Arado Ar 195
The Arado Ar 195 never proceeded from the prototype stage, where only three such examples were produced.
By Staff Writer
The Arado Ar 195 was prototype design intended for operations from Germany's first aircraft carrier known as the Graf Zeppelin. The aircraft was developed to a requirement for a carrier-based torpedo bomber, to which some three total prototypes are produced, only to have the system under perform. As such, the Ar 195's development was short-lived and passed on in favor of the Fieseler-designed Fi 167 system.
The Ar 195 was based on an earlier Arado design in the form of the Ar 95. Major differences between the two systems centered mainly on making the Ar 195 useful in carrier operations, in particular, fielding the system with a tail arrestor hook and other carrier friendly equipment. The Ar 195 featured a single BMW brand 819 horsepower radial engine at front. Wings were of a biplane design, straddling either side of the enclosed cockpit, to which a pilot and rear gunner were situated. Landing gears were fixed and a single vertical tail surface adorned the rear. Armament consisted of a single 7.92mm machine gun in a forward fixed firing position for the pilot and an additional 7.92mm machine gun in a trainable flexible rear gun mount. The aircraft's real bread and butter armament was to feature a single bomb or torpedo in an underfuselage rail mount.
Though the Ar 195 prototype was flying by 1937, the system was not a success. Similarly, the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin made it out of port, becoming Germany's only carrier of World War 2. The system - like the Ar 195 itself - would never see combat.
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