The Arado Ar 65 was the single-seat

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

fighter successor to the Ar 64. Both looked very similar. The only major difference was the use of a 12-cylinder inline engine versus the Ar 64's

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance, a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A bearing f ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

was also increased. The Ar 65 appeared in 1931 and six models were built. The first three 65a-c were

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

s, while the 65d-f were production models. The Ar 65d was delivered in 1933 and served alongside the Ar 64 in the two fighter groups - ''Fliegergruppe'' Döberitz and ''Fliegergruppe'' Damm. In 1935, the Ar 65 was reduced to a

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...

aircraft. Production of the fighter was discontinued in 1936. However, the next year, 12 of them were presented to Germany's ally - the Royal Bulgarian Air Force. The final production total was 85 aircraft.

Variants

;Ar 65a: Prototype, powered by a 559 kW (750 hp) BMW VI 7.3 12-cylinder water-cooled engine. First flight in 1931. ;Ar 65b: Prototype, similar to the 65a but with minor structural changes. ;Ar 65c: Prototype, similar to the 65b but with minor structural changes. ;Ar 65d: Production model. ;Ar 65E: Similar to the 65d, but with the removal of the vertical

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

magazine of six 10 kg (22 lb) bombs. ;Ar 65F: Final production model. Similar to the 65E.

Operators

* Bulgarian Air Force * ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Specifications (Ar 65E)

References

Bibliography

*Green, William, and Gordon Swanborough, ''The Complete Book of Fighters'' (Salamander Books, 2002) * {{RLM aircraft designations Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Arado Ar 065 Ar 065

Variants

Operators

Specifications (Ar 65E)

See also

References

Bibliography