Details of Ar-234

German Ar-234 bomber

The word "Lightning" was used by many countries to name different types of aircraft during World War II, but I always think that it is more suitable for the aircraft used in the second half of 1944. The Arado (Arado) Ar234 was engaged in reconnaissance missions in Normandy and various ports on the east coast of England unscrupulously. The Allied fighter pilots responsible for the interception mission at that time could only look forward to it and sigh. In fact, other than expecting it to suffer mechanical failure and lose its flight altitude and speed, the Allied forces had nothing to do with it. Among the German aircraft that appeared at the same time as the Ar234, there were indeed many excellent models that met aerodynamic standards and were equipped with advanced jet engines, but few had a coordinated and beautiful appearance. When I first saw the Ar234 with its slim upper wing, smooth fuselage and streamlined engine cover in Grove, Denmark, I was convinced that its exquisite appearance must contain excellent flight performance. The development of the Ar234 reconnaissance/bomber was almost synchronized with the Messerschmitt Me262 fighter. They used similar jet engines. They also underwent design changes in the layout of the landing gear during mass production that was completely different from that of the prototype. However, the fuel load of the Ar234 The amount exceeds twice that of Me262. The size is also much larger. At the beginning, the Ar234 had to adopt the ejection pulley take-off method because the slender upper monoplane could not accommodate the landing gear and its driving mechanism. If stored in the fuselage, it would also affect the layout of the bomb bay. This was the biggest challenge faced by Arado designers at the beginning of the design of the aircraft and the expedient measures they were forced to adopt. The trolley is equipped with a steerable front wheel and a main wheel with only hydraulic brakes. When the aircraft takes off the ground and the trolley detaches from the aircraft under the pilot's control, the drag plate equipped on the vehicle will automatically deploy to stop the taxi. The aircraft lands with the help of skis installed in the center of the lower fuselage and under the engine hood. The 600 kg skid is enough to bear the weight of the Ar23 and the skid weighs only 3% of the aircraft weight, which is lighter than a normal wheeled landing gear unit (5% of the aircraft weight). Although the combination of the pulley and the skid is quite convenient to use, the aircraft cannot taxi after landing and needs ground crew to put it on the pulley before it can be towed away from the scene. This makes the Ar234 extremely vulnerable to attack by Allied aircraft. Therefore, the Arado company improved The focus was on making enough space in the fuselage to accommodate the large landing gear. Then, box-shaped longitudinal beams were added to the middle fuselage, which was originally the fuel tank, to expand the cross-sectional area. Finally, the landing gear could be stored, and the fuselage was enlarged accordingly. fuel tank capacity. The two main lifting frames of the single wheel are retracted rearward and inward by hydraulic control, and the nose wheel is retracted rearward and placed under the driver's seat. In early May 1945, Germany had surrendered. I arrived at the former Nazi air base Gruwei, which was filled with various advanced aircraft, to inspect the captured trophies and prepare to transfer the Ar234 to England. The Germans built this place into an extremely complete large-scale base. Many of the aircraft in the airport were brand-new products flown from German factories just a few days before the end of World War II. At that time, due to time constraints, I was unable to learn more about Ar234. After I returned to the UK at the end of May of the same year, I interrogated a German pilot Joachim Cari who had great experience in Ar234 test flights. Carl served as a test pilot for the German Aviation Ministry in 1936. He flew more than 60 types of aircraft at the Rechlin (Recbljrl) test center. In 1941, he was sent to the Arado Aircraft Manufacturing Factory as a product test pilot, where he also performed acceptance checks. Through commissioned production of different aircraft such as Ju88A-4, Ju88A6 and He177. Carl succeeded Serre as the director of the flight test department and the first test pilot of Arado Company in May 1944 (Serre suffered a sudden fire in the left engine when landing the Ar234v7 prototype, resulting in the destruction of both man and machine), and became the first test pilot in the alliance. On the third day after the Normandy landings, on June 8, 1944, the Army test-flyed the first batch of pre-production Ar234 "Lightning" bombers. Because Carl was very familiar with Ar234 and was an engineer, he was of great help to me in my subsequent work. On June 6, 1945, Major Martin and I were ordered to fly two Ar234s back to the UK. After the first Ar234B arrived at Farnborough, I found that the pilot was too close to the nose, which used a lot of inlaid glass, which was prone to accidents. The extremely narrow spokes and towering tail affected the aircraft's maneuverability during takeoff and landing in crosswinds. On June 23, he returned to Gruwe on a "Wellington" bomber, preparing to transfer the third Ar234B. Some former Luftwaffe ground crews who worked as prisoners of war had two Ar234Bs ready, but when I tried to exchange experiences with the German ground crews, they were not very cooperative. That evening, I decided to do a test flight near the airport, so I taxied the "Lightning" bomber to the runway and put the engine at full power. Everything was normal. When I was about to relax the brakes and prepare to take off, the right engine suddenly exploded violently and almost separated from the fuselage. The deformed turbine blades were scattered at the end of the runway. I immediately shut down the left engine and quickly escaped from the aircraft. After interrogating the German ground crew who had maintained the aircraft, the suspected saboteurs were sent back to prison camps and detained, and other personnel were strictly monitored to maintain the remaining two aircraft.

On the morning of the 25th, I successfully flew the Ar234B (production number 14008) that had fought in the Ardennes to Schleswei. I felt that its flight performance was very good during the journey. In the afternoon of the same day, I continued to fly to the UK. I maintained an altitude of 7620 meters, flew south through the Netherlands, and went straight to Farnborough. When flying over the North Sea, the oxygen supply system of the aircraft failed and I had to lower the altitude to 3050 meters. I flew the rest of the flight. of 150 kilometers. The journey took 1 hour and 55 minutes, and the fuel reserve was still sufficient when we arrived at Farnborough. The cockpit volume of the Ar234 is larger than that of the Me262, so various control components can be arranged reasonably, and the control switches such as operation and startup are also simpler than those of the Me262. Its Jumo004B engine starting system is similar to that of the Me262. The throttle valve should be operated gently to prevent the engine from stalling. The large transparent cockpit made me feel like flying a helicopter, allowing me to freely overlook the earth. However, the Ar234B is not equipped with an ejection seat, so in an emergency, the only way to escape is by parachuting. When taking off, place the flaps in the "start" position. After reaching a speed of 180 kilometers per hour, the nose wheel lifts off the ground and slowly climbs at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour to retract the landing gear and flaps. The balance system of Ar234B is relatively special, including an indicator, a selector button and a control handle. When taking off, the balancer is set to "zero" and the selector button is pointed to "forward" (i.e. the nose is weighted). When the speed increases, the stick needs to be pushed to further weight the nose. The taxiing distance for take-off is quite long, reaching a speed of 250 kilometers per hour. Finally, the flaps were fully retracted, and the aircraft began to climb after reaching a speed of 400 kilometers per hour. When it reached an altitude of 8,000 meters, the speed dropped to 380 kilometers per hour. Its initial climb rate was 127 meters/second, dropped to 914 meters/second when it reached an altitude of 3050 meters, and dropped to 58 meters/second when it reached an altitude of 6095 meters. This climbing ability was rare for a 1945 bomber, and its speed of 765 kilometers per hour earned it the reputation of "Lightning". The performance of the Ar234B is much better than that of the Mosquito, and the aircraft's high-altitude maneuverability, three-axis stability and control coordination are all extremely superior. Taking into account its characteristics, the Ar234B is indeed a first-class photographic reconnaissance and bombing flying platform. Due to the Allied forces' round-the-clock bombings, which disrupted the normal operating procedures of the Nazi German aviation industry, quality control was not as good as before. Therefore, not every Ar234B had the same handling performance as mentioned above. Many aircraft's flaps often had manufacturing defects, and the speed at that time was Rapid vibration of the flaps often occurs when the vehicle exceeds 600 kilometers. In addition to causing the control stick to shake left and right, other serious out-of-control phenomena may also occur. According to Carr, factory personnel never carefully adjusted the clearance, but after 10 hours of flight, the flaps had to be readjusted. The Ar234B also suffered from a common problem among jets of the era - it wobbled from side to side while flying. This is because the rudder is thinner than the vertical stabilizer. The Arado company is not like the Messerschmitt company. Check carefully and take this problem seriously and resolve it simply by locking the rudder hinge or adjusting its counterweight in the opposite direction. The Luftwaffe test pilots never tested the high-speed flight characteristics of the Ar234. Although during factory test flights, a diving speed of 850 kilometers per hour from an altitude of 3,000 meters was recorded, there seemed to be no air compression effect. I dived and descended from an altitude of 9145 meters several times at Farnborough to test its flight characteristics at close to the speed of sound. Since the acceleration performance of the Ar234B at high altitudes is not as good as expected, and to avoid insufficient height, it is necessary to enter at a 30-degree dive angle, and at the same time adjust the nose droop, otherwise a huge amount of thrust will be required to maintain the dive angle. When reaching Mach 076, the nose of the aircraft began to sink and the elevator responded slowly. This phenomenon became more serious as the speed increased. When reaching Mach 082, the control stick