WW II German Aircraft Schalthebelkasten – LANDING FLAP & SLAT CONTROL – Ar96

This control box was located on the left lower instrument panel. It controlled the activation of the Landing Flaps and Wing Slats.

The Arado Ar 96 was a German single-engine, low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction produced by Arado Flugzeugwerke. It was the Luftwaffe’s standard advanced trainer during World War II.

It was used for advanced, night and instrument flying training. Famously, during the evening of 28 April 1945, pilot Hanna Reitsch was flown with then-Luftwaffe head Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim out from Berlin under Soviet fire in an Arado Ar 96 trainer from an improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten, piloted by a Luftwaffe sergeant.

Shadow production was undertaken by Letov and the Avia factory in occupied Czechoslovakia, where manufacturing continued for some years after the war, being designated the C-2. A wooden version known as the Ar 396 was built in France and was designated the SIPA S.11. Further developments were the SIPA 111 (armed version), and the SIPA S-12, a metal version; 58 Machines were produced until 1958. The S.11 was operated with some success in Algeria carrying machine guns, rockets and light bombs.