Arado Ar 96

The Arado Ar 96 was a German single-engine, low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction produced by Arado Flugzeugwerke. It was the Luftwaffe's standard advanced trainer during World War II.

Design and development
Designed by Walter Blume as the result of a 1936 Reich Air Ministry tender, the prototype, powered by a 179 kW (240 hp) Argus As 10c engine, first flew in 1938. In 1939, an initial batch of Ar 96A aircraft was produced. This was followed by the major production series, the more powerful Ar 96B, fitted with the Argus As 410 engine.

Operational history
The Ar 96 was used for advanced, night and instrument flying training.

Shadow production was undertaken by Letov and the Avia factory in occupied Czechoslovakia, where manufacturing continued for some years after the war, being designated C-2. A wooden version known as the Ar 396 was built in France and was designated SIPA SS.11. Further developments were the SIPA 111 (armed version), and SIPA S-12, a metal version. 58 Machines were produced until 1958. The S.11 was operated with some success in Algeria carrying machine guns, rockets and light bombs. Famously, during the evening of 28 April, 1945, pilot Hanna Reitsch flew then-Luftwaffe head Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim out from Berlin under Soviet fire in an Arado Ar 96 trainer from an improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten.

Variants

 * Ar 96A
 * Two-seat advanced trainer aircraft. Initial production version.


 * Ar 96B
 * Improved version. Main production version.


 * Ar 96B-1
 * Unarmed pilot trainer version.


 * Ar 96B-2
 * Ar 96C
 * Ar 296
 * A proposed development of the Ar 96 with an Argus As 411 engine, abandoned in favour of the Ar 396 due to the use of non-strategic materials in the Ar 396 production.
 * Ar 296
 * A proposed development of the Ar 96 with an Argus As 411 engine, abandoned in favour of the Ar 396 due to the use of non-strategic materials in the Ar 396 production.


 * Ar 396A-1
 * Single-seat gunnery trainer powered by an Argus As 411 engine, built largely from wood.


 * Ar 396A-2
 * Unarmed instrument trainer version.


 * SIPA S.10
 * French production version of Ar 396, 28 produced.


 * SIPA S.11
 * Modified version of S.10,powered by Renault 12S (French built Argus As 411), 50 built for the French Air Force.


 * SIPA S.12
 * All metal version of S.11, 52 built for the French Air Force.


 * SIPA S.121
 * Modified version of S.12, 58 built for the French Air Force.


 * Avia C.2B
 * Czech production version of the Ar 96B. Czech designation C.2B. 228 built by Avia and 182 by Letov between 1945 and 1950.

Operators

 * Bulgarian Air Force - Bulgaria received two Avia C.2s in 1948.
 * Czechoslovakian Air Force operated Avia C-2 variant postwar.
 * Czechoslovakian National Security Guard
 * French Air Force (Postwar)
 * 🇩🇪 Germany
 * Luftwaffe
 * 🇭🇺 Hungary
 * Hungarian Air Force
 * 🇷🇴 Romania
 * Romanian Air Force
 * 🇸🇰 Slovakia
 * Slovenské vzdušné zbrane
 * Romanian Air Force
 * 🇸🇰 Slovakia
 * Slovenské vzdušné zbrane

Survivors

 * Arado Ar 96 B-1 - Deutsches Technikmuseum. Berlin, Germany.
 * Arado Ar 96 B-1 - Flyhistorisk Museum. Sola, Norway.