The Arado Ar 240

The Arado Ar 240 design was carefully planned. World War 2 was a time when technological advancements and improvements especially in the war machinery were made. War machineries such as airplanes needed to be upgraded and improved regularly to have the upper hand in the war.

Such an upgrade was done in 1938, when the RLM or the German War Ministry decided to replace the already obsolete Messerschmitt BF 110 Zerstorer, which was a two-man crew, twin engine heavy fighter. In response to this needed change, two aircraft firms namely; the Arado Aircraft Firm and the Messerschmitt Aircraft Firm decided to take on the task.

Since the Messerschmitt Firm has more experienced in the manufacturing of the heavy fighter aircrafts, their new design was accepted and the new Messerschmitt Me 210 was immediately launched into service during the war. The design created by the Arado firm was considered to be more complicated however since it showed exceptional performance and capabilities, the RLM decided to order prototypes for the design which was to be known as the Arado Ar 240.

The Arado Ar 240 was a WW2 German aircraft that followed the traditional design of a twin-engine plane which has the capability of becoming a good heavy fighter and an excellent dive bomber plane because of the introduction of a dive braking system. The engines of this WW2 aircraft were located away from the fuselage and in the middle of the monoplane wing assembly. The Ar 240 can accommodate a two-man crew (pilot and navigator/gunner) inside a fully-pressurized cockpit.

The Ar 240’s armaments included two barbettes (containing 2×7.92mm MG81 machine guns) which were attached to the fuselage and were controlled remotely by the navigator-gunner. Another two 7.92mm MG17 machine guns were also installed in a fixed position which can be controlled by the pilot. This WW2 German aircraft can also carry a total bomb-load of 3,968 pounds.

The first Ar 240 prototype first became airborne in 1940. There were a total of 14 planes of this designed produced during the war.

SPECIFICATIONS