Arado 234 Blitz Bomber Release Date?

[KJSimon]

Any Info regarding the release of the Battle of Normandy, Arado 234 Blitz Bomber?

[Lusekofte]

This is what we know, here you will get what they know or choose to share

 

[ITAF_Airone1989]

Considering that it shouldn't fly with just one wing, we will have to wait a still a little

[kendo]

1 hour ago, KJSimon said:

Any Info regarding the release of the Battle of Normandy, Arado 234 Blitz Bomber?

 

It's going to be one of the last aircraft released for Normandy.

 

Scroll to bottom of Jason's post below:

 

 

[CountZero]

Probably middle of next year

[migmadmarine]

8 minutes ago, kendo said:

 

It's going to be one of the last aircraft released for Normandy.

 

Scroll to bottom of Jason's post below:

 

 

Do note that so far that order of aircraft has been entirely wrong haha.

[Denum]

Not for quite a while I'm assuming.

[Cybermat47]

September 1944, apparently.

[sevenless]

14 hours ago, KJSimon said:

Any Info regarding the release of the Battle of Normandy, Arado 234 Blitz Bomber?

 

No hard data, but since it is projected to be the last plane for BoN, I wouldn´t expect it to arrive before end of Q1/2022.

[6./ZG26_5tuka]

Don't quote me on this, but I have a secret source. That's the exact estimation.

Spoiler

234 days be sure.

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by 6./ZG26_5tuka

[Hawk-2a]

In 2 weeks. If not, read this again.

[kestrel79]

It's very early on. My guess is early 2022.

[Irishratticus72]

I'd definitely date an Arado, love a bit of cockpit, I do. 

[Avimimus]

Order subject to change:

Spitfire Mk.XIV <-Soon
Fw-190 A-6 <- released
GAZ-MM 72-K <- Soon
Sd. Kfz. 10 + Flak38 <- Exterior mesh shown
Typhoon Mk.Ib <- Cockpit and exterior textured
P-51B/C <- Exterior mesh shown
Ju 88 C-6
B-26 (AI) <- Exterior mesh shown
V-1 Cruise Missile
Ar-234 <- Exterior mesh starting
Mosquito FB Mk.VI <- Exterior mesh shown
Me-410 <- Exterior mesh shown

 

My guess is that we'll have the Typhoon sometime in early summer (and the Spit XIV even sooner). After that the P-51B/C, Ju-88C-6, and the two AI aircraft are the only ones listed before the Ar-234...

 

However, the avionics and systems are going to be a bit complicated in the last three aircraft - so I wouldn't expect them until winter or early next year. We might get lucky and see it in the fall though.

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by Avimimus

[PatrickAWlson]

All of the following is to be taken with a very large grain of salt, as I am talking out of my ... but hey, it's fun to speculate.

 

FW190 A6, Me109 G6 Late, and P47 D-22 are already out.

Spitfire and Typhoon are well in progress.

No word yet on the P51 B but my guess is it will appear sooner rather than later.

Ju88c doesn't seem like too much of a stretch either.

 

The new ones are going to be the time sink.

Mosquito

Me 410

Arado

 

Arado being the weirdest would be my guess for last.  In progress now but might take longer to finish.  You have a prone pilot, totally different controls, probably different bomb aiming mechanism, etc.  I could see the cockpit of the Arado taking much longer than the outside.

Me 410 rear guns might present a challenge. 

Mosquito?  Don't see any obvious pitfalls there beyond the usual.

[AndyJWest]

14 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

...prone pilot...

 

Don't think so.

 

Sits low down, feet high, but not 'prone'

[ZachariasX]

43 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

Sits low down, feet high, but not 'prone'

The pilot sits very close to the accident, as Eric Brown put it.

 

The Arado‘s cockpit is no more weird than the He-111 cockpit. Also it is of note that it is a very good airframe and it handles very well. There‘s tons of questionable designs in the 40ˋs, but this Arado is none of them.

[AndytotheD]

The XIV is apparently in beta, with everything done. I’d expect it as early as this week if not for Easter.

[356thFS_Melonfish]

In two weeks*

 

 

 

*Please be sure to read this two weeks before actual release.

[Blitzen]

On 3/28/2021 at 10:46 AM, ITAF_Airone1989 said:

Considering that it shouldn't fly with just one wing, we will have to wait a still a little

Oh I don't know ...it seems to be working with this '46 Luftwaffe dream plane:

[Cybermat47]

10 hours ago, Blitzen said:

Oh I don't know ...it seems to be working with this '46 Luftwaffe dream plane:

‘We started this war with our stupid ideas, and by god we’re going to end it with our stupid ideas!’

[MiloMorai]

On 3/29/2021 at 2:38 PM, PatrickAWlson said:

You have a prone pilot

[Chief_Mouser]

Definite seat in there. How did the pilot get in? Through the roof?

Edit: looking at the plans above it seems that the whole roof panel is removeable, periscope included.

 

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by 216th_Cat

[Heliopause]

[BlitzPig_EL]

Someone had a very bad day.

[Rjel]

On 4/1/2021 at 5:30 AM, Heliopause said:

That looks like a U.S. service man. How much would anyone bet that an explosive charge was set off in the cockpit by the Germans to keep it from falling into enemy hands?

[BlitzPig_EL]

More than likely strafed on the ground by Allied fighters.

[sevenless]

30 minutes ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

More than likely strafed on the ground by Allied fighters.

 

Well, not sure. Looks more like it is this one:

 

 

 

 

Arado Ar 234 B-2, WNr 140 173, RAE Farnborough, England (30 March 1945) - video Dailymotion

Edited April 4, 2021 by sevenless

[Lusekofte]

On 4/1/2021 at 10:53 AM, MiloMorai said:

You sat in this plane, however they had a jet stuka on the drawing board. With a  prone pilot position. It was abandoned when D day came , because the idea was to use them against that fleet.

Oleg was pretty obsessive getting what could be right ,right . Old Il 2 had one in sitting configuration. Search the Web there are pictures about it

[Chief_Mouser]

10 hours ago, sevenless said:

 

Well, not sure. Looks more like it is this one:

 

 

 

 

Arado Ar 234 B-2, WNr 140 173, RAE Farnborough, England (30 March 1945) - video Dailymotion

 

One interesting video - never seen it before, thanks. 

I bet they had trouble getting that drag chute back in the box for the retakes...

 

Going to be a couple of firsts for IL2:GB. JATO rocket pods for takeoff and a drag chute for landing.

[MiloMorai]

7 hours ago, LuseKofte said:

You sat in this plane, however they had a jet stuka on the drawing board. With a  prone pilot position. It was abandoned when D day came , because the idea was to use them against that fleet.

Oleg was pretty obsessive getting what could be right ,right . Old Il 2 had one in sitting configuration. Search the Web there are pictures about it

The diagram was to show the pilot wasn't prone.

[Lusekofte]

31 minutes ago, MiloMorai said:

The diagram was to show the pilot wasn't prone.

Oh  sorry

[=_=HeavenAndClouds]

this thing will be a blast.

[EAF19_Marsh]

To use the bomb-sight I believe that the pilot had to move the stick out of the way and lean forward, which - though not prone - might be something of a complication.

[LukeFF]

4 hours ago, EAF19_Marsh said:

To use the bomb-sight I believe that the pilot had to move the stick out of the way and lean forward, which - though not prone - might be something of a complication.

 

Not that it really mattered, because in practice almost no one from KG 76 used the bombsight - there were unresolved bugs with the bombsight's autopilot system, and few pilots had ever trained on using the sight. Plus, trying to level-bomb in formation would have slowed everyone down and so, in Lukesch's words, level bombing "was destined to fail from the very beginning." So, instead, dive-bombing was the order of the day.

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by LukeFF

[EAF19_Marsh]

52 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

 

Not that it really mattered,

 

Can certainly believe what you / the sources says was true and was not suggesting that this method was used regularly (if at all), merely that the nominal system architecture may be from where the notion of a 'prone' pilot arises (pun intended).

[Avimimus]

On 3/31/2021 at 9:39 PM, [Pb]Cybermat47 said:

‘We started this war with our stupid ideas, and by god we’re going to end it with our stupid ideas!’

 

That is - oddly enough - one of the most fitting things I've ever heard.

 

Some of the stupid ideas are more monstrous, some of them are more a result of overreaching desperate attempts at technological cleverness (in some cases probably to justify not being sent to the front)... but at the most basic level... it is a truth...

 

 

7 hours ago, LukeFF said:

 

Not that it really mattered, because in practice almost no one from KG 76 used the bombsight - there were unresolved bugs with the bombsight's autopilot system, and few pilots had ever trained on using the sight. Plus, trying to level-bomb in formation would have slowed everyone down and so, in Lukesch's words, level bombing "was destined to fail from the very beginning." So, instead, dive-bombing was the order of the day.

 

 

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

 

This supports the suggestion that we should be able to fly with just a single SC500 (in order to avoid being too draggy during the last part of our bombing runs, and increase our chances of avoiding being bounced).

 

Note: I think 'glide bombing' is a better descriptor than 'diving bombing' for clarity (a lot of people think of dive bombing as using dives at over >60 degrees).

 

 

On 4/4/2021 at 6:01 AM, LuseKofte said:

You sat in this plane, however they had a jet stuka on the drawing board. With a  prone pilot position. It was abandoned when D day came , because the idea was to use them against that fleet.

Oleg was pretty obsessive getting what could be right ,right . Old Il 2 had one in sitting configuration. Search the Web there are pictures about it

 

I think you might be confusing the fictional Heinkel "Lerche III" aircraft from Il-2 1946 with the Henschel Hs 132 and the Ar-234. It is forgivable in the sense that the Il-2 1946 Lerche actually used the Hs 132 cockpit mock-up (captured by the Soviets) as a reference for designing the Lerche's cockpit.

 

Also, while the Hs-132 prototypes appear to have been ordered just before D-Day, work on them seems to have continued until the end of the war. Part of me wishes they'd actually done a Hs-132 instead of producing a fictional variant of a VTOL concept - it would've fit much better with the themes of Il-2 Sturmovik!

 

Of course, I would've also prioritised other Sturmoviks (Tomashevich Pegas, Su-8/DDBSh both made it to hardware and would've been interesting points of comparison with the Il-2... some goes for the VIT-2 actually)... all things we'll never see I guess.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Avimimus

[Heliopause]

Wasn't pilot E. Sommer involved in using (part of) a tank periscope on (his) Ar 234 so he was able to check his six during flight?

Found the footage I remembered ... His idea apparently. from 29:05

 

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Heliopause

[EAF19_Marsh]

The periscope appears to have been fairly normal, as far as I can see.

[=_=HeavenAndClouds]

My best guess is that Ar will be the last or second last from the BON planeset to get released. I think BON will release, in best case scenario in Q1 of 2022 if not then Q2... we got Typhoon next(possibly in June), then P51B, then imo Me410, and then either Ar or Mossie will come out last... give like 2-3 months of time between each plane release...so I expect Ar to get released some time during the next spring.

Edited May 18, 2021 by =SquadTag=Username_
Just some editing stuff