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In today’s video we’ll be exploring a niche favourite amongst aviation fans - though it was not particularly flashy, high performing or even built in particularly large numbers: the Arado Ar 196.
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Sources:
Jong.P (2021), Arado Ar 196 Units in Combat
Franks.R.A. (2015), The Arado Ar 196: A Detailed Guide to the Eyes of the Kriegsmarine
Dabrowski.H.P (2004), Arado Ar 196: Germany's Multi-purpeeaplane: AR 196 Germany's Multi-Purpose Seaplane
0:00 Intro
1:38 Design Origins
5:52 Ar 196 Development & Models
11:00 Service History
Check out Ikarus Art here → ikarusart.net/ and use the code REX to get 10% off your order. F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Thank you very much for giving this aircraft it's due as it is so often overlooked in the military aviation enthusiast community. In the modeling community it's somewhat given it's due with new tool kits having been introduced for 1/48 & 1/32 scales in 2010. Meanwhile, aside from a limited run kit released for a 5 year production period starting in 2014, the only 1/72 scale kits of this type were released in 1966 & 1979! I've spent the better part of the past 9 months collecting a model from the 1979 moldings, resin upgrades, photo-etched brass details, a thin vacuum formed canopy, a 3D printed MG 15, a 3D printed BMW 132 & I am still waiting on a replacement parcel for one that disappeared crossing the pond which contained decals for a KMS Admiral Hipper based machine (among other items.) I still haven't obtained the transport carriage for it yet... No, I don't even want to tally how much I've spent on this one bloody bird or think of how the transport carriage costs more than most of what I've mentioned above put together. /sigh
What about a video on the Northrop N-3PB ? Wonder what a dogfight between one of those and the Ar 196 would look like... .
Looks like i am late again....But thanks again for your EXCELLENT Arado Ar 196 Floatplane video..... Old Shoe🇺🇸
@@AAO342 That's an interesting match up! I don't have a lot of data on the Northrop N-3PB but looking at it's specs over on Wiki do make it sound like it'd be reasonably close. Same max speed, while the N-3PB is heavier it has more horsepower, it has a much longer wing & greater wing area. I'm not sure how that would translate into maneuverability. However I'd imagine that with the N-3PB the longer wing would provide additional drag & it's heavier weight, even with it's higher horsepower, would likely make it slow to recover speed after maneuvers. That's just my take on it though. The defenses of the N-3PB trumps the Ar 196 in that it has both a defensive ventral & dorsal gun. In 1942 though the Ar 196 gets the MG81Z which doubles it's dorsal defensive firepower. I'm still undecided which one has the advantage in forward armament though & that was a difference in design philosophy between all sorts of nations back then. The cult of the heavy MG or the cult of the small caliber auto-cannon. (Or if you're Britain you just draw lots & decide what to arm your next version of an aircraft with that way.) lol
18:34 Those look like Spanish markings.
To Ar 196's military merits, it's scientifc exploits must also be mentioned: finding the floating island fragment of star which fell on North Atlanctic or Arctic Ocean, launching Tintin over said island by parachute and, the next day, taking him and Snowy back to Aurora, the scientific exploration ship, along with a chunck of rock containing Calystenium, a new chemical element of extraordinay albeit hillarious properties.
I've read that book years ago and yet I know exactly which one you're talking about. I didn't even know the Ar 196 existed back then.
I love seaplanes
I just love planes
@@brynallen6081 planes are very cool
Float plane, sea planes have a boat hull and keel. Eg. Catalina, Dornier 26 and Sunderland-Seaplanes Arado 196 and F1M 'Pete' and Soc Seagull floatplanes.
Same. 🥰 i love those floaty bois.
@@rodneypayne4827 All of them are seaplanes, but the Catalina et al. are flying boats and the Ar 196 and its kin are float planes. And then there are of course the amphibian forms of both, which are also equipped with regular landing gear for use from land.
The video of the Arado engine falling off is priceless.
The front's not supposed to fall off!
the pilot's reaction was the best when he realized the engine noise had suddenly stopped and the prop was no longer spinning in front of him
The engine didn't fall off, it was trying to get the pane to ALSO meet the new midget submarine specification.
@@nickthompson9697 For a start!
Photographed on film.
I love the detailed stories like the attack on the British submarine off Norway. You hardly ever hear about these little actions in most documentaries, especially early in the war, but they're still fascinating. Imagine being the Arado that landed to take the surrender, just to sink itself.
My introduction to the Ar-196 was the 1:72 Airfix kit released in 1966. When I watched ‘Sink the Bismarck “ I was inspired to build one of its Ar-196 but it took years to find info on the markings. After watching this I found that three Ar-196 survived. One on display in Bulgaria, one in storage at The Smithsonian, and supposedly one at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. I’ve been to NMNA and don’t recall seeing an Ar-196
@@RichNotWealthyi got it for free in war thunder and got fascinated
incredible footage of that AR 196 losing its engine and then that other fighting a swarm of Spitfires! I guess those 20mm cannons must have been a nasty surprise to the pilots of the British planes equipped with 7.7mm machine guns at the time...
+1 YUP! I've never seen that one..."Scheiße!!??" As the crew might've said..when..something fell/failed in german😛
@@dallesamllhals9161 "The front fell off ..." 😁
well its War Thunder game footage, so the 196 is naturally overpowered
@@GregStachowski Huh..foreskin-Joke?
@@LoneWolf051 Gavnor?
The 196 is extensively featured in the Tintin comic strip 'The shooting Star', where it serves Tintin to outrun the bandits and arrive first. And sure enough the airplane also appears in the Biggles comic 'The flight of the Wallenstein', serving some Ehemalige to find the wreck of a Ju-52 with a very nasty cargo.
Aah a fellow Tintin fan!
@@rizalardiansyah4486 I was thinking the same thing.
"Self-evacuating engines"! LOL!!!! You're giving Perun and Drachifiniel a run in the dry wit category, Rex!
The guy who took on 10 Spitfires by himself was probably a respected man in the POW camp. I hope he got a medal for that, because he deserved one.
Hello from Bulgaria. I love visiting the aviation museum in Krumovo, Bulgaria just to see the sole surviving Ar-196 A-3, it's a beautiful aircraft.
Thanks for the video!
So glad the effort was made by that museum group to save at least one example of this note worthy aircraft.
Ther are two others awaiting restoration. One by the Smithsonian and one by the US Naval Air Museum. They are both from the Prinz Eugen. I remember seeing the US Navy one often when it was on display at NAS Willow Grove. It is currently on loan and is being restored in Germany.
@Chained2Alice Did the Bulgarians operate it though? Weren't the 196s there operated by German crews in Bulgarian markings?
@@MangoTroubles-007 good question! The pilots were Bulgarians, they had some training in Germany, then they continued the training on He-60 and He-42 in Bulgaria. All Arado planes here were piloted by Bulgarian pilots. There's even one accident - during landing in the Black Sea the plane rolled over and killed the observer - Matsalov.
My childhood memory. It was depicted in Tintin comic "The Shooting Star".
My favorite part of this plane is that it has two 20mm cannon. Wow! That's like a Bf109 randomly having two Aim-9 sidewinders under its wings. Hello, unexpected beast weaponry!
Doesn't hurt it can turn on a dime either, spitfires clearly weren't expecting that.
It captured a British Submarine with those. Its best moment
Why are you surprised that this plane has 20mm cannons the same size as the BF109?
@@Cloudman572the Bf 109 is a fighter plane designed to engage in combat with other fighters, so 20mm guns are not unexpected. A scout plane typically isn't exptected to engage in all that much direct combat, so such planes usually carried only very light armament. Thus it is not at all wrong to be "surprised" that a recon plane has heavy weapons to actively engage targets as if it's a fighter or attack aircraft. This shouldn't be a difficult concept to understand, and yet here we are. Or rather, here YOU are.
