The Aviation Historian — January 2018

Issue No 22 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 25

track undercarriage” and included a drawing
of the aircraft with a tracked undercarriage,
although the sketch looks more like a
Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant.
On February 16, 1944, the type was seen
by “RAF officers” — presumably aircrew —
at Oberursel near Frankfurt-am-Main, and
was described as having a “many-wheeled
undercarriage similar to ‘Giant’, motors
apparently BMW, twin rudder, single very thin
boom from large fuselage to tail unit”. By June
10 that year the Allies had acquired confirmation
of the Ar 232’s existence and the main features of
the two- and four-engined variants, courtesy of
a German aircraft-recognition poster “recovered
from the wall of a house in Ouistreham” in
Normandy. January 1945 saw the Arado Ar 232
included in Air Publication AP.1480B, the official
Air Ministry aircraft recognition guide issued to
British forces.

Another fascinating aspect of the work
undertaken to identify Rechlin 104 and
Brandenburg 110 was the surprising fact that
RAF intelligence had quite in-depth knowledge
of one very advanced feature of the type — its
“blown” flaps. Report AI 49256, dated May 6,
1943, suggests that there was a good source
inside the factory at Potsdam who provided
a detailed technical description of the Ar 232,
including its structure, aerodynamic features
and blown flaps. One passage, in Polish, was yet
to be translated “owing to its being extremely
technical”. Having identified Rechlin 104 and
Brandenburg 110 as the Ar 232 in August 1943,

the focus turned to the documents that had

arrived back in May.

Flight Lieutenant M. Lambert of the Air

Ministry’s AI2(g) organised a translation of the

Polish text by Plt Off Lezniak, who appears not

to have been given the original text, and who

thought that the piece had been “several times

rewritten and composed not very grammatically

correct”. Lezniak stated that the author had

used “not standard Polish technical terms [sic]”

and that from the description, Lezniak did

not “understand exactly how the apparatus is

working”. Nor was he convinced that the author

understood it either.

Report AI 53792, dated August 7, 1943,

referred to these documents, which included a

“photostatic copy of a drawing, concerning the

‘Absaugklappe’ used in the construction of the

AR-232 [sic] aircraft”. In report 2274 of October

Seen at Arado’s Brandenburg factory

in October 1943 are three examples

of “Brandenburg 110” alongside a

pair of Heinkel He 177s. The PIs at

Medmenham noted that the aircraft

second from right had a slightly

different planform, suggesting its

flaps were deployed.

RIGHT A general arrangement drawing of Rechlin 104
from January 1944 based on eyewitness descriptions
and PRU images. Note the tail ramp as described in
the earlier Norwegian intelligence. Speculation about
the aircraft ended on D-Day+4, when German aircraft
recognition material about it was found in Normandy.

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES

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