DISCONTINUED ARADO AR 198

The Arado Ar 198 was a prototype German reconnaissance aircraft from the interwar period. The prototype's flight took place in 1938, but the machine never entered mass production. The plane was 11.8 meters long with a wingspan of 14.9 meters. The drive was provided by a single BMW-Bramo 323A engine with 900 hp. The deck armament consisted of three 7.92 mm machine guns. The machine could also carry bomb loads of up to 200 kilograms. The Arado Ar 198 was developed in connection with the desire of the German Ministry of Aviation (RLM) to introduce a new reconnaissance aircraft to the line, which would cooperate with the land forces and have a relatively strong defensive armament. It was also assumed that the performance of the new aircraft would exceed those of the Henschel Hs. 126. The research and development cycle of the new plane was relatively elegant and already in 1938 the Ar 198 was flown. However, the first flights showed that the machine is very difficult to pilot and has very poor performance. Despite attempts to remedy these shortcomings, work on the Ar 198 was quickly discontinued. In total, only one copy of this plane was made.