03/31/2012. 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. The first design was a two-seat initial training aircraft, the S I (site files). 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. Power plant was either an 125 hp Siemens Sh 12, or an 120 hp Bristol Lucifer. Three aircraft were produced, one S I (D-817 c/n 20), one S Ia (D-994 c/n 21), and one S Ib (c/n 22).

After the satisfying performance of the S I, Rethel developed the SC I 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 Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (German airline pilot school).