The Gotha WD.27 (for Wasser Doppeldecker – “Water Biplane”) was a patrol seaplanes developed in Germany during World War I. It was a conventional four-engine seaplane with engines grouped in tractor-pusher pairs on the lower wings. Contemporary records show three German Navy serial numbers allocated to the type, but firm evidence of only one of these being built.
Gotha was closed by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, but in 1933 the company resumed aircraft manufacture, and its first product was the Go 145 trainer. This first flew in February 1934 with a fabric-covered all-wood airframe, and was ordered into immediate production as a Luftwaffe basic trainer with the designation Go 145A. 9500-10,000 aircraft were built, including BFW and Focke-Wulf, and such was the utility of the type that in World War II large numbers were used by the Storkampfstaffefn (later Nachtschfachtgruppen) to harass the Soviet forces. The type was also built in Spain as the CASA 1115-L, and in Turkey. German variants were the Go 145B with an enclosed cockpit and landing gear spats, and the Go 145C gunnery trainer with a pivoted 7.92-mm (0.312-mm) machine-gun in the rear cockpit.
Go 145A
Span: 9.m (29ft 6.25 in).
Length: 8.7m (28 ft 6.5 in).
Powerplant: l x Argus As 100, 179kW (240 hp).
Armament: none.
Max TO weight: 1380 kg (3,043 lb).
Max speed: 132 mph at sea level.
Operational range: 391 miles.
Go 145B
Go 145C
The Gotha WD.2 (for Wasser Doppeldecker – “Water Biplane”) and its derivatives were a family of military reconnaissance aircraft produced in Germany just before and during the early part of World War I. It was a development of the Avro 503 that had been built under licence by Gotha as the WD.1, and like it, was a conventional three-bay biplane with tandem, open cockpits. The landing gear comprised twin pontoons and dispensed with the small pontoon carried under the tail of the WD.1. Machines built for the German Navy were unarmed, but those supplied to the Ottoman aviation squadrons carried a 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine gun in a ring mount on the upper wing, accessible to the observer, whose seat was located directly below it.
In an attempt to increase performance, one WD.2 was built with a reduced wingspan and its Benz Bz.III engine replaced with the more powerful Mercedes D.III. Designated the WD.5, no further examples were built in this configuration, but it served as the pattern for the WD.9, built in a small series. This differed from the WD.5 prototype in having a trainable 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine gun located in the rear cockpit, to which the observer had been relocated. One such aircraft was supplied to the German Navy, with the rest of the batch going to Turkey, albeit with the less powerful engine of the WD.2.
The last member of the family to be built in any quantity was the D.III-powered WD.12, an unarmed version which featured greater attention to streamlining the aircraft, most especially around the engine area, which was now provided with a close-fitting cowl and a spinner for the propeller. Again, this type was supplied to both Germany and the Ottoman Empire. It was followed in production by a small number of WD.13s, essentially similar but for the use again of the less powerful Bz.III.
Finally, two WD.15s were built after a considerable redesign of the aircraft. These had plywood-covered fuselages, as opposed to the fabric covering used on all earlier members of the family, and were fitted with Mercedes D.IVa engines.
Operational use of the G.IV demonstrated that the incorporation of the fuel tanks into the engine nacelles was a mistake. In a crash landing the tanks could rupture and spill fuel onto the hot engines. This posed a serious problem because landing accidents caused 75% of operational losses. In response Gothaer produced the G.V, which housed its fuel tanks in the center of the fuselage. The smaller engine nacelles were mounted on struts above the lower wing.
The G.V was a three-bay biplane with wings of two-spar wooden construction, with plywood covering of the centre section of the lower wing and fabric covering over the remainder. The wooden fuselage has plywood covering. Conventional control surfaces are fabric covered steel tube construction. Ailerons are on all four wings and each undercarriage unit has twin wheels.
The Gotha G.V pilot seat was offset to port with the fuel tanks immediately behind. This blocked the connecting walkway that previously on earlier machines allowed crew members to move between the three gun stations. All bombs were carried externally in this model. The Gotha included an important innovation in the form of a “gun tunnel” whereby the underside of the rear fuselage was arched, allowing placement of a rearward-facing machine gun protecting from attack from below, removing the blind spot.
The base variant of G.V offered no performance improvement over the G.IV. The G.V was up to 450 kg (990 lb) heavier than the G.IV due to additional equipment and the use of insufficiently seasoned timber. The Mercedes D.IVa engines could not produce the rated 190 kW (260 hp) due to inferior quality of fuel.
The G.V entered service in August 1917. For the performance reasons aforementioned, it generally could not operate at altitudes as high as the G.IV. On 13 June 1917 London was raided in daylight by 14 Gothas against little opposition. As the RFC formed home defence squadrons, after one final raid by 22 Gothas on 7 July 1917, the raiders switched to night bombing.
G.Va
In February 1918, Gothaer tested a compound tail unit with biplane horizontal stabilizers and twin rudders. The new tail unit, known as the Kastensteuerung, improved the aircraft’s marginal directional control on one engine. The resulting G.Va subvariant incorporated the new tail as well as a slightly shorter forward fuselage with an auxiliary nose landing gear. All 25 G.Va aircraft were delivered to Bogohl 3, the new designation for the former Kagohl 3.
G.Vb
Carried an increased payload comparing to the earlier G.Va, and operated at a maximum takeoff weight of 4,550 kg (10,030 lb). To reduce the danger of flipping over during landing, Gothaer introduced the Stossfahrgestell (“shock landing gear”), a tandem two-bogie main landing gear. The Stossfahrgestell proved so good that it was fitted to all G.V’s in Bogohl 3. Some G.Vb aircraft also had Flettner servo tabs on the ailerons to reduce control forces.
