03/31/2012. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "In 1925 the entrepreneur Hugo Stinnes took over the Warnemünde factory of the former Flugzeugbaus Friedrichshafen aircraft and converted it into the Arado Handelsgesellschaft mbH (trading company with limited liability). Intended from the outset was the construction of airplanes for the army, however, officially the company produced farm equipment, as revealed by the company name Arado (Spanish for plough).

Chief-Designer was Walter Rethel, who had previously worked with Kondor and Fokker, which was influencing his Arado constructions.

Arado S I (D-817) (Johan Visschedijk Collection)

The first design was a two-seat initial training aircraft, the S I. The fuselage and tail was of steel tube construction covered with fabric, the nose was sheet metal covered. The wing spars and ribs were of wood, with plywood covering at the bottom and fabric on top. The S I was powered by an 120 hp Bristol Lucifer, while the S 1a was powered by an 125 hp Siemens Sh 12.

Arado S Ia (D-817) (Johan Visschedijk Collection)

Three aircraft were produced in 1926, one S I (D-817 c/n 20), one S Ia (D-994 c/n 21), and one S Ib (c/n 22). The D-817 was later fitted with the Siemens engine and redesignated S 1a. The third aircraft (c/n 22) would be powered by an 100 hp Mercedes engine, but that was to heavy. The engineless aircraft was sold in 1931, its fait is unknown.

After the satisfying performance of the S I, Rethel developed the SC I also in 1926, officially declared as an order for Turkey. This type had a particularly striking constructive relationship with the Fokker C.IV. Fourteen SC I two-seat trainers were built, of which twelve were used by the DVS.