Arado 196 at Pensacola

[old iron]

Hello

The Arado.196 seaplane, once at Willow Grove in PA, was transferred to NMNA in Pensacola some years ago. Reports are that it was severely damaged during the highway transport. Does anyone have information on the circumstances of this incident and on the current condition of the aircraft. There must be some pictures out there on its current state!

[John Kerr]

Here are a few pictures taken of the bird a few years ago. Aircraft is in deep storage at PNAS, and I am not aware of the plans for it.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

It was hijacked off of the Prinz Eugen while the ship was docked at the Philadelphia Navy yard in 1946. Some sailors heisted it for the collection that was at the Oxford Circle offices of the Naval Aviation Supply Office. Later most of these were moved to Willow Grove.

[JOMiller]

The genius driving the truck didn't check the clearance for an overpass.
Pretty much from the windscreen back............

[Airplanejunkie]

Arrgh, that was my favorite of the bunch that used to be at Willow Grove...

[Jerry O'Neill]

I believe NASM has the other Prinz Eugen Arado in storage at the Garber facility.
Jerry

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

Arrgh, that was my favorite of the bunch that used to be at Willow Grove...

Mine too !

[Matt Sharkey]

how does one get to do a "deep storage" tour at the museum?

[JDK]

The genius driving the truck didn't check the clearance for an overpass.
Pretty much from the windscreen back............

Have to say one of the biggest risks to aircraft restorations seems to be inattentive truck drivers - I can think of a good half-dozen damaged by this kind of stupidity, including at least one damaged while inside a building by a truck coming through the wall!

Given the rarity of the type (the Warbirds Directory lists three examples plus two wrecks) it's a pity it's not been better looked after.

Thanks for the pics, John.

[JägerMarty]

The genius driving the truck didn't check the clearance for an overpass.
Pretty much from the windscreen back............

What a fvcking muppet!
Arrghh!
It cant be that hard to supervise these things.
That aircrafts treatment or lack of has been a disgrace for years!

[hang the expense]

It wont happen to me syndrome.Pure and simple.What a waste.

[k5083]

Here in Westchester County, NY, we have some overpasses on parkways (no commercial traffic allowed, but a lot of truckers and their GPSs don't seem to know that) which have taken out so many trucks that they ought to have lines of little truck silhouettes painted on them. I see a peeled-open semi every few weeks on those roads. I guess there's one somewhere between Penn and Florida that deserves a swastika kill marking as well.

August

[old iron]

Of course, whatever damage that was done by the overpass surely does not exceed the damage done by - what 50 years? - of display outdoors. Just about any removable piece has been souvenired and a proper static restoration would be a major task. The Ar.196 in Hungry has similarly been displayed outside for fifty years.

The NASM example has been indoors for at least most of its history - I first saw it sitting behind the Enola Gay in 1977 and as far as I know it still sits in the same location in the same building. When it was evaluated for restoration about a decade ago the estimate was 15,000 manhours, which apparently was enough that they placed it on a lower restoration priority. That is a lot of hours for a relatively simple airframe; they would have to tear it down completely and build it back up again piece by piece. The He.219, on the other hand, has I understand had large portions conserved rather than restored, and look how many years that has taken. The NASM example, however, has the best of chance of being a restored example with much of its original historical integrity intact.

Interestingly, one of the propellors from the Prinz Eugen has been recovered from the wreck in the Marshal Islands (it was one of the Bikini test targets) and is now in Germany, displayed near a surviving U-boat. That and the two 196s are more that survives on land than for any other large German warship.

[Rossco]

There is an Sboat in England undergoing restoration.
Makes me cry seeing damage like that could have been avoided.A Dc3 last year had the same drama
Also the amount of damage in water recoveries can be fraught with danger.Anyone seen the pics of the Fw200 falling apart?

[JDK]

I see a peeled-open semi every few weeks on those roads.

Near where we used to live we'd hear a 'BANG' every second or third day as someone tried to knock the rail bridge over with their truck.

Felt sorry for these students and their hire-van excess.