ARADO Ar 65
The Arado Ar 65 was a single-engine biplane fighter produced by the German company Arado Flugzeugwerke GmbH in the 1930s. Considered the first real hunt for the new Luftwaffe, it had great similarities with the previous equal role Ar 64, different for the adoption of a radial engine, and was used, in addition to the German air force also by the Bulgarian Vazhdushnite na Negovo Velichestvo Voiski in inter-war period.
History of the project
The project of the Ar 65 is due to the evolution of the previous Ar 64 fighter developed in 1930. The new model, built in the Warnemünde plant and brought to flight for the first time in 1931, differed essentially by the adoption of a V12 engine. in substitution of the radial one adopted from the Rs 64. Six different prototypes were realized that differed in some details, two of which, the d and f versions, started to mass production in 1933. The realization of the aircraft took place in a non-continuous way until to its interruption in 1936 after producing a total of 85 aircraft of which 36 were made at the AGO Flugzeugwerke GmbH plants.
Operational use
Germany
The deliveries to the departments of the AR 65d began in 1933 and the first specimens went on to fill operational roles, alongside the AR 64, in the two hunting groups Fliegergruppe Döberitz and Fliegergruppe Damm. In 1935, only after two years, the Ar 65 was removed from first line assignments and assigned, as training aircraft, to the DVS Jagdfliegerschule near Schleissheim. At the beginning of the Second World War, they were used by the flying schools of the Luftwaffe A/B schule in Olmutz, Prostnitz and Plzeň. Between 1942 and 1943 they were also used as towed aircraft by the Erganzungs-Schleppgruppen 1 and 2 to tow the DFS 230 tactical transport gliders, transporting troops to the Kuban River’s air bridge as part of the Black Sea campaign operations.
Bulgaria
In 1937 were presented to the allied Kingdom of Bulgaria, one of the secondary powers of the Axis, which acquired 12 copies for the training departments of its military air force, the Vazhdushnite na Negovo Velichestvo Voiski.
Dimensions and weights
Length 8,40 m
Wingspan 11,2 m
Height 3,42 m
30,0 m² wing area
Empty weight 1.510 kg
Maximum takeoff weight 1.950 kg
Propulsion
Engine a BMW VI 7.3
Power 750 hp (552 kW)
Performance
Max speed 300 km/h
Tangency 7.600 m
Armament
Machine guns 2 MG 17 caliber 7.92 mm
