Twelve Ar-196A-3s flew with the Bulgarian AF during WWII, with this particular plane serving from 1943 until 1955 at Chaika airfield near Varna. It is the only remaining A-3 in existance and arrived at the museum in 1991. The plane previously wore the number 3 on the fuselage but, after a repaint, now sports the number 1.

The star exhibit of the Bulgarian aviation museum is without doubt this Arado 196, one of only very few survivors of this type in the world.

Preserved at the museum by 1993.

This former Luftwaffe Ar 196 was interned in Sweden in 1943. When auctioned in 1945 it was bought by Maj John Turner of MI6, who ran observation posts in the Swedish mountains to look into German-occupied Norway. After war's end Turner flew his plane to Norway without permission - see other photo of this c/n.

Coming from a German training unit, this Ar 196 was interned in Sweden in 1943. In January 1945 it was bought by Maj John Turner of MI6, who ran mountain observation posts to look into German-occupied Norway and thought the Arado, SE-AUO, suitable for his transportation needs. Having issues with the Swedes, Turner had his property flown to Oslo without permission on 27 May 1945. As seen here, it was used for a while by No 330 (Norwegian) Sqn with Norwegian roundels. No 8801 Air Disarmament Wing was looking to scrap German equipment, such as the He 115 in the background, but Turner managed to sell his plane back to Sweden were it towed targets as SE-AWY until crashing in 1947. Photo from: Royal Norwegian Navy Museum

These Ar 196A-3 floatplanes served with a training unit based on Germany's Baltic coast. DW-EH, centre, was at one point assigned to the Ar 196 wing in Greece, but maybe never went there. The other two were among the few Arados completed by a reluctant workforce at SNCASO in St Nazaire, France. Bottom is DH-ZH which is not on record with this unit and supposedly went down with the battleship Scharnhorst on Boxing Day, 1943.

A rare bird in a nice museum

Of the 541 of this 1937 shipboard reconnaissance design built, 12 were flown from Varna by the Bulgarian Navy during WWII. This one was almost destroyed in a post-war purge against items of Nazi origin but was hidden away, and is now one of only three complete examples in the world, the other two being in the US