{| |} the arado ar 231 was a light-weight floatplane, developed during world war ii in germany as a scout plane for submarines by arado. the need to be stored inside the submarine necessitated compromises in design that made this single-seat seaplane of little practical use. ==design and development== designed from the outset for use on u-boat "cruisers", like the type xi b, the ar 231 was a light parasol-wing aircraft. the aircraft was powered by a 119&nbsp;kw (160&nbsp;hp) hirth hm 501 inline engine, weighed around 1,000&nbsp;kg (2,200&nbsp;lb), and had a 10&nbsp;m (33&nbsp;ft) wingspan. the design led to a simple and compact aircraft that could be fitted into a storage cylinder only 2&nbsp;m (6.7&nbsp;ft) in diameter. for ease of storage, the ar 231's wings featured detachable sections that two operators could remove in less than six minutes. one unusual feature was an offset wing design, with the right wing root attaching to the wing's tilted center section (elevated above the fuselage, as on all parasol-wing designs) and lower than the left wing root, to allow the wings to be quickly folded up. thumb|200px|arado ar 231 model side view ==operational history== testing soon revealed the ar 231s to be fragile, underpowered, and difficult to fly even during calm weather, and as a result, development ended in favour of the focke achgelis fa 330 gyroglider. some of the testing was done on the auxiliary cruiser stier, two of the six prototypes being taken on one voyage. ==specifications (ar 231 v1)== {{aircraft specifications |plane or copter?=plane |jet or prop?=prop |ref=german aircraft of the second world war smith, j.r. and kay, antony l. german aircraft of the second world war. london: putnam, 1972. isbn 0-85177-836-4. |crew=one |capacity= |length main= 7.81 m |length alt= 25 ft 7Â½ in |span main= 10.18 m |span alt= 33 ft 4Â½ in |height main= 3.12 m |height alt= 10 ft 2Â¾ in |area main= 15.2 mÂ² |area alt= 164 ftÂ² |airfoil= |empty weight main= 833 kg |empty weight alt= 1,837 lb |loaded weight main= 1,050 kg |loaded
Arado_aircraft Floatplanes German_military_reconnaissance_aircraft_1940a1949 Parasol-wing_aircraft Single-engined_tractor_aircraft Submarine-borne_aircraft