Idflieg ordered 80 G.Vb aircraft, the first being delivered to Bogohl 3 in June 1918. By the Armistice, all 80 aircraft were built but the last batch did not reach the front and was delivered direct to the Allied special commission.
Engines: 2 x Mercedes D.IVa, 260 hp
Wingspan: 77 ft 9 in
Wing area: 963.4 sq.ft
Length: 38 ft 11 in
Height: 14 ft 1.25 in
Empty weight: 6040 lb
Take-off weight: 8763 lb
Max speed: 87 mph at SL
Range: 520 mi
Armament: 2 x mg
Bombload: 660-1100 lb
The Gotha G.IV was a development of the G.III.
The blunt nose made it possible to place the engines closer together, and together with placing the tailfins in the slipstream this gave better one-engine performance making it possible to run the engine at full power. But none of the type G twin-engined biplanes could fly level on one engine. The Gotha G was a ‘tunnel’ in the bottom of the tail that made it possible for the tail gunner to cover the lower rear of the aircraft.
Later versions had biplane tails with twin fins and eliminated the position for the nose gunner.
The G.IV (also produced by LVG and Siemens-Schuckert) was used in the first mass attack on England, when 21 Gothas raided Folkestone, Shorncliffe and elsewhere on 25 May 1917, killing about 95 people and injuring many others. On 13 June 14 Gothas attacked London for the first time and caused the worst casualties (of an air raid) of the war, with 162 people being killed and 432 injured. The heavy casualties suffered among the civilian population of England by these raids forced the return of aircraft from France to defend the cities, and such was their success that the last big raid on England during daylight hours was carried out on 12 August.
G.IV
Engine: 2 x 260hp Mercedes D.IVa
Take-off weight: 3975 kg / 8763 lb
Empty weight: 2740 kg / 6041 lb
Wingspan: 23.70 m / 77 ft 9 in
Length: 11.86 m / 38 ft 11 in
Height: 4.30 m / 14 ft 1 in
Wing area: 89.50 sq.m / 963.37 sq ft
Max. Speed: 140 km/h / 87 mph
Cruise speed: 124 km/h / 77 mph
Ceiling: 6500 m / 21350 ft
Range: 522 km / 324 miles
Crew: 3
The Gotha G.II and G.III bombers made their appearance in 1916. The two bombers were remarkably similar, differing only in their engines and internal details. The G.III entered service in August of 1916 and was powered by two Mercedes D IVa direct drive engines. Engine power went directly to the propeller shaft without using a reduction gear to reduce revolution speed. Both aircraft were armed with two 7.92mm Maxim IMG Parabellum machine guns – one in the nose and another in the aft fuselage – and carried approximately 540kg of bombs. A few G.IIs and G.IIIs were equipped with a trapdoor in the undersurface of the rear fuselage, which permitted the rear gunner to take up a prone position and fire aft or downwards from a ventral position to defend the bomber’s vulnerable ‘blind spot.’
The Gotha G.II and G.III bombers made their appearance in 1916. The two bombers were remarkably similar, differing only in their engines and internal details. The G.II entered service in March of 1916 and was powered by a pair of direct drive 164kW six-cylinder liquid-cooled Mercedes DIV engines mounted in a pusher configuration. Some 15 G.IIs were used in the Balkans until they were withdrawn due to unreliable engines.
Both aircraft were armed with two 7.92mm Maxim IMG Parabellum machine guns – one in the nose and another in the aft fuselage – and carried approximately 540kg of bombs. A few G.IIs and G.IIIs were equipped with a trapdoor in the undersurface of the rear fuselage, which permitted the rear gunner to take up a prone position and fire aft or downwards from a ventral position to defend the bomber’s vulnerable ‘blind spot.’
The G.II used straight-eight DIV engines of 220hp, the G.III straight-six DIVa’s with 260hp.
Also the G.II did not have the trap-door, this was on G.IIIs only. Only 10 G.IIs were apparently built.
G II
Engine: 2 x Benz D IV, 165kW
Crew: 3
The first G.I flew in July 1915 followed by a further 17 of these three seater machines. While the prototype used two 160hp Mercedes D IIIs, the production aircraft employed two 150hp Benz Bz IIIs. mounted on the lower wing. A single Mercedes D.III-engined example of a seaplane version was also completed as the U.W.D. (Ursinus Wasser Doppeldecker, or Oscar Ursinus-designed float biplane).
G.I
Engine: 2 x Benz Bz-III, 110kW
Take-off weight: 2810 kg / 6195 lb
Wingspan: 22.0/19.7 m / 72 ft 2 in / 64 ft 8 in
Length: 12.9 m / 42 ft 4 in
Height: 3.9 m / 12 ft 10 in
Wing area: 82.0 sq.m / 882.64 sq ft
Max. Speed: 130 km/h / 81 mph
Ceiling: 2700 m / 8850 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 540 km / 336 miles
Crew: 3
Armament: 1 machine-gun
In 1903, Donald H. Gordon built a glider which took off from the top of the family barn. The contraption collapsed, and plane-building was suspended for several years. Gordon’s second aeroplane was built during 1911-1912.
Built by brothers Willy and Arthur Gonzales during the period 1910 through 1912, this biplane was built in the backyard of their home and flew successfully in the San Francisco Bay area. The machine was donated by the Gonzales family to the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum Education Foundation.
All Aero 