ARDO AR 81V-3

The Arado Ar 81 was a prototype German biplane dive bomber from the interwar period. The prototype flight took place in 1935. The machine, however, never entered production. The drive was provided by a single Jumo 210Ca 640 HP engine in the Ar 81 V-3. The length of the aircraft was 11.65 meters with a wingspan of 11.2 meters. The deck armament consisted of two 7.92 mm machine guns. The machine was also supposed to be able to carry a load of bombs weighing up to 250 kilograms. The Ar 81 model was developed at the Arado Flugzeugwerke aviation plant by Walter Blume in connection with a competition announced by the German Ministry of Aviation (German abbreviation: RLM) for a dive bomber for the Luftwaffe. In total, three prototype examples were made, designated as Ar 81 V-1, V-2 and V-3. The first one (Ar 81 V-1) turned out to be not entirely successful and the tail was changed on it - this is how the Ar 81 V-2 was created. However, it also required further adjustments, above all, another tail change, this time only vertical. Finally, the Ar 81 V-3 was created, which already met the assumed parameters and had good piloting properties. However, the machine did not go into production, losing the fight for the government order with the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka.