WOW563 Arado 234 Night Fighter

Description

WOW563 Arado 234 Night fighter Variant

For those of you who missed out on the last release of our iconic Arado 234’s in 2019, we now have 2 new versions available today. Our first being the night fighter version with radar and booster rocket packs fitted under the wings.

Here is the history behind the model.

The Arado Ar 234 Blitz (lightning) was the world’s first operational jet-powered bomber, built by the German Arado company in the closing stages of World War II. Produced in very limited numbers, it was used almost entirely in the reconnaissance role, but in its few uses as a bomber it proved to be nearly impossible to intercept. It was the last Luftwaffe aircraft to fly over Britain during the war, in April 1945.

In late 1940, the Reich Air Ministry offered a tender for a jet-powered high-speed reconnaissance aircraft with a range of 2,156 km (1,340 mi). .Arado was the only company to respond, offering their E.370 project, led by Professor Walter Blume. This was a high-wing conventional-looking design with a Junkers Jumo 004 engine under each wing. Arado estimated a maximum speed of 780 km/h (480 mph) at 6,000 m (20,000 ft), an operating altitude of 11,000 m (36,000 ft) and a range of 1,995 km (1,240 mi). The range was short of the RLM request, but they liked the design and ordered two prototypes as the Ar 234. These were largely complete before the end of 1941, but the Jumo 004 engines were not ready, and would not be ready until February 1943. When they did arrive they were considered unreliable by Junkers for in-flight use and were cleared for static and taxi tests only. Flight-qualified engines were finally delivered, and the Ar 234 V1 made its first flight on 30 July 1943 at Rheine Airfield. By September 1943, four prototypes were flying. The second prototype, Arado Ar 234 V2, crashed on 2 October 1943 at Rheine near Münster after suffering a fire in its port wing, failure of both engines and various instrumentation failures. The aircraft dived into the ground from 1,200 m (3,900 ft), killing pilot Flugkapitän Selle. The eight prototype aircraft were fitted with the original arrangement of trolley-and-skid landing gear, intended for the planned operational, but never-produced Ar 234A version. The sixth and eighth of the series were powered with four BMW 003 jet engines instead of two Jumo 004s, the sixth having four engines housed in individual nacelles,[5] and the eighth flown with two pairs of BMW 003s installed within “twinned” nacelles underneath either wing. These were the first four-engine jet aircraft to fly.
The twin-Jumo 004 powered Ar 234 V7 prototype made history on 2nd August 1944 as the first jet aircraft ever to fly a reconnaissance mission, flown by Erich Sommer. Eventually the skid design was abandoned and a fully retractable undercarriage was installed.

This is a limited edition of three only 1/30 scale hand carved Mahogany warbirds priced at $899 plus postage.
The figures and accessories are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.