Gotha Ursinus G.I

The Gotha G.I started life as the Friedel-Ursinus B.1092/14, a concept for a highly armed "aerial cruiser". They were found to be too slow to be of any use as a battleplane, so they found new life as bombers. Ordered in three batches of six, the last delivered in March 1916. Only the last batch had two machine guns (and gunners), the rest carried only one gunner and the pilot.

of armor protected the crew and engines in the prototype (B.1092/14). Though the high fuselage gave superb upwards vision and the close-mounted engine design maintained flight even with one engine out, it was difficult to land and found dangerous to the crew in case of a nose-over. The prototype saw trials on the Eastern Front (Germany's first twin-engine bomber) and it was found useful enough to lead to a small production run with Gotha.

The original designs were modified by Ing. Burkhard of Gotha. The armor was moved to the load-bearing structure (and eventually eliminated). The first factory unit was finished in July 1915, and a set of them were built through the end of 1915. They were used in the latter part of 1915 and early 1916, with the last of them retiring in autumn 1916.

1:144 Scale

 * Shapeways
 * B.1092/14: Columbia Aerodrome
 * with bombs: Columbia Aerodrome
 * Production: Columbia Aerodrome

1:200 Scale

 * Shapeways: Columbia Aerodrome