Caudron G.3
Encyclopedia
The Caudron G.3 was a single-engined French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

 built by Caudron
Caudron
The Caudron Airplane Company was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 by brothers Gaston Caudron and René Caudron . It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II...

, widely used in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 as a reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

 aircraft and trainer
Trainer (aircraft)
A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows...

. In comparison to its competitors, it had a better rate of climb and it was considered especially suitable in mountainous terrain.

Development

The Caudron G.3 was designed by René and Gaston Caudron
Caudron
The Caudron Airplane Company was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 by brothers Gaston Caudron and René Caudron . It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II...

 as a development of their earlier Caudron G.2 for military use. It first flew in May 1914 at their Le Crotoy
Le Crotoy
Le Crotoy is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. The inhabitants are known as Crotellois-Geography:Le Crotoy is situated on the D143 and D71 crossroads, on the estuary of the river Somme, some northwest of Abbeville....

 aerodrome


The Caudron G.3 was a single-engined French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

 built by Caudron
Caudron
The Caudron Airplane Company was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 by brothers Gaston Caudron and René Caudron . It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II...

, widely used in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 as a reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

 aircraft and trainer
Trainer (aircraft)
A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows...

. In comparison to its competitors, it had a better rate of climb and it was considered especially suitable in mountainous terrain.

Development

The Caudron G.3 was designed by René and Gaston Caudron
Caudron
The Caudron Airplane Company was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 by brothers Gaston Caudron and René Caudron . It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II...

 as a development of their earlier Caudron G.2 for military use. It first flew in May 1914 at their Le Crotoy
Le Crotoy
Le Crotoy is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. The inhabitants are known as Crotellois-Geography:Le Crotoy is situated on the D143 and D71 crossroads, on the estuary of the river Somme, some northwest of Abbeville....

 aerodrome


The Caudron G.3 was a single-engined French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...

 built by Caudron
Caudron
The Caudron Airplane Company was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 by brothers Gaston Caudron and René Caudron . It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II...

, widely used in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 as a reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

 aircraft and trainer
Trainer (aircraft)
A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows...

. In comparison to its competitors, it had a better rate of climb and it was considered especially suitable in mountainous terrain.

Development

The Caudron G.3 was designed by René and Gaston Caudron
Caudron
The Caudron Airplane Company was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 by brothers Gaston Caudron and René Caudron . It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II...

 as a development of their earlier Caudron G.2 for military use. It first flew in May 1914 at their Le Crotoy
Le Crotoy
Le Crotoy is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France. The inhabitants are known as Crotellois-Geography:Le Crotoy is situated on the D143 and D71 crossroads, on the estuary of the river Somme, some northwest of Abbeville....

 aerodrome Donald 1997, p.233. .

The aircraft had a short crew nacelle
Nacelle
The nacelle is a cover housing that holds engines, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. In some cases—for instance in the typical "Farman" type "pusher" aircraft, or the World War II-era P-38 Lightning—an aircraft's cockpit may also be housed in a nacelle, which essentially fills the...

, with a single engine in the nose of the nacelle, and twin open tailbooms. It was of sesquiplane layout, and used wing warping
Wing warping
Wing warping was an early system for lateral control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite directions...

 for lateral control, although this was replaced by conventional ailerons fitted on the upper wing in late production aircraft.

Following the outbreak of the First World War, it was ordered in large quantities. The Caudron factories built 1423 aircraft (2450 total were built in France) and it was built under licence in several other countries (233 were built in England and 166 were built in Italy). The Caudron brothers did not charge a licencing fee for the design, as an act of patriotism.

Usually, the G.3 was not equipped with any weapons, although sometimes light, small calibre machine guns and some hand-released small bombs were fitted to it.

It was followed in production by the Caudron G.4
Caudron G.4
|-References:*Donald, David . The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Leicester, UK: Blitz Editions, 1997. ISBN 1-85605-375-X.* Kalevi Keskinen, Kyösti Partonen, Kari Stenman: Suomen Ilmavoimat I 1918-27, 2005. ISBN 952-99432-2-9....

, which was a twin-engined development.

Operational history

The G.3 equipped Escadrille C.11 of the French Aéronautique Militaire
History of the Armée de l'Air (1909-1942)
The Armée de l'Air is the name of the French Air Force in its native language. It has borne this name only from August 1933 when it was still under the jurisdiction of the army...

 at the outbreak of war, and was well-suited for reconnaissance use, proving tough and reliable. As the war went on however, its low performance and the fact that it was unarmed made it vulnerable in front line service, and so the French withdrew it from front line operations in mid-1916.
The Italians also used the G.3 for reconnaissance on a wide scale until 1917, as did the British RFC
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

 (continuing operations until October 1917),who also fitted some with light bombs and machine guns for ground attack.

It continued in use as a trainer after ceasing combat operations until after the end of the war. Caudron G.3 in Chinese hands, namely the air force of Fengtian clique
Fengtian clique
The Fengtian Clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang Clique in the Republic of China's warlord era. It was named for Fengtian Province and led by Zhang Zuolin...

 warlords
Warlord era
The Chinese Warlord Era was the period in the history of the Republic of China, from 1916 to 1928, when the country was divided among military cliques, a division that continued until the fall of the Nationalist government in the mainland China regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia,...

 remained in service in training roles until the Mukden Incident
Mukden Incident
The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was a staged event that was engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931....

, when most of them were captured by Japanese, and their eventual fate is unknown.