should be pulled all the way back to maintain the dive angle. The safe speed of Ar234B single-engine flight is 250 kilometers per hour, but it will swing and tilt slightly during flight. After correction, it can fly straight and maintain altitude. Its smoothness is much better than that of Me262's single-engine flight. The Ar234B, which is responsible for the reconnaissance/bombing mission, has a combat speed of Mach 075 and a maximum speed of Mach 072 at an altitude of 9145 meters. This is better than most Allied fighter jets from 1944 to 1945. The Ar234B's stall phenomenon was relatively mild, with a stall speed of 180 kilometers per hour during landing. The cockpit had excellent visibility, so landing was very easy. However, there was serious condensation on several occasions, and it was like being in an opaque goldfish bowl. At this time, the flight altitude should be immediately lowered to clear away the water vapor. However, it is not appropriate to use the above method in bad weather and when fuel is insufficient. In addition, the cockpit heating system of German jets is extremely powerful and the heat is suffocating, so I often try my best to Need not. The maximum speed of the landing gear is 400 kilometers per hour, and the flaps are lowered to 25" at 320 kilometers per hour. Before the final approach, the speed is reduced to 280 kilometers per hour, and the flaps are fully extended to 45". After aligning with the runway, decelerate to 210 km/h, fly over the airport and adjust the throttle to an idle speed of 4000 rpm, so that the aircraft speed finally drops to 200 km/h. Due to the poor braking performance of the aircraft, the landing taxi was very long. The Ar 234's were all equipped with drag parachutes, but I only used them once.

The British Army later accidentally discovered the entire squadron of Ar234Bs at Sorolla Airport in Stavenger, Norway. I was assigned to fly them all back to England, so I gained a lot of experience in the process of transferring Ar234Bs. When I arrived in Norway, I selected a Nazi captain who had served as an airport maintenance test pilot and two maintenance soldiers as my assistants. Later, I often assigned this German captain to serve as transfer missions, but each flight only provided heading and height without a map to prevent them from escaping to neutral Sweden. Although there were times when the aircraft had to temporarily land at the Grove base due to bad weather, most of the flights went smoothly. The second phase of the work is to fly the aircraft concentrated in Schleswig to Farnborough via Brussels in batches when the weather is good. The German captain will serve as my wingman during this part of the flight, but no map is still provided. . On October 3, 1945, during a certain flight in the second stage, I took off from Schleswey at 17:15. Because the weather forecast was very bad along the way, I was convinced that I could arrive at 18:45 before sunset. Brussels, Belgium. So we descended along the east coast of Zuider Zee, but when we reached the south coast, we encountered heavy fog. I immediately turned on the wing navigation lights so that the German captain could follow me. Later, because he could not determine the weather for the subsequent journey and did not know the captain's experience in night flying, he had to turn around and return. But when I came out of the thick fog, my wingman was nowhere to be found. I flew around several times to look for my wingman. Finally, because there was insufficient fuel, I flew to Nordholz Airport on the coast of the North Sea. At 18:50, it was night. It has arrived, and I am preparing to land at an airport without night flight equipment under the guidance of searchlights. Since the runway was unlit and a single-engine landing was not possible, one engine that had been shut down to reduce fuel consumption was restarted. Finally, with the help of the headlights of the US military Jeep, we were able to land safely. At this time, there were only 120 liters of fuel left. In the evening, the British Army troops stationed in Germany notified Eelde Airport to land an Ar234B. Both the man and the aircraft were detained. This was the wingman who got lost in the fog. I flew to Aird the next day and after coordination the captain was released. On October 25, 1945, we returned to Nordholz Airport. With concerted efforts, we finally flew all the Ar234Bs back to the UK. The Ar234 bomber left a very good impression on me. It was well made and its performance was also praised at the time. It was very excellent, but it came out too late and was in small quantity, so it was not enough to affect the war situation. However, I can authoritatively say that in 1945, the Allies had no aircraft that could compete with it, and the Lightning was truly unrivaled at the time.