Arado Ar 234 - Variants

Variants

Data from: Aircraft of the Third Reich Vol.1

Arado E 370

Draft proposal submitted to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) for a fast jet reconnaissance bomber.

Ar 234 V1 to V5

Initial prototypes of the Ar 234A with skid landing gear, take-off nosegear trolley with trio of retractable landing skids, and 2 x Jumo 004 engines.

Ar 234 V6 & V8

Prototypes for what would become the four engined Ar 234C's engine installation, while retaining the A model skid undercarriage, the V6 was fitted with the engines in individual nacelles, unlike the later C-series prototypes which had the engines in paired nacelles.

Ar 234 V7

Development aircraft for the Ar 234B production aircraft, retaining the skid undercarriage.

Ar 234 V9 to V11

Representative prototypes of the Ar 234B production aircraft, with the V9 being the first retractable tricycle-geared airframe.

Ar 234 V13& V20

A B-series prototype fitted with the Four BMW 109-003 engines of the C-series aircraft.

Ar 234 V15

A single B-series airframe fitted with 2 x BMW 003 engines for engine development testing.

Ar 234 V21 to V30

C-series development aircraft. V26 and V30 had experimental thick section wooden and thin section metal laminar flow wings.

Ar 234 V16

Intended to be fitted with an experimental crescent shaped wing with sweep back lessening towards the tips, evolved by Dipl.-Ing. R.E. Kosin.

Ar 234 A

The first proposed production reconnaissance bomber fitted with skid undercarriage and take-off dolly, built only as the series of eight trolley-and skid undercarriage V1 through V8 prototypes.

Ar 234 B-0

20 pre-production aircraft.

Ar 234 B-1

Reconnaissance version, equipped with two Rb 50/30 or Rb 75/30 cameras. No serial production, all recons were converted from B-2 aircraft with Rüstsatz b.

Ar 234 B-2

Bomber version, with a maximum bombload of 1,500 kg (3,307 lb).

Ar 234 C-1

Four-engined aircraft – all C-series Ar 234s powered with a quartet of BMW 003 jet engines – as installed on the Ar 234 V8 prototype, otherwise similar to the Ar 234 B-1.

Ar 234 C-2

Four-engined aircraft similar to the Ar 234 B-2.

Ar 234 C-3

Multi-purpose version, armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons beneath the nose.

Ar 234 C-3/N

Proposed two-seat night fighter version, armed with two forward-firing 20 mm MG 151/20 and two 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons, fitted with a mid-VHF band FuG 218 Neptun V radar.

Ar 234 C-4

Armed reconnaissance version, fitted with two cameras, armed with four 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon.

Ar 234 C-5

Proposed version with side-by-side seating for the crew. The 28th prototype was converted into this variant.

Ar 234 C-6

Proposed two-seat reconnaissance aircraft. The 29th prototype was converted into this variant.

Ar 234 C-7

Night fighter version, with side-by-side seating for the crew, fitted with an enhanced FuG 245 Bremen O cavity magnetron-based centimetric (30 GHz) radar.

Ar 234 C-8

Proposed single-seat bomber version, powered by two 1,080 kg (2,380 lb) Jumo 004D turbojet engines.

Ar 234 D-1

Proposed reconnaissance version. Not built.

Ar 234 D-2

Proposed bomber version. Not built.

Ar 234 P-1 : Two-seater with four BMW 003A-1 engines; one 20 mm MG 151/20 and one 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108.

Ar 234 P-2 : Also a two-seater, with redesigned cockpit protected by a 13 mm (0.51 in) armour plate.

Ar 234 P-3

HeS 011A powered P-2, but with two cannon.

Ar 234P-4

as P-3 but with Jumo 004D engines.

Ar 234P-5

Three-seat version with HeS 011A engines, one 20 mm MG 151/20 and four 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon.