Arado Ar 95 (D-ODGY) - Trialed by Norway in 1937 & had a Norwegian torpedo modified to be used with the plane

Til_Dovre_Faller · October 20, 2024, 2:47pm

ARADO AR 95 (D-ODGY)

PRIMARY ARMAMENT

Spoiler

1x 7.92mm MG 17 machine gun
-Placement: Fixed, forward firing
1x 7.92mm MG 15 machine gun in rear
-Placement: Flexible turret in the rear

SECONDARY ARMAMENT

Spoiler

1x Whitehead Model VIII Torpedo
Dimensions: 45cm x 5,35 Meter
Weight with Netbreaker: 734 kg
Weight without Netbreaker: 724 kg
Warhead: 100 kg
Speed & Ranges
44kn/1000m
39-40kn/2000m
26.5kn/6000m
1x 500 kg bomb on under fuselage rack

TECHNICAL DATA
Length: 11.10 meters
Wingspan: 12.50 meters
Height: 3.60 meters
Wing area: 45.40 m2
Empty weight: 1,111 Kilograms
Max takeoff weight: 3.560 Kilograms
Eigne: 1x BMW 132De air-cooled nine-cylinder radial engine, 656 kW (880 hp)
Crew: 2x

PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 310 km/h at 3,000 meters
Cruise speed: 255 km/h at 1,200 meters
Range: 1,100 kilometers
Service ceiling: 7,300 metres
Rate of climb: 7.5 m/s

HISTORY
The Arado Ar 95 is a single engine reconnaissance aircraft that was designed, developed and built by the German aircraft manufacturer Arado. Among other things, it was intended to replace the aging Heinkel He 60, and the first prototype of this aircraft flew on 3 December 1936.

On the 3rd of January 1935, the Norwegian Aircraft Factory was asked to investigate the possibilities of acquiring a new torpedo plane to replace the aging planes it had. One of the requirements for these planes was that they had to be able to fly from Hoten to Jærens Rev with an 800 kilo torpedo at cruise speed up to 80 kilometers from the coast. It was also further stated that it should preferably be a twin-engine aircraft to provide better working conditions for the crew. This was a process that lasted several years, and in 1937 there were even stricter requirements for the planes. The new Norwegian F.2 FLytorpedo was now under construction and a future aircraft had to be able to carry such a torpedo and at the same time have a range of 1,000 Kilometers and a maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour. Currently, only the French Latecoere 298 aircraft was able to maintain these requirements they had set for the aircraft, but this aircraft was unfortunately reserved only for the French Navy and therefore not available to other countries.

One of the other aircraft factories in this picture was the German Arado Flugzeugwerke GmbH, and in 1937 they sent their prototype for their newly developed Arado Ar 95 aircraft, nicknamed D-OLUO, to Horten in Norway for a demonstration. It was the Norske Løyntantene Østby and BRun who were given the task of testing out this aircraft. And after tests in Horten on 19 and 20 August, they both stated that the aircraft was usable, but that both the carrying capacity and the range of the aircraft were a little too poor. The Arado factory did not give up on this, and therefore sent a better version of the Arado Ar 95 aircraft, which is the aircraft this proposal is about, namely the Arado Ar 95 with the nickname D-ODGY, was sent to Horten. An 800 kilo normal vessel torpedo (Whitehead Model VIII) which is a Norwegian modified torpedo, was modified and adapted to fit the release device on the Arado A95 Aircraft. Although the trials with this aircraft were successful and satisfactory, the acquisition of this aircraft was not recommended, as they estimated that this aircraft would become obsolete within a few years. And the aircraft that they decided on a few years later was a twin-engine torpedo bomber Heinkel He 115N.

As this aircraft underwent trials in Norway at Horten with a Norwegian crew, and the fact that a torpedo was modified to be used on this aircraft, I believe that this could be a potential aircraft that could be implemented in the game under the Norwegian flag as an event aircraft. The picture above shows the plane in Horten with the Norwegian modified torpedo Whitehead Model VIII mounted on the aircraft.

From the trials