Gotha G.II

__NOTOC__ infobox Aircraft
name = G.II
type = Bomber
manufacturer = Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG



caption =
designer = Hans Burkhard
first flight = March 1916
introduced =
retired =
status =
primary user = "Luftstreitkräfte"
more users =
produced =
number built = 11
unit cost =
variants with their own articles =

The Gotha G.II series was a heavy bomber used by the "Luftstreitkräfte" (Imperial German Air Service) during the First World War.

Design and Development

The Gotha G.II was an entirely new biplane designed by Hans Burkhard, who had previously reworked Oskar Ursinus's design for the Gotha G.I to make it suitable for mass-production. [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=3 ] . Burkhard abandoned the G.I's unorthodox configuration in favour of a more conventional design with the fuselage mounted on the bottom wing rather than the top. In deciding this, he had the benefit of greater pilot experience to draw upon. The difficulties of asymmetric thrust created by losing an engine on a twin-engine design had proved to be not nearly as bad as Ursinus had originally believed, and therefore the G.I's unusual design was really an answer to a non-existent problem [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=5 ] . Furthermore, Burkhard had the opportunity to rebuild a crashed G.I (serial number "9/15") and re-arrange its components to place the fuselage on the lower wing, and found this design workable, while also removing the grave danger to the crew that landing accidents posed [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=2 ] .

The G.II carried a crew of three and a defensive armament of two machine guns. The forward section of the fuselage was skinned in plywood, with the remainder covered in fabric. The fuselage and two very large nacelles were mounted on the lower wing. Each nacelle contained fuel tanks and oil tanks beneath a geared eight-cylinder 164 kW (220 hp) Mercedes D.IV engines driving pusher propellers. The undercarriage was unusual, being quadricycle in arrangement with a pair of wheels mounted at the front and rear of each engine nacelle. This feature was intended to remove the possibility of a nose-over on landing [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=2 ] . In fact, the nacelles and undercarriage constituted fully self-contained, wheeled units intended to facilitate construction and maintenance [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=3 ] . The entire aircraft was intended to be easily dismantled so that fuselage, engines, and wings would easily fit onto three railway flatcars [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=6 ] .

The G.II prototype first flew in March 1916, and testing revealed several shortcomings. The most significant problem was that the aircraft was not capable of carrying the bombload that was specified by the "Idflieg" [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=6 ] . This was solved by a redesign of the wing cellule to extend its span [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=6 ] . At the same time, it was changed from a two-bay to a three-bay structure [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=6 ] . The second issue was that the undercarriage arrangement made for very long and uncontrollable landing rolls [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=6 ] . This was solved by changing it to a conventional tailskid configuration [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=The Gotha GI - GV |year=1966 |publisher=Profile Publications |location=Leatherhead, Surrey |pages=6 ] . Other revisions included horn-balanced ailerons and a triangular vertical fin. In this configuration, production commenced in April 1916.

Operational history

The G.II entered operational service in August, with eight of the initial production batch of ten deployed to the Balkan front [cite book |last= Cooksley |first= Peter |title=German Bombers of World War I in Action |year=2000 |publisher=Squadron/Signal| location=Carrollton, Texas |pages=22 ] . Of the two others, one remained with Gothaer and the other was severely damaged in an accident during evaluation [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=3 ] . Nothing today is known about the type's performance in combat [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=3] , but of the eight on active service, no more than four appear to have been operational at any one time (October 1916 [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=60 ] ). By February 1917, this number had dwindled to one aircraft only, and from April none remained in service [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=60 ] . Part of the problem no doubt lay with their engines. The Mercedes D.IV was plagued by severe crankshaft vibration that resulted in frequent crankshaft failures [cite book |last= Chant |first= Chris |title=The World's Great Bombers: From 1914 to the Present Day |year=2000 |publisher=Silverdale Books |location=Wigston, Leicester |pages=25 ] .

= Operators [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=3 ] =

*flag|German Empire
**"Kampfgeschwader 4", "Staffel 20"

pecifications (production version)

Aircraft specification

ref= [cite book |last= Grosz |first= Peter M. |title=Gotha! |year=1994 |publisher=Albatros Productions|location=Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire|pages=60 ]

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
crew=3
length main=
length alt=
span main=23.70
span alt=77 ft 9 in
height main=
height alt=
area main=89.5 m²
area alt=963 ft²
empty weight main=2,182 kg
empty weight alt=4,810 lb
max takeoff weight main=3,192 kg
max takeoff weight alt=7,037 lb
more general=
engine (prop)=Mercedes D.IV
type of prop=inline engine
number of props=2
power main=164 kW
power alt=220 hp
max speed main=148 km/h
max speed alt=92 mph
range main=
range alt=
ceiling main=
ceiling alt=
climb rate main=1.8 m/s
climb rate alt=350 ft/min
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=
* 3 x 7.92 mm Parabellum LMG 14 machine guns

References

ee also

aircontent

similar aircraft=
*AEG G.I, AEG G.II, AEG G.III, AEG G.IV, AEG G.V
*Friedrichshafen G.I, G.II, G.III, G.IV

lists=
* List of military aircraft of Germany
* List of bomber aircraft
see also=
Gotha Raids