The Gotha G.VIII, GL.VIII, and G.IX were a family of

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

aircraft produced in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

during the final months of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Based on the

Gotha G.VII The Gotha G.VII was a bomber aircraft produced in Germany during the final months of World War I. With the strategic bombing campaign effectively over, it was intended to be a high-speed tactical bomber with a secondary reconnaissance capability ...

, they were intended as high-speed tactical bombers featuring advanced streamlining for their day.

G.VIII and G.IX

The G.VIII designation was applied to a single machine developed from the G.VII, with a wingspan extended to 21.73 m (71 ft 3 in) and a revised fuselage. A wing cellule was extended by adding an extra half-bay into it. While no further production ensued, the fuselage modifications were retained on the definitive G.IX. This latter design replaced the new half-bays in the wing cellule with full bays, now bringing the span to 25.26 m (82 ft 11 in). The ''

Idflieg The Idflieg (''Inspektion der Fliegertruppen'' - "Inspectorate of Flying Troops") was the bureau of the German Empire that oversaw German military aviation prior to and during World War I. Founded in 1911, the Idflieg was part of the ''Fliegert ...

'' ordered 170 G.IXs from

Luft Verkehrs Gesellschaft Luftverkehrsgesellschaft m.b.H. (L.V.G. or LVG) was a German aircraft manufacturer based in Berlin- Johannisthal, which began constructing aircraft in 1912, building Farman-type aircraft. The company constructed many reconnaissance and light bom ...

(LVG) to replace the

Gotha G.V The Gotha G.V was a heavy bomber used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. Designed for long-range service and built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik AG, the Gotha G.V was used principally as a night bomber. D ...

s still in front-line service with ''Boghol'' 3. Probably around half of this number were completed before the end of the war, with at least some of them reaching operational status by that time. Following the war, captured examples served for a short time with the

Belgian Air Force The Belgian Air and Space Component (, ) is the Air force, air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force (; ). It was founded in 1909 and is one of the world's oldest air services. ...

GL.VIII

The GL.VIII was a lightweight version of the G.VIII with a compound tail assembly and auxiliary struts supporting the upper mainplane wing-tips.

Specifications (G.IX)

References

* * * * {{Idflieg G, GL, K, L and N-class designations 1910s German bomber aircraft G.XIX Aircraft first flown in 1918 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Twin-engined piston aircraft