what is it?
The Gotha G.III was a twin-engine pusher biplane heavy bomber used by the Luftstreitkräfte (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. It succeeded the G.II in production and differed primarily in powerplant and in armament details. The G.II's unreliable Mercedes D.IV was replaced by the new inline six-cylinder 190 kW (250 hp) Mercedes D.IVa engine. The G.III also had an extra 7.92 mm (0.312 in) machine gun firing through a ventral gun opening to protect the underside of the tail.
How to recognise it: 2 engines · biplane · 23.7 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 110 years ago, in 1916.
- Wingspan of 23.7 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1916
- introduced
- 1916
- status
- retired
- number built
- 25
- role
- bomber
- origin
- German Empire
- makers
- Gotha
- engines
- 2× Mercedes D.IVa
- length
- 12.2 m
- wingspan
- 23.7 m
- height
- 3.9 m
- max take-off weight
- 3,618 kg
- top speed
- 135 km/h
- range
- —
- wings
- biplane
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q481067, Wikipedia: Gotha G.III (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.