The WW1 Super Bomber - Gotha G.V

just as londoners were able to sleep again after the german zeppelin attacks had ceased during world war one a new threat emerged the gotha the gotha g5 was the world's first mass-produced bomber the germans initially used it to bomb the english capital during the day but as the war progressed their strategy changed to nighttime raids thousands of citizens would take cover during the nights fearing surprise attacks but the lack of english culture would ultimately be the german stumbling block during one last massive raid still the gothas had a significant impact on england's history from hundreds of lives lost to the ignition of the legendary royal air force and even a change of the royal family's name a new type of war when world war one began in july of 1914 no one knew the impact that military aviation would have on the armed conflict initially airborne threats against britain came from germany's airships also known as zeppelins the aircraft wreaked havoc in london with relative impunity during the summer of 1915 and by september a more structured and lethal attack followed prompting the english government to relocate several essential front-line squadrons for home defense however as the use of zeppelins decreased with the introduction of explosive bullets in 1916 the imperial german air service or luff strike crafter opted to create a mass-produced long-range heavy-class bomber aircraft it was called the gotham bomber the kaiser's secret weapon developed by the gothar wagon fabric manufacturer the gotha bomber was a two-engine biplane design made out of a steel skeleton wood framings and fabric skin this aircraft was built in complete secrecy to keep english intelligence from finding out about germany's secret weapon as bomber aircraft technology was relatively new at the time the biplane had several innovations that had never been seen before by 1917 no bomber could house more than two 112 pound bombs however the gotha was capable of carrying over 10 times that amount and could drop its payload with high accuracy due to a high-tech gert's bomb site the gotha had a capacity for three crew members the forward gunner a pilot and a rear gunner it also had a standard armament of up to three 7.92 millimeter parabellum mg14 series machine guns and an external ordnance of 1 500 pounds the biplane had a running length of 40 feet a wingspan of 77 feet and a resting height of 14 feet two mercedes inline piston engines supplied the power each with a deliverance of 260 horsepower the motors helped the aircraft achieve a top speed of 87 miles per hour and a service ceiling of up to 21 300 feet the aircraft completed its maiden flight in 1917 and officially entered operational service in the following months in addition a new squadron was created to take these bioplanes into war in england from the air base in belgium the battle squadron three of the army high command or kaguro 3 was unofficially known as the england gershwata or england squadron the imperial german army chose former infantry officer halpermann and brandenburg to command it he would need to start from scratch as there were no guidelines for overseas bombing squadrons at the time a surprise from the skies by may of 1917 brandenburg was ready for his first surprise attack because zeppelin raids had stopped in october of 1916 the british authorities were convinced that german aerial threats against the capital were over and thus downgraded their defenses on june 13th a surprise formation of 14 gothas left their belgian air base and attacked london at 11 24 am the first anti-aircraft gun opened fire from essex but it was too late and the authorities had no choice but to watch as the formation bore down in the capital the noise coming from the bi-planes was incredibly loud and many of the citizens cheered enthusiastically as they believed the aircraft were british the england gershwata dropped a total of 118 high explosive bombs on the capital and 60 of them landed within one mile of liverpool street station the attack claimed the lives of 162 citizens and injured hundreds more the highest toll from a single raider in the united kingdom since the beginning of world war one countermeasures upon successfully completing the mission brandenburg was summoned back to germany to be awarded the country's highest military order the poor le merit however brandenburg's joy was short-lived on his way back to belgium his aircraft crashed and he lost one leg captain hutman rudolf kleiner was then appointed as commander of kaggle 3 but he was not liked by the troops back in england authorities struggled to come up with a plan to withstand these modern and lethal biplane superbombers the british sent almost 100 aircraft in the skies on july 7th but most were old and no match for the gothic which could fly miles higher than their english counterparts the defense also lacked direction and coordination angered by the ease with which the gothas attacked the capital the enraged british population turned against immigrants with this in mind king george v officially changed the name of the royal family from saks coburg gotha to the more british sounding windsor the war cabinet then