France - 1915 Caudron G.IV

An Early French Bomber

A long day on the run after sleeping four hours did me in. I got home and could not keep my eyes open. I fell asleep watching the evening news and did not wake till around dawn. I need to check out the blogs I missed and post later than is my habit.

The French developed one of the first dedicated bomber aircraft. It looks fragile to a modern eye but it was a successful design.

Caudron G.IV - 1915

The Caudron G.4 was a French biplane with twin engines, widely used during World War I as a bomber aircraft. It was designed by René and Gaston Caudron as an improvement over their Caudron G.3. The aircraft was no delight for the eye with its massive, open construction. The aircraft employed wing warping for banking. The first G.4 was manufactured in 1915, both in France, England and in Italy.

The Caudron G.4 was used as a reconnaissance bomber into the heart of Germany. Later, when Germany developed a fighter force, the aircraft had to be used for night bombings.

Following several production delays, the Caudron G.4 entered service with the French Aviation Militarie in 1915 and was soon in use by the British, Russian and Italian air services. In 1916 and early 1917, the G.4 was extensively used by the Royal Flying Corps to bomb the German seaplane and Zeppelin bases in Belgium. Despite its lack of defensive armament, the twin-engine biplane quickly established a reputation as a reliable performer with a good rate of climb.

While the Caudron G.3 was a reliable reconnaissance aircraft, it could not carry a useful bomb load, and owing to its design, was difficult to fit with useful defensive armament. In order to solve these problems, the Caudron G4 was designed as a twin engined development of the G.3, first flying in March 1915. While the G.4 had a similar pod and boom layout to the G.3, it has two Le Rhône rotary or Anzani 10 radial engines mounted on struts between the wings instead of a single similar engine at the front of the crew nacelle, while wingspan was increased and the tailplane had four rudders instead of two. This allowed an observer/gunner position to be fitted in the nose of the nacelle, while the additional power allowed it to carry a bomb load of 100 kg.

References

1. Caudron G.4. (2010, December 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:43, January 26, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caudron_G.4&oldid=405065472
2. Donald, David (Editor). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Leicester, UK: Blitz Editions, 1997. ISBN 1-85605-375-X.
3. Kalevi Keskinen, Kyösti Partonen, Kari Stenman: Suomen Ilmavoimat I 1918-27, 2005. ISBN 952-99432-2-9.
4. Kalevi Keskinen, Kari Stenman, Klaus Niska: Suomen ilmavoimien lentokoneet 1918-1939, Tietoteos, 1976.
5. Thetford, Owen. British Naval Aircraft since 1912. London:Putnam, 1978. ISBN 0 370 30021 1.

France - 1917 Caudron R 11

The Last French Bomber of The Great War

The clean sleek lines of the Caudron R.11 always reminded me of old drawings of what future aircraft would look like. They could be straight out of an old Flash Gordon story. When other designers were working on boxy planes that looked lumbering and slow Caudron made planes which looked like they were fast and nimble. I used examples I had found when researching the project. So there are no surprises or improvisations on my part.

Caudron R 11 - 1917

The Caudron R.11 was first used as a bomber and then used as an escort at the end of the war. This was the last bomber the French built during the war.

The R.11 was originally intended to fulfill the French Corps d'Armee reconnaissance category. Its design was similar to the Caudron R.4, but with a more pointed nose, two bracing bays outboard the engines rather than three, no nose-wheel, and a much larger tail. The engines were housed in streamlined nacelles just above the lower wing.

The French army ordered 1000 R.11s. Production began in 1917, with the first aircraft completed late in that year. In February 1918 the first Escadrille (squadron) R.26 was equipped. The last escadrille to form before the Armistice (and production ended abruptly) was R.246, at which point 370 planes had been completed.

References

1. From Wikipedia Caudron R.11, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudron_R.11"
2. Donald, David, ed (1997). "The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft". Prospero Books. ISBN 1-85605-375-X.
3. Green, W; Swanborough, G (1994). "The Complete Book of Fighters". New York: Smithmark. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.

France - 1914 Caudron G.III

French Two Seat Reconnaissance Aircraft

The Caudron G.III may be a bit clunky but it has a certain appeal. It was built during the early days before ailerons or synchronized machine guns. Because it was unarmed it could use a tractor engine. I worked up two profiles for this airplane. One in the aluminum paint and the other in basic varnished linen.

Caudron G.III - 1914

The French Caudron G.III was a two seat, single-engined tractor biplane, with a twin-boom tail. The end of the lower booms was used as a landing skid. It was initially built in May of 1913. Its wing spars were of ash and spruce with reinforcing strips of metal. The wings had no dihedral. The design used wing warping, rather than ailerons, for controlling movement of the aircraft. Initially, the horizontal stabilizer also used warping, but later a hinged stabilizer was added. The aircraft was used as an Army cooperation and reconnaissance machine.

France - 1916 Caudron G.6

Caudron G.6 Reconnaissance Aircraft

The example above is a conjectural paint scheme based on a best guess. I took the standard French camouflage scheme and skinned the aircraft with it. The example below is a basic varnished cloth scheme which is fairly accurate, but not as visually interesting.

Caudron G.6 - 1916

The only feature distinguishing the Caudron G.6 from the G.4 was the former's conventional fuselage, which replaced the latter's apparently inadequate twin lattice booms for supporting the tailplane.

The Caudron G.6 was a French reconnaissance aircraft of World War I. It married the wings and engine layout of the unorthodox Caudron G.4 to an all-new fuselage of conventional design. Over 500 of these aircraft were used by the French military for reconnaissance and artillery-spotting duties in 1917 and 1918.

The first prototype flew in July 1916. A total of 512 aircraft were built.

Bombers of the Western Front - 1915

Three Visions of Bomber Design.

On the Eastern Front, Russia and Italy had a head start in the race to develop effective Bomber aircraft. On the Western Front, practical bombers did not appear until 1915. Germany, Britain and France all approached the design problem in completely different ways. In spite of the radically different design philosophies involved; all three proved to be effective in their role as a bomber aircraft.

Germany - 1915 Gotha Ursinus G.I

Gotha G.I - 1915

The Gotha G.I was a heavy bomber used by the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) during early years of World War I.

Ursinus was conscripted into the army on 1 August 1914 and little over a week later, presented his commanding officer, Major Helmut Friedel, with the seaplane design adapted into a Kampfflugzeug ("battle aircraft") intended for ground attack duties. Apart from the aerodynamic benefits claimed by Ursinus, the aircraft's unorthodox layout provided excellent views for the three crewmen and broad fields of fire for the gunner. The design also matched the specifications that the Idflieg had issued in March that year for a "Type III" large military aircraft, and Friedel ordered the construction of a prototype.

Britain - 1915 Short Bomber

Short Bomber - 1915

The Short Bomber was a British two-seat long-range reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying aircraft designed by Short Brothers as a land-based development of the very successful Short Type 184 (of which more than 900 were built and many exported).

The Bomber was a three-bay biplane of wooden structure with fabric covering, originally developed from the Short 184 seaplane's fuselage combined with wings developed from those on the Short Admiralty Type 166 seaplane. The fuselage was of box section with curved upper decking mounted on the lower wing. The tailplane included a split elevator with a single fin and rudder. The undercarriage consisted of a four-wheeled assembly under the nose and a skid under the tail.

France - 1915 Caudron G.IV

Caudron G.IV - 1915

The Caudron G.4 was a French biplane with twin engines, widely used during World War I as a bomber aircraft. It was designed by René and Gaston Caudron as an improvement over their Caudron G.3. The aircraft was no delight for the eye with its massive, open construction. The aircraft employed wing warping for banking. The first G.4 was manufactured in 1915, both in France, England and in Italy.

Following several production delays, the Caudron G.4 entered service with the French Aviation militarie in 1915 and was soon in use by the British, Russian and Italian air services. In 1916 and early 1917, the G.4 was extensively used by the Royal Flying Corps to bomb the German seaplane and Zeppelin bases in Belgium. Despite its lack of defensive armament, the twin-engine biplane quickly established a reputation as a reliable performer with a good rate of climb.

While the Caudron G.3 was a reliable reconnaissance aircraft, it could not carry a useful bomb load, and owing to its design, was difficult to fit with useful defensive armament. In order to solve these problems, the Caudron G4 was designed as a twin engined development of the G.3, first flying in March 1915. While the G.4 had a similar pod and boom layout to the G.3, it has two Le Rhône rotary or Anzani 10 radial engines mounted on struts between the wings instead of a single similar engine at the front of the crew nacelle, while wingspan was increased and the tailplane had four rudders instead of two. This allowed an observer/gunner position to be fitted in the nose of the nacelle, while the additional power allowed it to carry a bombload of 100 kg.