Of more than 600 examples of the Arado Ar 196 twin-seat maritime reconnaissance floatplane, one, through a series of extraordinary events including some very unusual twists and turns, came to lead a rather interesting life. During its five-year history, from its acceptance by the Luftwaffe in 1942 to its crash in 1947 while being operated as a target tug by a Swedish company, this particular Ar 196 was flown by no less than three air arms and four commercial firms, as well as being owned for about a year by a British MI6 agent. The Ar 196A-3 in question was the sixth of only 23 built by SNCASO at St Nazaire, France, being assigned Werknummer 1006. After being checked by a Luftwaffe inspector on 1 August 1942, some differences and defects when compared with Arado-produced Ar 196s were discovered. This resulted in the aircraft, carrying the code DH+ZF, being supplied to a training unit based on the island of Riigen, possibly 4. (Bordflieger)/Flieger-Erganzungsgruppe (See), instead of an operational front-line unit. During early 1943, the Ar 196 was transferred to 1./FlErgGr (See) in Copenhagen.
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