Arado Ar 77

Design

The Ar 77 had a thick cantilevered wooden wing which was skinned with plywood on the under-surfaces and covered with fabric on the upper surfaces. The fuselage was built up from welded steel tubing covered with fabric. Tail surfaces were built up from steel tubing and were also fabric covered,not following Arado's trademark layout of a fin and rudder forward of the tailplane;instead the tailplane was high mounted on the fin and supported by steel tube 'N' struts. Elevators and rudder were covered with fabric, aerodynamically balanced in the Ar 77A and without aerodynamic balance horns in the Ar 77B. The fixed tailwheel undercarriage consisted of cantilevered oleo-pneumatic main-leg struts fitted with brakes and a tail-wheel under the rear fuselage. The four crew members, being Pilot, Navigator or Instructor, and two Students, were accommodated in a cabin with full length windows along the fuselage sides.

The Arado Ar 77 was characterised by the relatively low placement of its engines in relationship to the wings. There was room for two people in the cockpit, and four other people, such as radio operators, in the fuselage. However, the Luftwaffe criticized the aircraft, instead, preferring the Focke-Wulf Fw 58.

Variants

Data from:

Ar 77a

The first prototype crew trainer, constructed using Duralumin and wood.

Ar 77b

The second prototype constructed largely of wood

Ar 77A

The proposed production version of the Ar 77a

Ar 77B

A proposed version with tail surfaces that were not aerodynamically balanced, based on the Ar 77b.

Specifications (Ar 77A)

Data from Die Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933-1945

General characteristics

Crew: 2

Capacity: 2 students

Length: 12.6 m (41 ft 4 in)

Wingspan: 19.2 m (63 ft 0 in)

Height: 3.25 m (10 ft 8 in)

Wing area: 50.5 m² (544 sq ft)

Empty weight: 1,930 kg (4,255 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 2,940 kg (6,482 lb)

Fuel capacity: fuel 340 l (74.79 imp gal) + oil 25 l (5.50 imp gal)

Powerplant: 2 × Argus As 10C 8-cylinder inverted-V air-cooled, 176.5 kW (236.7 hp) each

Propellers: 2-bladed wooden propeller, 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) diameter

Performance

Maximum speed: 240 km/h (149 mph; 130 kn) at sea level

Cruising speed: 200 km/h (124 mph; 108 kn)

Stall speed: 84 km/h (52 mph; 45 kn)

Range: 720 km (447 mi; 389 nmi)

Service ceiling: 5,000 m (16,404 ft)

Rate of climb: 4.76 m/s (937 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,281 ft) in 3.5 minutes