknown number built from Ar 240 components before the program was terminated in favor of the Dornier Do 335. This suggestion is specifically for the Arado Ar 440 A zerstörer. Main features of the Ar 440 A would be:

~750 km/h maximum speed
Powerful DB 603 equipped with GM-1
Improved flight characteristics over the Ar 240
Forward firing MG 151 & MK 108
EDL 131Z turret with FA 13
Ability to carry supplementary rüstsätze for MG 151 with 300 rounds
Maximum bomb load of 1,000 kg

Some more information:

Sources/Manuals:

Chris4win · December 23, 2023, 8:33am

cool plane. Sadly arado as a ww2 plane manufacturer is underrepresented in the german tree. Hope they add more arado planes like this in the tech tree

Armen_Lozone · December 23, 2023, 9:24am

+1 from me
oh uh could you put all the pictures under this kinda thing:

Spoiler

[image here]

ImperialAdmiral · December 30, 2023, 5:05pm

Should be in game ages ago. Wonderful aircraft.

+1

Ghostmaxi · December 30, 2023, 8:52pm

Does it have anything to do with the russian Ar-2? Their noses look so similar.

SmørentheBustard · December 30, 2023, 10:18pm

Really cool!

Zahltag · June 23, 2024, 1:52am

In my humble opinion, any two engined fighter is a good addition

TT33a · July 21, 2024, 2:36pm

Close up of a mock up of the external bomb racks: