Plastic model aircraft kit Lindberg 70516 Arado Ar 234B Blitz — 1:72

Kit type: Injection-moulded plastic aircraft kit
Parts: 31
Construction: Glue assembly
Plastic: White plastic with clear parts
Decals: Waterslide decals
Pilot figure: Included
Skill level: 2
Manufacturer and kit history

Lindberg is one of the historic American plastic-model brands, with a catalogue extending across aircraft, automobiles, ships and military subjects. The Ar 234 has a particularly long history in Lindberg's range. Earlier Lindberg releases of the aircraft date back to the 1960s, making this a kit subject with considerably more history than the current packaging might suggest.

A contemporary modelling reference identifies the original Lindberg Ar 234 as a 1:72 kit dating from 1966, while another historical catalogue records the Lindberg Ar 234 among its 1:72 aircraft offerings.

The original Lindberg tooling was one of the earliest injection-moulded Ar 234 kits available. A modelling review notes that before later releases from manufacturers such as Frog, Dragon and Hasegawa, the Lindberg kit was one of the few injection-moulded choices for the aircraft.

The 70516 barcode release is therefore best regarded as a later Lindberg packaging/reissue of a historically old kit rather than a completely new-generation Ar 234 tooling.

The current retailer description gives the kit 31 parts, making it a relatively simple build by modern 1:72 standards. It includes the principal aircraft components, clear parts, a pilot, decals and the parts necessary to assemble the aircraft.

One particularly useful point for collectors is that the barcode and kit number provide a way of distinguishing this release from earlier Lindberg Ar 234 boxings. Older Lindberg references also appear under numbers such as 439-50 and 472, depending upon the particular packaging/catalogue era.
The aircraft — Arado Ar 234 Blitz

The full-size aircraft was the Arado Ar 234 Blitz, with Blitz meaning “Lightning.”

It was designed by Arado Flugzeugwerke in Germany during the Second World War and became the world's first operational jet bomber. It was also an extremely important reconnaissance aircraft.

The aircraft originated from a 1940 German Air Ministry requirement for a high-speed jet reconnaissance aircraft. Arado was the only company to submit a proposal, designated E.370. The design was developed under Walter Blume's direction, with Rüdiger Kosin leading the technical design work.

The proposed aircraft was radically different from the piston-engine reconnaissance aircraft then dominating military aviation.

It had:

a clean, high-mounted swept-ish wing

two turbojet engines mounted in under-wing nacelles

a single-seat cockpit

tricycle landing gear on the B-series

a slender fuselage

provision for reconnaissance cameras

exceptionally high speed for its era

The prototype programme was delayed largely by the availability of suitable jet engines. The first prototype eventually flew in July 1943. The National Air and Space Museum records the first flight of the revised prototype as part of the development leading to the operational B-series.
From reconnaissance aircraft to bomber

The original concept was primarily a fast reconnaissance aircraft.

The speed was its greatest weapon. Rather than relying upon defensive guns or fighter escort, the Ar 234 was designed to get into enemy territory, photograph its target and get away before enemy fighters could intercept it.

This proved extremely effective.

The first operational reconnaissance mission was flown on 2 August 1944, when Luftwaffe pilot Erich Sommer flew an Ar 234 over the Allied beachhead in Normandy. The aircraft's speed made interception extremely difficult. The Smithsonian records that Sommer's approximately two-hour reconnaissance flight produced valuable intelligence while encountering no opposition.

The aircraft was subsequently developed into the Ar 234B, which added bombing capability.

The B-series became the principal production version.
Ar 234B-2 bomber

The B-2 is the version most closely associated with the operational bomber role.

Unlike a conventional bomber, the Ar 234 did not have a large internal bomb bay. Its narrow fuselage was dictated by the high-speed aerodynamic design, so bombs were carried externally.

A typical mission could involve a single 500 kg bomb carried beneath the fuselage, although other combinations were possible.

This created an interesting compromise: the aircraft was extremely fast when clean, but external bombs and equipment reduced its performance.

The Smithsonian describes the B-2 as a single-seat, twin-engine jet bomber and notes that it could carry a 500 kg bomb during its operational missions.
The world's first operational jet bomber

The distinction is important.

Several jet aircraft had flown before the Ar 234, and the Messerschmitt Me 262 became the world's first operational jet fighter. But the Ar 234 was the first operational jet bomber.

It entered service during the closing stages of the war, at a point when Germany's strategic situation had already deteriorated severely.

The first bomber operations were conducted by KG 76 (Kampfgeschwader 76) beginning in December 1944. The aircraft participated in operations associated with the Ardennes Offensive.

The typical bombing mission was not a massed strategic-bomber attack. Instead, small numbers of Ar 234s made rapid attacks against important targets.

The Smithsonian notes that missions frequently involved fewer than 20 aircraft, with individual aircraft carrying a 500 kg bomb.
Attacks around Remagen

One of the aircraft's best-known operational episodes occurred during the Allied crossing of the Rhine.

In March 1945, Ar 234 bombers of KG 76 attempted to attack the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, which the Allies had captured intact.

The Arados' speed made them difficult targets, but the aircraft were operating in increasingly desperate circumstances.

Fuel shortages, lack of spare parts, deteriorating airfields and Allied air superiority severely restricted operations.

The Smithsonian records that KG 76 participated in attacks against the bridge but failed to destroy it and suffered losses to anti-aircraft fire.
Performance

The Ar 234 was remarkably fast for 1944–45.

The surviving Smithsonian aircraft has the following documented specifications:

Crew: 1

Engines: 2 × Junkers Jumo 004B turbojets

Maximum speed: approximately 735 km/h / 459 mph

Length: 12.6 m

Wingspan: 14.4 m

Height: 4.3 m

Empty weight: approximately 4,900 kg

Gross weight: approximately 10,010 kg with RATO equipment

The Jumo 004 was itself a pioneering engine but had significant reliability and service-life limitations. The Ar 234 consequently combined advanced aerodynamics with an immature propulsion system.

This was characteristic of many late-war German jets: technologically sophisticated, but entering service under enormous industrial and logistical constraints.
Rocket-assisted take-off

One of the most distinctive features associated with the Ar 234B was its use of RATO — rocket-assisted take-off equipment.

The jet engines produced relatively poor thrust at low speeds, and a fully loaded aircraft needed assistance from short-duration rocket units in some circumstances.

The rockets provided additional thrust during take-off and were then discarded.

The surviving Smithsonian Ar 234 is displayed with its RATO equipment, and the museum describes the aircraft as a single-seat twin-engine jet bomber with rocket-assisted take-off units.
Production

The Ar 234 was never produced in anything approaching the numbers originally envisaged.

The Smithsonian records that the German Air Ministry ordered 200 Ar 234 Bs, with production taking place at the new factory at Alt Lönnewitz in Saxony. The factory completed the original 200-aircraft order by the end of December 1944 and produced another 20 before the end of the war.

This gives a commonly cited total of approximately 214 Ar 234 aircraft of all versions.

Production ran from 1944 to 1945, and the short production run was severely constrained by shortages of engines and other strategic materials.

Only a tiny fraction therefore ever became operational.
Other versions

The B-series was not the end of Arado's development programme.

The Germans also developed the Ar 234C, which used four BMW 003 engines rather than two Jumo 004s.

The four-engine arrangement was intended to improve performance and provide an alternative powerplant configuration.

Only a small number of Ar 234Cs were completed before the end of the war. The Smithsonian records 14 Ar 234 C aircraft leaving the Arado factory before Soviet forces overran the area.

There were also proposals for:

night fighters

two-seat aircraft

improved reconnaissance versions

further bomber variants

the projected Ar 234D

These later developments were overtaken by the collapse of Germany in 1945.
The final Luftwaffe jet operations

The Ar 234 was still flying combat missions during the final weeks of the war.

It was used primarily for reconnaissance, because its speed made it exceptionally difficult for Allied piston-engine fighters to intercept.

It was also reportedly among the last Luftwaffe aircraft to fly over Britain during the war, illustrating just how late the type remained operational.

However, by spring 1945 Germany was suffering from catastrophic shortages of aviation fuel. Even the technically advanced Ar 234 could not overcome a lack of fuel, trained crews, serviceable engines and functioning airfields.

The aircraft therefore never had the opportunity to demonstrate its full potential.
The surviving Ar 234

Perhaps the most remarkable part of the Ar 234's history is that one complete aircraft survives.

The surviving aircraft is Ar 234 B-2 Werknummer 140312, now preserved at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

Its history is unusually well documented.

It served with KG 76 from December 1944 until May 1945, when British forces captured it in Norway.

The aircraft was subsequently transferred to the United States and taken to Wright Field, Ohio, in 1946, where American personnel evaluated it.

It was eventually transferred to the Smithsonian in 1949.

The aircraft underwent restoration between 1984 and 1989, and it remains the sole surviving Arado Ar 234.

This makes the Smithsonian aircraft particularly important for anyone interested in the Lindberg kit: it is effectively the definitive surviving reference for the B-2 configuration.
Kit significance

The Lindberg Ar 234 is historically interesting as a model kit because it predates most of the highly detailed modern 1:72 Ar 234s.

A review of the modelling history notes that the original Lindberg kit was available in the 1960s, followed later by kits from Frog and other manufacturers.

The original tooling is therefore vintage by modern standards.

A modern modeller shouldn't expect the precision or surface detail of a contemporary Dragon, Hasegawa or newer-tool manufacturer. On the other hand, the Lindberg kit has genuine historical value as one of the earliest injection-moulded representations of one of the most significant German jet aircraft.

The current 70516 package contains only 31 parts, reinforcing its status as a relatively simple vintage-tooling build rather than a modern multi-sprue super-detailed kit.