The Arado Ar 66 was a German single-engined, two-seat

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

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 a ...

, developed in 1933. It was also used for night

ground-attack In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement ...

missions on the Eastern Front. It was engineer

Walter Rethel Walther Karl Paul Rethel (15 August 1892 – 1977) was a German aircraft designer born in Wesel. Rethel was born to parents Paul Rethel (1855-1933) and Mally Rethel. His father was a Prussian Major General and grandfather was painter Otto Ret ...

's last design in collaboration with Arado, before Walter Blume, assigned as ''

Arado Flugzeugwerke Arado Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer, originally established as the Warnemünde factory of the Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen firm, that produced land-based military aircraft and seaplanes during the First and Second World Wars. Hi ...

's'' chief design engineer in 1933, took over the bulk of the Arado firm's design duties.

Design and development

Arado's chief designer Walter Rethel started design of a new two-seat trainer in 1931, with the design being developed by Walter Blume when Rethel transferred to

Messerschmitt Messerschmitt AG () was a German share-ownership limited, aircraft manufacturing corporation named after its chief designer Willy Messerschmitt from mid-July 1938 onwards, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, in parti ...

, with the first

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 programming. A prototype is generally used to ...

, the Ar 66a flying in 1932.Smith, J.R and Kay, Antony L. ''German Aircraft of the Second World War''. London: Putnam, 1972. . The Ar 66 had an Argus As 10

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

inverted

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

producing about 179 kW (240 hp), which drove a 2.5 m (8.2 ft) two-blade

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. It carried 205 L (54 US gal) of fuel, and 17 L (4 US gal) of oil. The

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 ...

had an oval cross-section and was made of welded steel tubes, covered with fabric. The double wings provided very high lift, even at low speeds. Both wings had the same span and an 8° sweep. Construction consisted of a double

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

wing spar structure, with lime tree

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs ( la, costae) are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ches ...

s, and fabric covering. There were

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s in both the upper and lower wings. The tail had a conventional design, with the

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

s mounted on the fuselage upper edge. The

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

was placed behind the

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They ...

s. Both the rudder and the elevators were of steel tube covered in fabric, and had a bigger surface than the first version to correct balance problems. The steel tube undercarriage was attached to the fuselage in a "V" shape and used high-pressure rubber suspension. The crew consisted of two: instructor pilot and trainee, seated in open tandem

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls that e ...

s, equipped with dual controls. The aircraft was equipped with instrument flight systems with photographic cameras were mounted as optional equipment.

Operational history

The Ar 66 entered service with the ''

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-Fliegerabt ...

'' in 1933, serving as a trainer until well into World War II. In 1943, the ''Luftwaffe'' set up a number of night harassment groups to operate on the Russian front. The Ar 66, along with the Gotha Go 145, formed the main equipment of these groups.

Variants

''Data from'' Aircraft of the Third Reich ;Ar 66a: Prototype ;Ar 66b: 2nd prototype completed as a floatplane ;Ar 66B: Production

Seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

version of Ar 66C. Two large steel hollow floats, braced with iron cable. About ten were constructed and used for seaplane training. ;Ar 66C: Series production model with modified elevators, larger rudder, and larger-diameter wheels.

Operators

; *''

Czechoslovakian Air Force The Czechoslovak Air Force (''Československé letectvo'') or the Czechoslovak Army Air Force (''Československé vojenské letectvo'') was the air force branch of the Czechoslovak Army formed in October 1918. The armed forces of Czechoslovakia ce ...

'' (Postwar) ; *''

'' ** ''Nachtschlachtgruppe'' 2 ** ''Nachtschlachtgruppe'' 3 ** ''Nachtschlachtgruppe'' 5 ** ''Nachtschlachtgruppe'' 8 ** ''Nachtschlachtgruppe'' 12 ; *

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

Specifications (Ar 66C)

References

Bibliography

* Gerdessen, Frederik. "Estonian Air Power 1918 – 1945". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to ''Air International'' maga ...

'', No. 18, April – July 1982. pp. 61–76. .

External links

Arado Ar 66c
{{Authority control Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft 1930s German military trainer aircraft Ar 066 Aircraft first flown in 1932