@@sergeipohkerova7211Fair enough, you were surprised the standard german cannon was fitted to a standard German plane, I was not surprise that the Germans fitted a standard German cannon to a standard German plane, room in the world for all sorts.
Every time I see the Ar-196 I'm reminded of the song Is she really going out with him. "They say that looks don't count for much well there goes your proof". Those Spitfires must have got a hell of a shock, LOL!
The Aichi E13A certainly is a strong contender to the Arado , but when considering all features, the Ar196 probably really is the better of the two designs. It's only real downside is its limited range. Slightly increasing the length of the floats (where all the fuel was stored) to make room for 60 more liters per float would have increased the fuel capacity by 20% with extremely little extra drag and reasonable extra weight. That's approximately 180km extra range and umore than 45 minutes extra loitering time on a low power setting. The main problem of the Aichi is it's lack of armor and forward firing guns. I don't understand why there never had been an improvement in 5 years of production. The Aichi can carry fuel for 2000km, one machine gun and up to 250kg of bombs. Cutting the fuel capacity to 1500km and the bomb load to 100-150kg would have reduced the weight far enough to be able to carry armor and forward firing guns. Another downside of the Aichi is, that it can't fold its wings as tightly to the fuselage as the Arado can. It requires a bigger hangar than the Arado.
9:43 love how he just falls off lmao
If Don Karnage had gotten some of these babies, his sky pirate force would have been formidable indeed.
15:08 In Rasenack's diary, which is worth a read, it is mentioned the Graf Spee's Arado had a issue during flight, had to water and, having done that, started to take on water. Imagine what it must have felt like to see the Graf Spee come over the horizon to pick you up!
"Pocket Battleship: the Story of the Admiral Scheer" by Krancke and Brenneke has a similar account of their AR-196 getting lost, running out of fuel, then finally getting found. Harrowing stuff, to be adrift in the middle of nowhere.
Imagine what it feels like when your airplane is sinking
@@derrickstorm6976 😁no thanks.
I'd say that little Arado was punching well above it's weight class. The phrase "Quart in a pint pot," comes to mind.
It must be almost 60 years ago i made the Airfix model of the Arado 196!
I made the same kit more than 20 years ago.
Same here but back in the 1970's. The Arado 196 is one of my favourite seaplanes of WW2, it was well armed too.
About fifty for me. Was a fav.
Hey i made mine in 1993 🙂
And I made the Airfix Arado 196 around 1987. :)
Unfortunately, the Arados from the Bismark couldn't start after the torpedo hit to the rudder. We would have much more and better film and photo footage from the fight with Hood and the Swordfish attacks because it was planned to fly this back to France at this point.
No it was the catapult being damaged from something that they couldn't launch the plane it was running fine from what I remember reading.
@@dillonpierce7869 I remember that too but wasn't sure if it was established fact or in a movie. Couldn't start is more general and includes catapult failure and other reasons.
@@Ulrich.Bierwisch that was in bob Ballards book on the expedition he did in 89.....
@@dillonpierce7869 That's it. I had the info from the TV-documentation of his wreck diving. I don't know how much of this is real science and how much is just making the TV-show more interesting.
@@Ulrich.Bierwisch I've still got the big book he wrote. Some asshole in 8th grade about destroyed it but I've had it duct taped back together and left it alone after that. Should've beat the hell outta that kid for that.... But I wasn't that guy in those days.
Rex, thank you for putting light on those overshadowed wonderful workhorses. It is so difficult to create such a good combat floatplane. Kudos to engineers and test pilots!
Always thought the 196 was such a handsome plane.
I bought the Airfix 1.72 scale Arado when it came out in the 60's simply because it was different to the usual fighter types. I liked it. 😊
Great watching the Arado giving the Spits what for , the Arado is one of my Floatplane favs next to the Duck , Rufe and Kingfisher ..nice one Rex.
" Self evacuating engines " , made me chuckle. Clever little phrase.
The cruiser the soviets purchased was the Lützow, not the Admiral Hipper
1:18 That illustration of the Catalina lifting off is just _beautiful._ Guess who's a Catalina fan.
