Administrators James H Posted December 9, 2014 Administrators Share Posted December 9, 2014 Hi all, With LSM being a sort of new home for the 1:32 Arado Ar 234B-2 from Fly Model, Rick has kindly donated some of his personal images of this gorgeous machine which resides at the NASM. Hope you like them! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Fran Posted December 9, 2014 Administrators Share Posted December 9, 2014 Just STOOOOP!! Please!!! I`m in love!!! But now I can`t have it!!! so stop!!! Pleaseeee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Oh-Four Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Thanks guys!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wackyracer Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Thanks a mil. Great stuff from a great set of guys and site. Luv LSM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaseGill Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 Thanks for the pics Jim. Does anyone know if the night fighter with the centreline gun pack ever flew and if so did it have the RATO's too? I know they had all sorts of flameout issues with the engines so probably did carry the RATO but wanted to make sure before I commit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One-Oh-Four Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/3166-arado-ar-234b-2n-nachtigall/ So, the slightest bit of history from Wikipedia: it was intended to modify upwards of 30 Ar 234B-2 airframes for the night-fighting role, from a proposal dated September 12, 1944. Designated Ar 234B-2/N and code named Nachtigall (Nightingale), these aircraft were fitted with FuG 218 "Neptun" VHF-band radar with the appropriately reduced-length dipole element version of the standard Hirschgeweih transceiving AI radar antenna system, and carried a pair of forward-firing 20mm MG151's within a Magirusbombe conformal pod on the ventral fuselage hardpoint. A second crew member, who operated the radar systems, was accommodated in a very cramped compartment in the rear fuselage. Two of these jury-rigged night fighters served with Kommando Bonow, an experimental test unit attached to Luftflotte Reich. Operations commenced with the pair of 234s in March 1945, but Bonow's team soon found the aircraft to be unsuited for night fighting and no kills were recorded during the unit's very brief life. I don't know if the nightfighter actually used the RATO-packs, meaning I haven't seen photos of it, but seeing how much extra drag the radar antennas caused (look how they degraded the performance of the Ju 88 and Bf 110G), it would've been sheer madness for the Germans NOT to use the RATO-packs... Cheers, Erik. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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