Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Scale: 1/72
Additional parts: none
Model build: Jun-Aug 2018
Arado P71 Ente
Hasegawa
1/72
1/72
Canard's Cry
Made with Suno
North Sea Phantom
Made with Suno
Duck hunt
Captain Hans Steinauer gripped the control stick, knuckles white. The Arado P71 vibrated beneath him, a sleek, unfamiliar beast straining at the leash. Unlike the familiar Messerschmitt he usually flew, the P71 had a radical design – a smaller canard wing jutting ahead of the main one. It looked ungainly on the ground, but wind tunnel tests promised incredible agility at high altitudes.
Today was the day to put theory to the test. April 25th, 1945. The war was a dying gasp, the Reich in ruins. Yet, Hans and his wingman, Lieutenant Franz Schmidt, were tasked with taking up two prototype P71s on a "routine" test flight over the North Sea. Routine felt like a bad joke. Intel suggested a large formation of British bombers might be heading for the Wangerooge island bunkers.
As they roared down the runway at Rechlin, the P71 surprised Hans. The canard design, initially touchy, now responded beautifully. The fighter climbed like a startled panther, leaving the familiar Me 262s trailing in the dust. Reaching cruising altitude, Hans’ radio crackled. A frantic voice reported a massive bomber raid approaching Wangerooge. Routine was officially out the window.
"Schmitt, stay with me!" Hans barked, eyes scanning the horizon. A shiver ran down his spine. There, glinting in the distance, a tight formation of Lancasters, their boxy shapes unmistakable. Below them, Mosquito fighter-bombers danced like gnats. Adrenaline surged through Hans. This was it. Their baptism by fire, in an untested plane.
With a battle cry that echoed only in his own head, Hans dove. The P71 shrieked in protest as he pushed it beyond its designed limits. He weaved in and out of the lumbering Lancasters, his four 30mm cannons spitting fire. One Lancaster shuddered, smoke billowing from a punctured engine. It peeled away, doomed.
Schmidt, ever the steady hand, picked off another Lancaster with a surgical burst. The remaining bombers scattered in panic. But the victory was far from over. The agile Mosquitos were on them in a flash. Hans fought like a man possessed, the P71 surprisingly maneuverable in the dogfight. He blasted one Mosquito into oblivion, the fireball a grim reminder of the stakes.
Suddenly, a searing pain ripped through his arm. The cockpit filled with acrid smoke. His P71 was leaking fuel, a Mosquito round finding its mark. With a heavy heart, Hans knew he was done. "Franz," he rasped into the radio, "get out of here! Save yourself!"
A beat of silence, then a determined voice crackled back. "Never leaving you, Captain!"
Hans cursed. He couldn't let Franz die because of him. Spotting a sliver of coastline, he nursed the crippled P71 towards it, praying for a miracle.
The miracle arrived in the form of a well-placed burst from Franz. The last remaining Mosquito sputtered and went down in flames. Hans, his vision blurring, managed a shaky landing on the beach. He slumped over, the weight of the battle and the war finally crushing him.
He woke up in a makeshift field hospital, his arm bandaged. Franz sat beside him, a tired grin on his face. "Three Lancs, Hans," he said, a touch of awe in his voice. "And a bloody Mosquito for good measure. Not bad for a 'routine' test flight, eh?"
Hans chuckled weakly. "Not bad at all, Franz. Not bad at all."
The P71, a plane born too late, had proven its worth in the skies over the North Sea. A small victory in a vast defeat, but a victory nonetheless. And as Hans closed his eyes, he couldn't help but wonder what this extraordinary aircraft could have achieved, had it been given a chance.
Arado P.71 / Kyūshū J7W – The Canard Interceptor of the Axis
As part of the German–Japanese aviation cooperation treaty of 1942, both nations sought a shared solution to a growing problem: the increasing altitude and defensive armament of Allied bomber formations. While the Luftwaffe was already investing heavily in jet-powered aircraft, such as the Me 262 and He 162, the early turbojets suffered from chronic engine failures and limited endurance. Therefore, parallel work began on piston-driven high-altitude interceptors capable of matching bomber speed without sacrificing reliability.
Development and Design
In early 1943, Arado Flugzeugwerke in Brandenburg and Kyūshū Hikōki K.K. in Fukuoka initiated preliminary design work on a radical “pusher-canard” fighter. By mid-1944, the German Arado P.71 and the Japanese Kyūshū J7W began to take shape.
The P.71 featured:
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A canard foreplane and swept main wing
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A rear-mounted Daimler-Benz DB 603 engine driving a six-blade pusher propeller
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Armament: four 30 mm MK 108 cannons concentrated in the nose, similar to the Me 262
The configuration promised excellent forward firepower and aerodynamic efficiency, but the first prototype flights at Rechlin in February 1945 revealed severe pitch instability and control surface flutter. Only after a series of tailplane revisions and leading-edge adjustments was the aircraft deemed airworthy.
Testing and Limited Combat Use
Between February and April 1945, fewer than twenty Arado P.71s were produced, all assigned to test squadrons at Rechlin and Hörnum. Although intended purely for evaluation, one notable combat incident occurred:
25 April 1945 – North Sea Interception
During a weapons test over the North Sea, two P.71s of Erprobungskommando Arado encountered a formation of RAF bombers returning from an attack on coastal defenses near Wangerooge. In a brief engagement, the two canard fighters reportedly shot down three Lancasters and one Mosquito before disengaging. It was the only confirmed combat action of the type.
End of the War and Fate of the Aircraft
With Germany's capitulation in May 1945, most remaining P.71s were deliberately destroyed by their crews to prevent capture. Only three intact airframes were recovered by Allied forces—two by the British near Lübeck and one by the Americans at Rechlin. None survived the post-war evaluation process.
The Japanese Counterpart: Kyūshū J7W
Japan, hindered by material shortages and engine reliability issues, lagged behind. The first J7W Shinden finally flew in August 1945, just weeks before the Japanese surrender. Only two prototypes were completed.
One was scrapped in 1946, while the second was shipped to the United States and remains preserved in storage at the Smithsonian Institution.
The model shows the Arado P71 "Ente" in April 1945
This is a 1/72 Hasegawa model of the Kyushu J7W1. Build OOB, it was airbrushed in Luftwaffe colors with Revell Aqua Color. Decals were taken from the spare part box, plus some of the original model.
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