I built a model of the Ar 196 when I was a kid and have always admired this aircraft.
Wow. An appropriate Sponsor that I was actually interested in and didn't skip past. I believe that is a first for me.
There was an Arado 196 on display at Willow Grove, U S Naval Air Station, in the Philadelphia suburbs when I was growing up in the 1960's. It just sat out in the open along with an ME262 training two-seater (super rare) and a USN Sea Dart. The Arado came from the Prinz Eugen and still sported a seahorse emblem on the upper fuselage. Much later in the 2000's I went to pay it a visit and happily it was now a museum. Unhappily the Arado had been transferred by the Navy to South Carolina where it was lost in a hurricane. 😔
My understanding is that it was not lost, but it is being restored in Germany on loan from the US Navy.
@@mrbill6287 - That would be great. I first saw it in the early 1960's. My Dad was a pilot and always stopped by there when I was a Kid. The Me262 A1 was "museum display" restored in the late 90's but is now also MIA. It was the only purpose built two seat trainer (not night fighter) that remained, so I'm sure it is safe somewhere.
The Arados were used by the Finnish air force to supply and transport long range reconnaissance patrols in Karelia, sometimes even behind the Soviet lines. The abundance of lakes made it a viable option to use, as suitable landing spots were usually only a few kilometers apart.
Fantastic video as always! Huge fan of the Arado Ar-196!
Bulgaria did not operate on eastern front. It was the only Hitler's ally who didn't send troops to fight with Russia. They were in fact formally at peace. Soviets show they gratefulness by immediately invading Bulgaria, when they reach their border.
Stalin's expressions of gratefulness were certainly a tad aggressive!
I was having a shit day but this latest video brightened my day. the 196 is a favorite and I love the in depth details and footage (authentic and replica) you provide. I live in Wasgington state, USA and despite it being summer I'm wearing a fleece as well so you're not alone. Always looking forward to your videos!
Great presentation! Suggest a piece on the Curtis SC-1 Seahawk. It served in combat and more were built than the Arado. Lasted in US Navy service until 1947.
WOW!!! *Where can we see that full dogfight between the Ar 196 and the Spitfires! That's amazing!!
Warthunder, but Rex does not recommend WT anymore.
@@Tuning3434 Oh. It's fake video game footage. That sucks. It was mixed in with the real footage so I thought it was real combat. I freakin' hate how video games are everything to WWII nerds now.
@@Heike-- How could you have thought that was real? The first shot is from up on high altitude right behind the Ar 196 - I mean they weren't even trying to make it realistic in that respect, and what kind of ww2 footage has these camera angles?
At first I thought it was authentic but quickly realized it was a sim. There’s another yt channel which I gave up on because it’s all sim footage which is tolerable until it shows a crash - completely unrealistic.
@@endi3386just a few days ago a friend of mine shared a yt short bid of a C-17 “crash” which was obviously sim footage. My friend was fooled and he’s actually a USAF veteran crew on the C-5
I truly enjoy your videos, always look forward to seeing them.
I have always loved seaplanes and flying boats for there often unique designs. Especially those like the Blackburn B20 prototype where the hull retracted. Such a fantastic range of aircraft.
Really, really enjoyed this one. Thank you so much!
Always liked this aircraft it did good work usually away from the limelight. Many thanks for this review Rex.
One correction. The German cruiser sold to the Soviet Union was the Admiral Hipper-class Heavy Cruiser, Lutzow, To keep its sale a secret; (and because Hitler was superstitious about losing a ship named after Germany) the Panzerschiffe Deutschland was renamed in its place.
This is amazing.... hubby and I were speechless at actual footage of the whole front end falling off of that thing......!!!!!!!😮
My first flight was in a floatplane over Sebago Lake in Maine. This was a few decades ago, but I still remember!
Excellent video. Really interesting.
Thank you for another very informative video. This was a great naval aircraft. One that does not always get the recognition it deserves. Thank you for changing that. Please consider presenting a video on another excellent German seaplane. The Heinkel 115. A plane that both the Germans and the English used to great effectiveness during WWII.
