{| |} the arado ar 234 was the world's first operational jet-powered bomber, built by the german arado company in the closing stages of world war ii. produced in very limited numbers, it was used almost entirely in the reconnaissance role, but in its few uses as a bomber it proved to be nearly impossible to intercept. it was the last luftwaffe aircraft to fly over britain during the war, in april 1945.boyne 1994, p. 325. ==design and development== ===background=== in late 1940, the reich air ministry (, abbreviated rlm) offered a tender for a jet-powered high-speed reconnaissance aircraft with a range of . arado was the only company to respond, offering their e.370 project, led by professor walter blume. this was a high-wing conventional-looking design with a junkers jumo 004 engine under each wing. arado estimated a maximum speed of  at , an operating altitude of  and a range of . the range was short of the rlm request, but they liked the design and ordered two prototypes as the ar 234. these were largely complete before the end of 1941, but the jumo 004 engines were not ready, and would not be ready until february 1943. when they did arrive they were considered unreliable by junkers for in-flight use and were cleared for static and taxi tests only. flight-qualified engines were finally delivered, and the ar 234 v1 made its first flight on 15 june 1943 at rheine airfield. by september, four prototypes were flying. the second prototype, arado ar 234 v2, crashed on 2 october 1943 at rheine near mÃ¼nster after suffering a fire in its port wing, failure of both engines and various instrumentation failures. the aircraft dived into the ground from , killing pilot flugkapitÃ¤n selle.price 2008, pp. 109â110. the eight prototype aircraft were fitted with the original arrangement of trolley-and-skid landing gear, intended for the planned operational, but never-produced ar 234a version. thumb|left|differences between the pair of four-engined ar 234 prototype aircraft the sixth and eighth of the series were powered with four [[b
Arado_aircraft German_bomber_aircraft_1940a1949 Inventions_of_the_Third_Reich Quadjets World_War_II_jet_aircraft_of_Germany