The Arado Ar 65 was a German single-seat biplane fighter developed in the late 1920s and early 1930s by designer Walter Rethel as a modified, slightly larger version of the Arado Ar 64, featuring an inline BMW VI liquid-cooled engine (750 hp max) instead of a radial engine. After the first prototype (Ar 65a) flew in 1931, adjustments to the rear fuselage and controls led to the improved Ar 65d, which demonstrated good handling characteristics and entered serial production in Warnemünde as the Ar 65E. Between 1931 and 1936, approximately 181 units of the E and F variants were produced, featuring a canvas-covered metal fuselage, wooden wings, fixed landing gear, an open cockpit, and armament consisting of two 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns. The aircraft briefly served as a frontline fighter with several Luftwaffe units (including JG 131, JG 132, JG 134, JG 232, and StG 162) before being replaced by the Heinkel He 51 and succeeded by the Arado Ar 68, after which it was relegated to flight training—with 12 units exported to Bulgaria for training purposes—and ended its operational life around 1943 towing DFS 230 gliders.
