Arado Ar E.580 (Volksjager)

History

For the Volksjager competition in 1944, Arado Flugzeugwerke reverted to the 1943 design and added modifications to produce the E. 580 product. Essentially, the plane became a single-seat, single-engine jet fighter designed to help defend the Third Reich, Germany's ultimate effort to reverse the Allied advance during World War II (1939-1945). part.

The design of the aircraft is based on simple construction methods and general operation/maintenance principles. The E. 580 was intended as Arado's response to the new RLM requirements - eventually a contract was awarded for the He 162 submitted by the rival company Heinkel.

Externally, the E. 580 shares some major similarities with the Heinkel design. Like the Heinkel He 162, the E. 580 series engines are located on top of the fuselage, complementing the fuselage contours. The wing assemblies have no swept back and all weapons are concentrated in the nose. A fully retractable tricycle landing gear is provided, and the tail consists of a separate vertical tail assembly.

The engine of choice became the BMW 003A-1 series turbojet. How this layout ended up performing in practice raises some doubts, as the raised hood in front of the air intakes undoubtedly hinders airflow. Weapons were never finalized, but proposed weapons could be a pair of MK 108 30mm guns or MG 151/20 20mm guns.

In any case, these would be at the very forward end of the nose assembly and be powerful enough to strike both fighter and bomber targets.

The

Heinkel He 162 eventually won the competition and proved on paper a better design - it went into limited production before the war ended in 1945. Regardless, both designs were early attempts at single-engine jet fighters and soon became the norm in the 1950s.

The capabilities of the E. 380 can only be left to the imagination.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes