- Development
- Specifications (WD.3)
- References
- Further reading
| name=WD.3 | image=Gotha WD.3.jpg | caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Reconnaissance seaplane | national origin=Germany | manufacturer=Gotha | designer= | 1915}} | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=1 | variants with their own articles=
}} |
The Gotha WD.3 (for Wasser Doppeldecker - "Water Biplane") was a pusher reconnaissance floatplane built in prototype form in Germany in 1915. DevelopmentSince 1913, Gotha had been manufacturing a series of reconnaissance seaplanes for the Imperial 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. While Gotha had built copies of the Caudron G.3 as the LD.3 and LD.4, the resulting aircraft had more in common with the contemporary AGO C.I and C.II as similar molded booms were used instead of a lattice frame, and the Caudron used a tractor engine. Only a single prototype was built however, and Gotha's subsequent efforts would focus on other configurations. Specifications (WD.3){{Aircraft specs
|ref=German Aircraft of the First World War[1]
|prime units?=met
|genhide=
|crew=2
|capacity=
|length m=
|length ft=
|length in=
|length note=
|span m=15.6
|span ft=
|span in=
|span note=
|upper span m=
|upper span ft=
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|mid span m=
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|lower span m=
|lower span ft=
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|lower span note=
|swept m=
|swept ft=
|swept in=
|swept note=
|dia m=
|dia ft=
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|width m=
|width ft=
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|height m=
|height ft=
|height in=
|height note=
|wing area sqm=54
|wing area sqft=
|wing area note=
|swept area sqm=
|swept area sqft=
|swept area note=
|volume m3=
|volume ft3=
|volume note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=1105
|empty weight lb=
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=1710
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|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight lb=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|lift kg=
|lift lb=
|lift note=
|more general=
|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=Mercedes D.III
|eng1 type=6-cylinder water-cooled in-line pistone engines
|eng1 hp=160
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=fixed-pitch pusher propeller
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|max speed kmh=100
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|ceiling m=
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|g limits=
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|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=
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|sink rate ms=
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|disk loading kg/m2=
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|guns=1x {{cvt|7.92|mm|3}} Parabellum MG 14 machine gun in the nose
}}
References{{commons category|Gotha WD.3}}1. ^{{cite book |last=Gray |first=Peter |last2=Thetford |first2=Owen |title=German Aircraft of the First World War |year=1970 |publisher=Putnam |location=London |isbn=0-370-00103-6 |edition=2nd |page=398}}
Further reading- {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London |pages=429 }}
- {{cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing|location=London |pages=File 895 Sheet 09 }}
{{Gotha aircraft}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Gotha Wd.3}} 7 : German military reconnaissance aircraft 1910–1919|Gotha aircraft|Floatplanes|Single-engined pusher aircraft|Biplanes|Twin-boom aircraft|Aircraft first flown in 1915 |