Arado Flugzeugwerke
Ar 231
The Arado Ar 231 was a compact, single‑engine floatplane conceived in 1940 by Arado Flugzeugwerke as a submarine‑borne reconnaissance aircraft for the Kriegsmarine. Development began after the navy sought a lightweight, quickly assembled seaplane that could be catapulted from a U‑boat deck and recovered at sea. The prototype featured a low‑wing monoplane layout with twin aluminium‑skiff floats mounted beneath the wingtips, a plywood‑covered fuselage, and a single Argus As 10C inverted‑V twelve‑cylinder engine delivering about 240 hp. Its seven‑meter span and empty weight of roughly 1 300 kg made it the smallest German naval aircraft of the war. The cockpit accommodated a single pilot; folding wings and removable struts allowed the aircraft to be stowed in a sealed cradle measuring just 2.5 × 2 × 1 m. Test flights revealed modest performance—maximum speed near 340 km h⁻¹, range of 450 km, and a service ceiling of 7 500 m—while handling was erratic, especially during catapult launches. After a crash that damaged the second prototype, the program was abandoned in early 1942. Although the Ar 231 never entered service, it represented one of the earliest systematic attempts to integrate aircraft with submarine platforms, informing later concepts such as the Arado Ar 196 and shaping post‑war ideas about sea‑based aerial scouting.
Classification
Production & History
- Units Produced
- 6
- First Flight
- 1941