Arado Ar 232/432, Projects, Prototypes & Variants

[Michel Van]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_232

on wikipedia they speak that Arado Ar 432 was a renamed version of Arado 232 C and there was 532 and 632 variants with six engines .

Wiki has one big problem no source on there claims
also there is little problem of "you can write what you want into Article"

So here some Information with Source material

Ar 232 A Aircraft from metal with two BMW 801 engine

Ar 232 B Aircraft from Metal with four BMW Bramo 323 R-2

Ar 432 fuselage from Metal sheets and steel pipe, wing & tail from wood, with four BMW Bramo 323 R-2

Ar 434 B-1 this aircraft was consider as "Einfachtransporter" simple transporter
its had no special undercarriage but only standard landing gear. More wood in the Fuselage except cargo hold is from metal
reduction of wood on wings by replacing wing surface with cloth (like old WW1 aircraft)

Ar 434 B-2 this aircraft has only a welded Steel pipe frame, covert in Wood and cloth
tail is made from two steel tubes stabilizes with wires (see picture below )

Heinz J. Nowarra, Die Deutschen Luftrustung 1933-1945 Volume one, page 64-65
Bernard & Graefe
and
Die deutsche Luftfahrt - Arado-Flugzeuge - Vom Doppeldecker zum Strahlflugzeug',
Bernard & Graefe

Ar 434 B-2

 

[Arjen]

Profile of Ar 232 can be bought here:
http://unitec-medienvertrieb.de/profiles/flugzeug/flugzeug-profile-48-arado-ar-232-tatzelwurm.html

It seems Schiffer has published an English edition.


Last image shows breakdown in parts/material use of Ar 432A. Source: 'Die deutsche Luftfahrt - Arado-Flugzeuge - Vom Doppeldecker zum Strahlflugzeug' by Jörg Armin Kranzhoff, Bernard & Graefe. New copies still available, can be found using Bookfinder -
https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=YsS6ffyhf02amyS8iLRJJqdgEJI_1497963026_1:1:2&bq=author%3Djorg%2520armin%2520kranzhoff%26title%3Darado%2Dflugzeuge%2520vom%2520doppeldecker%2520zum%2520strahlflugzeug
Note presence of Raupenfahrwerk.

 

[Pioneer]

Can I ask does anyone know the designation of the Hensche design submission which competed and lost against the Arado Ar 232?
In Hitler's Luftwaffe: A Pictorial History and Technical Encyclopedia of Hitler's Air Power in World War II, by Bill Gunston and Tony Wood, it states:
'Both contenders [Arado and Henschel] were outstanding innovative, introducing such features as a high wing, full-section rear doors, level floor at truck height, STOL capability and multi-wheel high flotation landing gear.'

Regards
Pioneer

 

[hesham]

My dear Pioneer,

maybe the Henschel P.54 ?.
(from Heinz J. Novarra "Die deutsche Luftrüstung 1933-45", Volume 3)

 

[Pioneer]

My dear Pioneer,

maybe the Henschel P.54 ?.

Thank you for your prompt response hesham.
I think this is the first time I've actually heard of and seen a drawing of the Henschel P.54, so I greatly appreciate it.


Regards
Pioneer

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dear Pioneer,

and here is the description.

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

The plate reminds me of the Dobbas collapsible freight container that was fitted to a Bf 110E for trials. Fuel tank? Not deep enough. Something to assist landing on water? Or to keep it from sinking into soft ground?

I have no idea what it is - I like your suggestion of something to prevent it sinking into soft ground but if that's what it was for you'd think there would be a photo of it doing that, which there isn't.

That would be my surmise, too, a ,simpler, quicker, and cheaper to make alternative to the 'Raupenfahrwerk'. Carrying it further, mention has already been made of a tricycle undercarriage only version, I could see the aircraft leaving the factory in this form, with the 'plate' being available as a Rustzats (sp.?), if a rough field capability was required.
Stupid question time. We have the Ar 232, and Ar 432. What, if anything was the Ar 332?


cheers,
Robin.