Another great video, thanks!
Very good video. I’m a fan of all float and seaplanes.
Has the reasons behind choosing a twin-float configuration rather than a large central float with outriggers already been discussed. The Americans seem to have generally preferred the central float with outriggers, whereas the British, Germans, Japanese, and the Italians seem to have preferred twin floats.
Superb Rex. I always thought the Arado was a good aircraft. Loved the footage, especially the clip where the engine fell off!
It certainly is a niche favorite of mine ! I really do like this plane for some reason. maybe I just think it looks cool Holy Sh*t what an amazing find ! The actual footage of the landing the engine coming off and the subsequent fire. That certainly made my morning lol And that dogfight against the spitfires was just stunning
THe dogfight was not actual footage.
The dogfight footage is a fake, sadly. From a video game.
I've always loved the looks of this one. A real designer's airplane.
Designed by a WW1 Ace,who was also a pioneer in design of jet aircrafts! He was captured by the Soviets after WW2 and helped them in their jet program.
I just realized that this is you 100th aircraft overview. Congratulations!!!
Seeing footage of a catastrophic test flight failure alongside the narrative is insane
Excellent Video❤
Wasn’t this the plane showcased in the Tintin book, “The Shooting Star”?
Rex at his best! Another top video
Very interesting presentation. Relatives of mine founded Arado.
My favorite floatplane. Thanks Rex!
Of ALL! Ooh! Sry'..Not a fan of Beavers(hairy or not)? 😛
Pilots don't like self detaching engines !. That's a gem Rex. Another great summary. Thanks. Dave
No, thank Rex. How did you manage to forget his name after only one sentence you silly goose
@@realwiggles Suggest or correct me then !. Regards. Dave
19:50 Small Correction, the ship sold to the Soviet was *an* Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser (CA), KMS Lützow, not the KMS Admiral Hipper herself
Nice one. Would love a vid on other german floatplanes like the he115 or do26.
Excellent...thank you.
i love our flying boats, but this is still the best looking single engine one to me, the lines and wings, plus the double floats just really mesh well to me
This was one of my favourite model kits as a child.
The Japanese jake, and submarine launched Glen seaplane were good.
The Royal Navy equivalent of course is the Fairey Sea Fox which I wouldn't want to take on a Arado Ar 196. Another fabulous video thanks.
You're welcome over here mate! We're just getting to summer!!!
Another great video, still looking for a deep dive on WWI ridged air ships.
Merci , super avion et super vidéo .
While doing research work for my Masters degree I found that 3/KG-200 using AR-196s were plucking high ranking nazis out of Berlin in the last days of the war by landing in canals then delivering them to Lake Meklinberg which was a short distance to Rheichlin AB where they boarded heavy transports to Spain.
Could not wait for the end, please look into the storch. Any Bush pilot will tell you, aside from hauling 3& assembly, it was just too slow
Those poor poor Spitfire pilots...8 witnesses to them getting shot down by an outnumbered seaplane! 🤣
I spend a lot of time flying this around in war thunder (and sailing my ship too) but it's a lot of fun and a beautiful looking aircraft
Deutschlands weren't battlecruisers, they were either big heavy cruisers or "pocket battleships." They were especially vulnerable to the real battlecruisers like Hood and Renowns, because in their case the design "outrun if you cannot outgun" could not be achieved.
Though was never much interested in particular aircraft, it was surprising to find out it service in USSR, up to 50s and in significant numbers!
Ha, the Russians saved and used lots of useful things from the Great Patriotic War. Until the 1990s they had tens of thousands of small arms (Rifles and pistols) stashed away in disused mines in many places, especially Ukraine. I spoke to someone who went there once, who told me that literal artillery pieces and whatnot down there as well. I suspect all of that was scrapped after the Soviet Union fell, but many of the rifles and pistols made it here to the US to be sold to collectors. I also seem to remember reading that prisoners in the Gulags were getting mess plates with Wehrmacht markings for decades after the end of the war.
