Gotha WD.3

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=WD.3


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type=Reconnaissance seaplane
national origin=Germany
manufacturer=Gotha
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first flight=avyear|1915
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number built=1
variants with their own articles=The Gotha WD.3 (for "Wasser Doppeldecker" - "Water Biplane") was a reconnaissance seaplane built in prototype form in Germany in 1915. Since 1913, Gotha had been manufacturing a series of reconnaissance seaplanes for the German Navy, initially patterned on the Avro 503. These were intended as unarmed scouts, but as World War I unfolded, it became desirable to arm this type of aircraft. In the days before the development of the interrupter gear, the most effective way to mount a gun with a forward firing arc was to dispense with a conventional fuselage, relocate the engine to the rear of a nacelle that also carried the cockpit, weapons, and wings, and carry the tail on booms stretching back either side of the engine and propeller installation. Gotha had built land-based copies of the French Caudron G.3 in a similar configuration as the LD.3 and LD.4 and now used the same layout for the WD.3. Only a single prototype was built, however, and Gotha's subsequent efforts with this arrangement would focus on twin-engine aircraft.

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eng1 number=1
eng1 type=Mercedes D.III
eng1 kw= 120
eng1 hp= 160
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armament1=1 × trainable, forward-firing machine gun
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