There was a DFS 332 but that was quite late-war. I saw a document a while back, which I'm now unable to locate, which showed the Ar 232 with two engines, then the Ar 232 with four engines. The latter was labelled 'Ar 432' but this was crossed out and in its place had been pencilled in 'Ar 232 B'. I wondered at the time whether this was evidence that the Ar 432 designation was originally intended for the four-engined version but for whatever reason this just became the 'B'. This would've left Arado with the Ar 432 designation, approved by the RLM, but not actually applied to anything. This might also explain why trying to work out what the Ar 432 was intended to be is proving so problematic.

The book Arado Flugzeugwerke: Aircraft and Development History by Volker Koos notes that the Ar 232B-010 was denoted as Ar 232C and Ar 432 in official documents, and since the minutes of a meeting of GFM Milch on May 12, 1944 describe the Ar 432 as 'Ar 232B with four BMW 323 engines, converted to wood and metal', it is possible that someone erred in writing Ar 432 for the four-engined Ar 232 made largely of metal (the baseline Ar 232B), only for someone to later note this typewriting error.

 

[newsdeskdan]

The plate reminds me of the Dobbas collapsible freight container that was fitted to a Bf 110E for trials. Fuel tank? Not deep enough. Something to assist landing on water? Or to keep it from sinking into soft ground?

I have no idea what it is - I like your suggestion of something to prevent it sinking into soft ground but if that's what it was for you'd think there would be a photo of it doing that, which there isn't.

That would be my surmise, too, a ,simpler, quicker, and cheaper to make alternative to the 'Raupenfahrwerk'. Carrying it further, mention has already been made of a tricycle undercarriage only version, I could see the aircraft leaving the factory in this form, with the 'plate' being available as a Rustzats (sp.?), if a rough field capability was required.
Stupid question time. We have the Ar 232, and Ar 432. What, if anything was the Ar 332?


cheers,
Robin.

There was a DFS 332 but that was quite late-war. I saw a document a while back, which I'm now unable to locate, which showed the Ar 232 with two engines, then the Ar 232 with four engines. The latter was labelled 'Ar 432' but this was crossed out and in its place had been pencilled in 'Ar 232 B'. I wondered at the time whether this was evidence that the Ar 432 designation was originally intended for the four-engined version but for whatever reason this just became the 'B'. This would've left Arado with the Ar 432 designation, approved by the RLM, but not actually applied to anything. This might also explain why trying to work out what the Ar 432 was intended to be is proving so problematic.

The book Arado Flugzeugwerke: Aircraft and Development History by Volker Koos notes that the Ar 232B-010 was denoted as Ar 232C and Ar 432 in official documents, and since the minutes of a meeting of GFM Milch on May 12, 1944 describe the Ar 432 as 'Ar 232B with four BMW 323 engines, converted to wood and metal', it is possible that someone erred in writing Ar 432 for the four-engined Ar 232 made largely of metal (the baseline Ar 232B), only for someone to later note this typewriting error.

I think the Ar 432 designation was originally applied to the four-engine Ar 232, which then became the Ar 232 B.
The earliest mention of the Ar 432 I can find is from the GL meeting of January 16, 1943, then it's mentioned again on January 26, then on February 22, 1943, Milch describes it to Goering at a Reichsmarschall meeting as follows: "Milch: Die Arado 432 – rechts oben auf dem Blatt – kommt in sehr kleinen Stueckzahlen. Das ist der gelaendegaengige Transporter, der unten noch die kleine Raupe hat, auf verhaeltnismaessig kleinen Plaetzen starten und vor allen Dingen landen kann. Wenn er leer ist, kann er auch sehr kurz starten. Der Abflug wird ja immer von einem vernuenftigen Flugplatz aus stattfinden. Die Rollstrecke ist 300-400m mit voller Last. Es ist aber keine billige Maschine, sondern verhaeltnismaessig aufwandreich, mit 4 Bramo 323. Die Stueckzahl wuerde auch nicht im Sinne des Fuehrers liegen. Wir versuchen, es irgendwie so hinzubringen, dass der Wunsch des Fuehrers moeglichst erfuellt wird. Ich wuerde darueber noch melden. Eine Loesung ist noch nicht da."

He says it's a complex machine and not cheap, with four Bramo 323s. There's no mention here of wood, but there is an explicit mention of the four engines.
I've not yet researched Luftwaffe transports in any detail but I feel confident that the Ar 432 became the Ar 232 B, then the Ar 432 designation was reapplied in 1944 to a variant of the Ar 232 B which made heavy use of wooden components.