Arado Ar 68F

by Lynn Ritger

 

Arado Ar 68F
2./JG 131
Jesau, eastern Prussia Late 1937

 


Forming the nucleus of the nascent Jagdwaffe along with the less-capable Heinkel He 51, the Arado Ar 68 was a splendid and sturdy aircraft, and an absolute delight to fly according to all who were fortunate enough to experience it.

Due to a production backlog experienced with the Junkers factory in deliveries of the Jumo 210 which powered the Ar 68E, the older BMW VI V-12 (which was in plentiful supply) was mated to the airframe in order to continue the rapid expansion of the Luftwaffe. This variant was not as fast as the E model, but still gave yeomanlike service between 1936 and 1939.

With the arrival of the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Arados and Heinkels were quickly phased out of frontline service, but some still saw action in both the Spanish Civil War as well as interim night fighters into 1940.

The aircraft depicted here served with the second Luftwaffe unit to re-equip with the new fighter, JG 131 based at Jesau in Eastern Prussia.

This is the Classic Airframes kit, with the following modifications:

  • Elevator raised to match photos of Arados at rest

  • Control surfaces contoured with cut-ins to match photos

  • Lower wings and upper center wing section sanded smooth (these were plywood-covered on the original article)

  • Forward 3 exhaust pipes on each side canted downwards to match photos

  • Rigged with .010 Evergreen strip; antenna from invisible thread

  • Cockpit doors opened

  • Marked as 2. Staffel aircraft of JG131; all striping masked and painted

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by Lynn Ritger
Page Created 09 April, 2005
Last Updated 26 April, 2007

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