Arado Ar 196 The Ar 196 was a shipboard reconnaissance low - wing monoplane aircraft built by the German firm Arado starting in 1936 . The next year it was selected as winner of a design contest and became the standard aircraft of the " Kriegsmarine " ( German Navy ) throughout World War II . Design and development . In 1933 , the " Kriegsmarine " looked for a standardized shipboard reconnaissance aircraft . After a brief selection period the " Reichsluftfahrtministerium " ( German Air Ministry , RLM ) decided on the Heinkel He 60 biplane . This was one of a line of developments of a basic biplane airframe that appeared as a number of floatplane s , trainers , and fighter s . Deliveries started in a matter of months . By 1935 it was found that the He 60 ' s performance was lacking and the RLM asked Heinkel to design its replacement . The result was the He 114 . The first prototype was powered by the Daimler - Benz DB 600 inline engine but it was clear that supplies of this engine would be limited and the production versions turned to the BMW 132 radial engine instead . The plane proved to have only slightly better performance than the He 60 , and its sea - handling was poor . Rushed modifications resulted in a series of nine prototypes in an attempt to solve some of the problems , but they didn ' t help much . The Navy gave up , and the planes were eventually sold off to Romania , Spain and Sweden . In October 1936 , the RLM asked for a He 114 replacement . The only stipulations were that it would use the BMW 132 , and they wanted prototypes in both twin - float and single - float configurations . Designs were received from Dornier , Gotha , Arado and Focke - Wulf . Heinkel declined to tender , contending that the He 114 could still be made to work . With the exception of the Arado low - wing monoplane design all were conventional biplanes . That gave the Arado better performance than any of the others and the RLM ordered four prototypes . The RLM was also rather conservative by nature , so they also ordered two of the Focke - Wulf Fw 62 design as a backup . It quickly became clear that the Arado would work effectively , and only four prototypes of the Fw 62 were built . The Ar 196 prototypes were all delivered in summer 1937 , V1 ( which flew in May ) and V2 with twin floats as A models , and V3 and V4 on a single float as B models . Both versions demonstrated excellent water handling and there seemed to be little to decide one over the other . Since there was a possibility of the smaller outrigger floats on the B models " digging in " , the twin - float A model was ordered into production . A single additional prototype , V5 , was produced in November 1938 to test final changes . 10 A - 0s were delivered in November and December 1938 , with a single 7 . 92 mm ( . 312 in ) MG 15 machine gun in the rear seat for defense . Five similarly equipped B - 0s were also delivered to land - based squadrons . This was followed by 20 A - 1 production models starting in June 1939 , enough to equip the surface fleet . Starting in November production switched to the heavier land - based A - 2 model . It added shackles for two 50 kg ( 110 lb ) bombs , two 20 mm MG FF cannon s in the wings , and a 7 . 92 mm ( . 312 in ) MG 17 machine gun in the cowling . The A - 4 replaced it in December 1940 , strengthening the airframe , adding another radio , and switching props to a VDM model . The apparently mis - numbered A - 3 replaced the A - 4 , with additional strengthening of the airframe . The final production version was the A - 5 from 1943 , which changed radios and cockpit instrument s , and switched the rear gun to the much - improved MG 81Z . In all versions , 541 Ar 196s ( 526 production models ) were built before production ended in August 1944 , about 100 of these from SNCA and Fokker plants . The Ar 196C was a proposed aerodynamically - refined version . The Ar 196C project was cancelled in 1941 . Operational history . The plane was loved by its pilots , who found it handled well both in the air and on the water . With the loss of the German surface fleet the A - 1s were added to coastal squadrons and continued to fly reconnaissance missions and submarine hunts into late 1944 . Two notable operations were the capture of , and the repeated interception of RAF Armstrong - Whitworth Whitley bomber s . Although it was no match for a fighter , it was considerably better than its Allied counterparts , and generally considered the best of its class . Owing to its good handling on water , the Finnish Air Force utilized Ar 196 solely on transporting and supplying special forces patrols behind enemy lines , landing on small lakes in remote areas . Several fully equipped soldiers were carried in the fuselage . Arado in Allied hands . The first Arado Ar 196 to fall into allied hands was an example belonging to the German cruiser captured in Lyngstad , Eide , by a Norwegian Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk M . F . 11 seaplane of the Trøndelag naval district on 8 April 1940 , at the dawn of the Norwegian Campaign . After being towed to Kristiansund by the torpedo boat , it was used against its former owners , flying with Norwegian markings . At 03 : 30 on 18 April , the Arado was evacuated to the UK by a Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service pilot . The plane was shortly thereafter crashed by a British pilot while on transit to the Helensburgh naval air base for testing . At the end of the war at least one Arado Ar 196 was left at a Norwegian airfield and kept in use as a liaison aircraft by the Royal Norwegian Air Force for a year on the West coast . Aircraft on display . The Aircraft Historical Museum , Sola , Norway , has a fuselage frame that was raised from the wreck of the German cruiser Blücher . Another aircraft is known to lie in the Jonsvatnet , a lake near Trondheim in Norway . A number of wartime German aircraft have been recovered from the lake , but the Ar 196 remains undisturbed as its crew were killed when it crashed there in 1940 and it has the status of a War Grave .