WOW583 Arado Ar68

Description

In the mid-30s after Adolf Hitler came to power, Germany began a significant withdrawal from the principles of the Versailles Agreement, which forbade her to have an air force.  More and more secret developments under the guise of training and civilian aerobatic designs gave the Luftwaffe its first new fighters since the Great War had ended in 1918.

At this time, biplane planes still played a significant role in aviation, although monoplane designs were already becoming more promising and faster. However the accepted view was thtat biplanes, were still considered to be the best design for air combat, in view of their maneuverability.

In 1935, the aircraft manufacturing company Arado Flugzeugwerke GmbH proposed a new aircraft, the Arado 68 to replace their prior design, the Arado 65 as a new fighter aircraft for the Luftwaffe.
The Luftwaffe were somewhat lukewarm to the project, as the Heinkel He51B, was already being tested and had been accepted. However, a number of aerial disasters with the Heinkel He51B, allowed the Arado leadership to persuade the military to test their new aircraft.

In 1936, the head of the Luftwaffe fighter wing Ernst Udet, arranged an aerial combat between a He51 and an Ar68, himself piloting the new plane, during which the advantages of the Ar68 became obvious. With the same maximum speed, the Ar68 had much better maneuverability and was more stable in flight than the Heinkel.

In 1937, the fighter began to enter the ranks of the Luftwaffe, with a total of 514 aircraft being delivered.

The Arado 68 saw combat service together with other Luftwaffe aircraft during the civil war conflict raging in Spain. The Arado Ar68 was used not only as a fighter, but also as a lightweight strike aircraft to support ground troops.
However the appearance of the newer Soviet monoplane Ilyushin I-16 design forced the Arado 68’s to be relegated to a permanent ground attack role.

Following the departure of the Luftwaffe from Spain, the remaining Arado 68’s were transferred to training units, although some were still being used as night fighters up until the end of 1941.

Our aircraft is in the markings of Jagdtruppe 88 operating in Spain in 1937, notable members of JG 88 included Adolf Galland and Werner Molders.

We have 3 each of these 1/30 scale models available priced at $650 plus postage.
Aviation Club members can purchase this model today for $599 plus postage, insert your 10% ‘discount’ code into the coupon box at checkout and get the model for around $540 plus postage.
 
The figures and accessories are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.