@@cammobunker well, hand weapon is another story, Aircrafts are require a lot of service and support. The thing is, that use of foreign tech by USSR while and after WWII was always kind of "covered" story by official historians in USSR, German machines in particular. Up to now I never knew of use ex-German aircrafts in USSR service, may be very limited only, like for testing or 1-2 of the transport planes for Polar Aviation. Not 30-40 a/c!
Surprise ! I just found a range of hoodies WITHOUT HOODS ! But we now don't know what to call them ! Great channel by the way . Love it ! Thanks for your hard work .
I loved building the airfix model
Yes, chilly, isn't it? Great video by the way.
The Arado was the eyes of the fleet ; did it have the combat record to match The single float Japanese's fighters?
No. The F1M Pete was still deadly and competitive in 1943. also the Japanese Navy crew were trained as fighter crew and very agressive.
It depends on the context tho if we are comparing this Arado floatplane to a floatplane Zero or just regular IJN ship based floatplanes, and I definitely agree that IJN floatplane pilots were really aggressive.
Admiral Graf Spee and it's sisters can be classified in many ways, a battlecruisers certainly not being one option. A panzerschiff and later heavy cruiser were official german ratings, brits on the other hand invented (and feared) the concept of a pocket battleship. Never did those ships trade other qualities for superior speed capabilities. Essentially they were just overweight, overgunned, slow and thinly armoured heavy cruisers, with perpetual machinery problems.. and as far as the main battery was concerned: having fever 11inch guns was in many ways bad option compared to having for example 8 x 8inch main battery. Still, to stay a bit on topic. AGS made a good use of it's 196... 💪
LOL that video of the engine taking off and leaving the plane behind!
Wonderful video! Question: is the dogfight footage beginning at 13:18 all from one engagement, or is it pieced from multiple clips?
I recall reading that the AR-196 and its catapult was some of the first items to be destroyed during the final battle of the Graf Spee. Rather amusing, since that float plane and its spotting abilities could have been of great use for the cruiser to take advantage of its range and search for the British forces supposedly waiting for it outside the harbor.
Excellent.
If it was really that maneuverable it makes me wonder if a land based version with retractable landing gear would have been an excellent little fighter.
Thanks Rex.
The plane many unfortunate allied pilots were picked up in at sea as well, great video!
..getting "picked up" at all = A bad thing?
@@dallesamllhals9161 well, they got shot down over water, which is definitely a bad thing
@@alias_aka_alias Water-Hater AKA Float/Flyingboats-fan?
@@dallesamllhals9161 not particularly
@@alias_aka_alias OK
Oh great! Thanks! Now I have to decide which one will I build with my limited stock of kits. I am sort of those "enthusiasts" but had no idea about the Finnish service ... Aaaaargh!
Thank you.
Can't really find any Google reference right now, but I read that a single Ar 196 shot down 3 torpedo carrying Beaufighters in 1943. This plane could be nasty at low level.
Nice 1 m8, I agree, cannons carry a little more a damage punch than an M.G.
This is a bloody great looking sea plane
great job, please, do a video of the Arado AR 95
9:15 - "The front fell off" 😂
The 1/72 scale Airfix Arado, was one of my favourite WW2 plane models:45 years ago?
The Tintin plane! Stockholm museum VRAK, focussing on the wrecks of the Baltic, has a digital exhibition of the Arado on the bottom of the Karlskrona Archipelago
Sometimes they design a floatplane from scratch. Other times they take an existing plane, saw the wheels off and nail a couple of canoes in their place. I assumes there are pros & cons to both approaches?
19:15 I don't quite understand how lentorykmentti became lentoryk-mentti, but here is a translation. "Lento" means "flight" here and rykmentti is "regiment" (you can see the resemblance). In short, Flight regiment 5.
Nice Video. I also like the HE115 with its fixes backward firering machinegusn and the N3PB for its Performance and firepower. What is your opinion to them?
Aaaaah good old Hydroplanes You gotta love them