Editing Arado Ar 234 Blitz (section)

===Background===
During the closing months of 1940, the [[Nazi German]] [[Ministry_of_Aviation_(Nazi_Germany)|Ministry of Aviation]] offered a [[Invitation to tender|tender]] for a jet-powered high-speed reconnaissance aircraft with a range of {{cvt|2156|km}}.<ref name = "bauduin 47">Bauduin 2014, p. 47.</ref> Arado was the only company to respond, offering their ''E.370'' project, led by Professor [[Walter Blume (aircraft designer)|Walter Blume]].<ref name="Ford">Ford 2013, p. 224.</ref><ref name = "lepage 187">LePage 2009, p. 187.</ref> The design was of a high-wing mostly conventional-looking aircraft that was powered by a pair of [[Junkers Jumo 004]] [[turbojet]] engines, one being located underneath each wing.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Arado estimated that the E.370 would possess a maximum speed of {{cvt|780|km/h}} at {{cvt|6000|m}}, an operating altitude of {{cvt|11000|m}} and a range of {{cvt|1995|km}}. While the range was short of the Ministry's specification, it decided to order a pair of [[prototype]]s, which were designated as the ''Ar 234''. These were largely complete before the end of 1941, but the Jumo 004 engines were not ready until February 1943.<ref name="Ford" /><ref name = "bauduin 47"/> When they did arrive, [[Junkers]] considered the engines too unreliable for in-flight use and were only cleared for ground tests. Months later, flight-ready engines were finally delivered and on 30 July 1943, the Ar 234 V1 performed its first flight from [[Rheine-Bentlage Air Base|Rheine airfield]].<ref>Ems-Köppken mittleres Transporthubschrauberregiment 15, Münsterland(II/2006).</ref><ref name = "forsythbeal 6">Forsyth and Beale 2020, p. 6.</ref>

The second prototype, V2, crashed on 2 October 1943 at [[Rheine]] near [[Münster]] after suffering a fire in its port wing, the failure of both engines, and instrumentation failures. The aircraft dived into the ground from {{convert|1200|m|abbr=on|adj=on}}, killing the pilot.<ref>Price 2008, pp. 109–110.</ref><ref name = "dorr 188">Dorr 2013, pp. 188.</ref> That same year, the third prototype, V3, was displayed to [[Adolf Hitler]] at Insterberg, who was enthusiastic about the aircraft and authorised Arado to obtain factory personnel, raw materials, and the funds necessary to build two hundred by the end of 1944.<ref name = "dorr 15">Dorr 2013, p. 15.</ref> The eight prototype aircraft were fitted with the trolley-and-skid landing gear intended for the never produced '''Ar 234A''' version.<ref name = "forsythbeal 6"/>

[[File:Arado Ar 234V6 and Ar 234V8 front-view silhouettes.png|thumb|Differences between the pair of four-engined Ar 234 prototype aircraft]] 
The sixth and eighth in the series were powered by four [[BMW 003]] jet engines instead of two Jumo 004s;  the sixth had the four engines in individual [[nacelle]]s,<ref>[http://www.luftarchiv.de/flugzeuge/arado/ar234.jpg "Today in WW II History."] ''luftarchiv''. Retrieved: 7 October 2012.</ref> while the eighth had the engines in "twinned" nacelles underneath each wing. A 1942 engineering drawing of the E 370 showed a {{cvt|1430|L}} forward tank, a {{cvt|830|L}} mid-fuselage tank, and an rear tank with a {{cvt|1540|L}} capacity.<ref>Sengfelder 1993, 44–45.</ref> These were the first four-engined jet aircraft to fly. The twin-Jumo 004 powered Ar 234 V7 prototype was the first jet aircraft used for a reconnaissance mission, on 2 August 1944.<ref>{{Cite episode |title = Arado Ar 234 |series = Wings of the Luftwaffe |network = Discovery Military Channel |time = 19:30 |language = en}}</ref>

====Landing gear design ====

The projected weight for the aircraft was approximately {{convert|8|t}}. To reduce weight and maximize the internal fuel, Arado did not use retractable [[landing gear]].<ref name = "bauduin 47"/> Instead, the aircraft was to take off from a jettisonable [[Tricycle landing gear|tricycle gear]]-style trolley,<ref>[http://aerostories.free.fr/events/juvin/ar234-01.JPG "Aerostories: Arado 234, July - August 1944: no ordinary missions."] ''Aerostories''. Retrieved: 16 March 2016.</ref><ref name = "forsythbeal 6"/> referred to as a nosewheel takeoff-carriage in English, as described in an Ar 234A Typenblatt factory drawing for the V8 prototype, and land on three retractable skids, one under the central section of the fuselage and one under each engine nacelle. The main skid, beneath the fuselage, was originally intended to fully retract, and was originally shown in a 1942-dated engineering drawing, under the E 370 airframe factory development designation, as intended to be made from a three-sided channel-section component, featuring a set of nine triple-[[Bead (woodworking)|beaded]] wooden rollers within the channel-section main skid.<ref>{{cite book |last = Sengfelder |first = Günther |date = 1993 |title = German Aircraft Landing Gear |location = Atglen, PA USA |publisher = Schiffer Publishing |pages = 44–45 |isbn = 0-88740-470-7 |quote = ''Skizze - Längschnitt E 370 - Fahrwerk'' - captioned "The preliminary design of the Ar 234 featured a very unique landing gear arrangement".}}</ref> However, this landing gear did not allow aircraft to move after the landing run, which would have left aircraft scattered over an airfield, unable to taxi off the runway. Erich Sommer said that landing the skid-equipped prototypes on a wet grass airstrip "was like greased lightning" and "like [landing on] soap", due to the complete lack of braking capability.<ref>{{cite AV media|title = Wings of the Luftwaffe – Arado Ar-234 |time = 17:10 }}</ref><ref name = "bauduin 54">Bauduin 2014, p. 54.</ref>