AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 112 / 351

Plate 112 of 351 · Second World War · Shipborne reconnaissance floatplane

Arado Ar 196A-5

Ar 196A-5 W.Nr. 623183, painted as Arado Ar 196A-5 Werknummer 623183, one of the two aircraft taken from the German cruiser Prinz Eugen after the Second World War, as displayed outdoors for many years at Naval Air Station Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, in a post-war repaint coded ‘GA+DX’: a two-seat Kriegsmarine catapult reconnaissance floatplane with a BMW 132K nine-cylinder radial driving a three-bladed propeller, a long glazed canopy over pilot and observer, a low wing spanning 12.4 m and two main floats on N struts with a V spreader under the fuselage, shown level on its floats: dark green overall, floats and undersides included, a red spinner and black propeller, a red shield with a white sea-horse badge behind the cowling on the port side, ‘GA+DX’ and the Balkenkreuz on the fuselage sides and crosses above and below the wings (shape from an Ar 196A three-view scaled to the published span and length, checked against a second three-view and photographs of this aircraft).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as Arado Ar 196A-5 Werknummer 623183, one of the two aircraft taken from the German cruiser Prinz Eugen after the Second World War, as displayed outdoors for many years at Naval Air Station Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, in a post-war repaint coded ‘GA+DX’: a two-seat Kriegsmarine catapult reconnaissance floatplane with a BMW 132K nine-cylinder radial driving a three-bladed propeller, a long glazed canopy over pilot and observer, a low wing spanning 12.4 m and two main floats on N struts with a V spreader under the fuselage, shown level on its floats: dark green overall, floats and undersides included, a red spinner and black propeller, a red shield with a white sea-horse badge behind the cowling on the port side, ‘GA+DX’ and the Balkenkreuz on the fuselage sides and crosses above and below the wings (shape from an Ar 196A three-view scaled to the published span and length, checked against a second three-view and photographs of this aircraft). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.1 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (Ar 196A-3 & A-5); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Ar 196A-5 W.Nr. 623183 modelled here.

History

The Ar 196A-5

In 1936 the German Air Ministry asked for a new floatplane to replace the Heinkel He 60 biplanes carried by the Kriegsmarine’s battleships and cruisers, one that could be fired off a ship’s catapult, scout for the fleet and spot for its guns, then land on the sea alongside to be craned back aboard. Arado’s design was a clean all-metal low-wing monoplane with a BMW 132 radial and two crew under a long glazed canopy. The first prototypes flew in 1937, some on two main floats and some on a single central float with stabilising floats under the wings; the twin-float layout was chosen, and it beat the Focke-Wulf Fw 62 biplane for the order.

The Ar 196A-1 joined the fleet in 1939, and the type went to sea in the Admiral Graf Spee, the Bismarck, the Tirpitz, the Scharnhorst and the Prinz Eugen, among others. Better armed versions for coastal units followed, the A-3 and the final A-5 carrying two 20 mm cannon in the wings, a machine gun in the cowling and twin machine guns for the observer, which made it a capable fighter for a floatplane. 541 were built, latterly by SNCASO in occupied France and Fokker in the Netherlands as well as by Arado.

Most Ar 196s served from shore bases along the coasts of Norway, France, the Channel, the Baltic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, patrolling for submarines, shadowing convoys and harrying RAF Coastal Command aircraft over the Bay of Biscay. Bulgaria, Romania and Finland also flew them. When the Prinz Eugen surrendered in May 1945 she still carried two, which were taken to the United States after the war; both survive, together with others recovered from the sea and from Bulgaria.

This airframe

Ar 196A-5 Werknummer 623183

W.Nr. 623183The airframe modelled

Werknummer 623183 was one of the two Ar 196A-5s aboard the cruiser Prinz Eugen when she surrendered at Copenhagen in May 1945; the US Navy took both to the United States after the war, and the other is held in store by the Smithsonian. 623183 was displayed in the open for many years at Naval Air Station Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, in a post-war repaint with the code ‘GA+DX’, and later went back to Germany, where it is being restored at the Aeronauticum at Nordholz. None is in a UK museum. The model shows it as displayed at Willow Grove, level on its floats: dark green overall, floats and undersides included, a red spinner and black propeller, and a red shield with a white sea-horse badge behind the cowling. Its shape comes from an Ar 196A three-view, checked against a second three-view and photographs of this aircraft taken in 1982 and 1993. Sources disagree over which of the two Prinz Eugen aircraft wore ‘GA+DX’, and no photograph found shows the rear fuselage or the wings clearly, so the code and crosses are in the standard Luftwaffe positions; the badge is shown on the port side only, and its sea-horse is simplified.

Where to see one

Not on charge

A few survive abroad, including aircraft in the United States and Bulgaria. None is in a UK museum.

All 351 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.