formed a new committee to reform home defense and aerial strategies with former guerilla leader turned lieutenant general young christian schmutz as the commander smitch presented his ideas within a week his report led to the creation of a london air defense area which brought together the royal flying corps squadrons searchlights anti-aircraft machinery and observation corps the royal naval air service and the royal flying corps also joined forces to create a single air service which would become the basis for the royal air force it was officially established on april 1 1918. the british prepared for daylight raids but they didn't know the germans had changed their strategy after several losses while raiding coastal towns during the summer general clinic decided to switch to night bombings and the english would be surprised once again night raids the first night raid took place on september 4th the gothics took off from their base with five-minute intervals to avoid collisions in the dark although nine gothas entered english territory the biplane was hard to maneuver and only five of them reached london still the aircraft caused heavy damage to the capital and claimed the lives of sixteen people that same month a new squadron joined the bombing campaigns against london as the recent fluke tai long 501 team arrived at the belgium air base with the r-type bomber the recent fluxoid which translates to a giant airplane these biplanes could carry nearly two tons of explosives which could be released electrically from the aircraft's nose but they were more volatile and challenging to fly than the gothas the nighttime sorties would continue through the entire month and become known as the harvest moon raids the londoners became so unnerved by the bombings that over 300 thousand people would flock to the london underground during the nights the population began to learn the preferred routes times and tactics of the gothas and the giants to alert the citizens of an incoming attack english spotters created an ingenious silent alarm that would warn londoners by changing the natural gas pressure the homeowners would then draw all their window curtains to make even more darkness for the gothas in addition the biplanes had to field anti-aircraft barrages powerful searchlights and fighter planes that knew their roots but many of them were also lost in landing accidents as the aircraft had a heavy nose and would typically crash upon flying back to beltrama one last raid england flight soldiers got a big surprise when brandenburg returned to the airfield in january of 1918 wearing an artificial leg and refusing to sit out the war he found a demoralized and crippled squadron nevertheless brandenburg wanted to show air supremacy as a prelude to the upcoming spring offensive and assembled 38 gothas and two single-engine aircraft to fly in advance as weather observers but this was only the beginning brandenburg then contacted the giants commander captain richard von bentavenya to ask for reinforcements but the team had lost most of their aircraft and the squad was morally crushed still vlan pennsylvania offered brandenburg his last three giants a total of 43 aircraft would now be sent to england the largest attack in history on may 19 1918 the german aircraft dropped over 11 tons of explosives over london more than a thousand family homes and businesses were destroyed but the number of casualties was less than expected most people had left the city due to the wit sunday holiday the end of the gotha the inven figure's biggest raid ultimately became the squad's undoing ten of the gothas were forced to fly back even before reaching england while seven were shot down and only sixteen managed to reach london brandenburg wanted to launch more attacks but german top brass wouldn't allow it the knights of the gothar raids were over although brandenburg's plan had mostly failed the surprise raids still had a significant impact with over 500 casualties in london and 350 more in nearby towns the raids also forced the deployment of high performance aircraft away from the front lines and affected several ammunition production lines from the second half of 1917 to the end of the war the following autumn 205 examples were completed turning the gotha into the first mass-produced bomber aircraft in history the england figures ultimately lost 24 due to anti-aircraft strikes and 36 were destroyed in landing accidents the united kingdom would eventually build a defense system enhanced by radars which would then become the backbone of the british response when german aircraft reappeared in their skies two decades later thank you for watching our dark skies video let us know in the comments below if you'd like to see 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Channel: Dark Skies

Views: 85,184

Rating: 4.9635282 out of 5

Keywords: aviation, airplanes, aircraft, air force, history, documentary, history channel, documentary channel, dark docs, dark skies, ww1, wwi, world war 1, world war i, gotha, heavy, big, biggest, luftwaffe

Id: a8_JjaCKrOQ

Length: 9min 22sec (562 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 10 2021

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