FRIEDRICHSHAFEN GIII

The Friedrichshafen G.III was a WW1 German bomber bomber. The flight of the prototype took place in 1917, and serial production continued in 1917-1918. In total, about 340 examples of this aircraft were built. The length of the machine was 12.8 meters with a maximum wingspan of 23.7 meters. The drive was provided by two Mercedes D.IVa engines with 260 HP each. The deck armament consisted of 2-3 7.92 mm machine guns. The machine could also carry a load of bombs weighing up to 1,000 kilograms. The Friedrichshafen G.III was created as a development of the previous aircraft of the same aviation company - the less successful G.II. The G.III machines turned out to be very successful, characterized by a good load capacity of bombs (for those times!), High solidity of the structure and relatively low susceptibility to failures. They were also able to operate from field airfields without major problems. In the course of production, in 1918, a version of the G.IIIa with a changed shape of the horizontal and tail fins was created. Friedrichshafen G.III bombers were used primarily on the Western Front. A trace number of these machines also served in the Polish aviation in the years 1918-1920.