Arado Ar 196 'Eyes of the Kreigsmarine!'
Arado Ar 196 An A-3 model conducting a maritime patrol mission The Arado Ar 196 was the principle reconnaissance seaplane used by the Kriegsmarine during Second World War. A single engined aircraft with a low wing monoplane. It's two crew sat tandem with the pilot in front and the observer controlling the radio equipment and manning the rear facing machine gun. For its time in the late 1930s, the Arado Ar 196 was an advanced modern aircraft. The radial 9 cylinders BMW 132 engine was capable of producing 970HP under full power. The airframe structure of the Arado was optimized for operations from Germans vessels and cruisers. It could be catapulted directly from vessels with its fuselage-wing hinges backwards folding wings system. Despite being designed in the lead up to the Second World War, the Arado 196 was a mainstay of several airforces including the Bulgarian, Finnish and Romanian Air Forces. Beginning production after completing the prototype stage in December 1938, the fir