A detailed study of the attractive Arado Ar 196, one of the last
fighting seaplanes. It was the standard seagoing aircraft for the German
Kriegsmarine during World War II, providing the Luftwaffe with reach
into the southern oceans.
Beating its biplane rivals in a 1936 Reich Air Ministry design
competition, the Arado Ar 196 provided the Kriegsmarine with possibly
the best shipborne reconnaissance seaplane of World War II. Replacing
the Heinkel He 60 biplane as the standard catapult-launched floatplane
embarked on the Kriegsmarine's capital ships, the Ar 196 flew an
assortment of combat missions during World War II, including coastal
patrol, submarine hunting, light bombing, general reconnaissance, and
convoy escort sorties. The first vessel to take its Ar 196A-1s to sea
was the pocket battleship Graf Spee, which embarked two in the autumn
of 1939. The battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz could carry six Arados
each, the battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst four, and smaller
pocket battleships and cruisers two. Shore-based aircraft were also
operated from coastal ports on the Channel, Baltic, North Sea, and Bay
of Biscay coasts, as well as in the Balkans and Mediterranean.
In this title, supported by an excellent selection of photographs and
full-color illustrations, Peter de Jong explores the history of the
Arado Ar 196, detailing their development and assessing the combat
capabilities of one of the last fighting seaplanes.