Variants

Most G.3s were the A.2 model, used by various airforces for fire spotting on the West front, in Russia and in the Middle East. G.3 D.2 was a two-seated trainer aircraft, equipped with dual controls and the E.2 was a basic trainer. The R.1 version, which had been developed from the basic version was used by France and by the USA for taxi training
Taxiing
Taxiing refers to the movement of an aircraft on the ground, under its own power, in contrast to towing or push-back where the aircraft is moved by a tug...

, with fabric removed from large areas of the wing to prevent its becoming airborne. The last version, the G.3.12, was equipped with a more powerful 100 hp Anzani 10 radial engine
Radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central crankshaft like the spokes on a wheel...

.

In Germany, Gotha
Gothaer Waggonfabrik
Gothaer Waggonfabrik was a German manufacturer of rolling stock established in the late nineteenth century at Gotha. During the two world wars, the company expanded into aircraft building.-World War I:...

 built copies of the G.3 as the LD.3 and LD.4 (Land Doppeldecker - "Land Biplane").

Survivors

Caudron G.3s are displayed in several museums, including at the RAF Museum Hendon, the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace
Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace
The French Air and Space Museum is a French museum, located in the south-eastern edge of Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris, and in the commune of Le Bourget. It was created in 1919 from a proposition of Albert Caquot .-Description:Occupying over of land and hangars, it is one of the oldest...

, Paris, the Royal Army and Military History Museum, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 and the Aerospace Museum (Musal)
Museu Aeroespacial
Museu Aeroespacial is a national aviation museum located 25 km west of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.-History:The Museu Aeroespacial was inaugurated on 18 October 1976 at the installations of the old Escola de Aeronáutica , at Afonsos Air Force Base - the "Cradle of Military...

, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

. One aircraft (1E.18) is currently being repaired at the Hallinportti Aviation Museum
Hallinportti Aviation Museum
The Hallinportti Aviation Museum is an aviation museum, located at Halli Airport in Kuorevesi, Jämsä, Finland.-Aircraft:* MiG-15 UTI* IVL D.26 Haukka II* Bristol Bulldog IV* Aero A-11* Rumpler 6B* VL Sääski II...

.

Operators

:
:
  • Mesopotamian Half Flight
    Mesopotamian Half Flight
    The Mesopotamian Half-Flight, or Australian Half-Flight was the first Australian Flying Corps unit to see active service.At the start of World War I, the air forces of the Allied forces were small and primitive. Most of the available aircraft and pilots were assigned to the Western Front...

  • Central Flying School AFC at Point Cook, Victoria
    Point Cook, Victoria
    Point Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 25 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Wyndham. At the 2006 Census, Point Cook had a population of 14,162, now it is estimated that the population of Point Cook is 32,167...

    .

:
:
:
: Three aircraft only. The first military aircraft in the history of this country.
:
: Three aircraft only.
: The Finnish Air Force
Finnish Air Force
The Finnish Air Force is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions...

 purchased twelve aircraft from France in 1920. Six of these were built in Finland by Santahaminan ilmailutelakka (today a part of Patria Aviation) between 1921 and 1923. Two aircraft and spares were purchased from Flyg Aktiebolaget on April 26, 1923 (production numbers 6 and 4396) together with a Caudron G.4 for 100,000 Finnish markka. The aircraft was easy to fly and repair and thus very suitable as a trainer. The Finnish-constructed aircraft had worse flying characteristics than the French machines due to a bad wing profile. The FAF used a total of 19 Caudron G.3 aircraft, which carried the designation codes 2A.490 - 2A.495, later 1B.1 - 1B.7 and 1D.8 - 1D.12. Aircraft constructed in Finland carried designation codes 1D.12 and 1E.14 - 1E.18, and the one purchased from Flyg Aktiebolaget carried designation code 1B.19. The aircraft was called Tutankhamon in Finland. The G.3 was used by the FAF between 1920 and 1924.

: operated by 38 escadrilles.
 Greece:
 Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic):
 Empire of Japan:
: One aircraft only.
:Portuguese Air Force
Portuguese Air Force
The Portuguese Air Force is the air force of Portugal. Formed on July 1, 1952, with the Aeronáutica Militar and Aviação Naval united in a single independent Air Force, it is one of the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces and its origins dates back to 1912, when the military aviation...


:
 Kingdom of Romania:
 Russian Empire:
 Kingdom of Serbia:
  Kingdom of Spain: Spain purchased eighteen Caudron G.3 in June 1919. They were posted in flight schools in Getafe
Getafe
Getafe is a city in the southern zone of the Madrid metropolitan area, Spain, and one of the most populated and industrialized cities in the municipality. The city is home to one of the oldest Spanish military air bases, as well as the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid...

, Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

 and Los Alcázares
Los Alcázares
Los Alcázares - pronounced Los Al-Katha-Res is a small, but expanding coastal spa town and former fishing village on the Western side of the Mar Menor in the autonomous community and province of Murcia, southeastern Spain....

. These planes remained in service until they were replaced by Avro 504
Avro 504
The Avro 504 was a World War I biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the War totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in World War I, in any military capacity, during...

 K in 1924.
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:
  • Royal Flying Corps
    Royal Flying Corps
    The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

    • No. 1 Squadron RFC
      No. 1 Squadron RAF
      No. 1 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It operated the Harrier GR9 from RAF Cottesmore until 28 January 2011.The squadron motto is In omnibus princeps , appropriate for the RAF's oldest squadron and one that has been involved in almost every major British military operation since...

    • No. 4 Squadron RFC
    • No. 5 Squadron RFC
      No. 5 Squadron RAF
      No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the operator of the new Sentinel R1 Airborne STand-Off Radar aircraft and is based at RAF Waddington.-History:As No...

    • No. 19 Squadron RFC
    • No. 23 Squadron RFC
      No. 23 Squadron RAF
      No. 23 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. Until October 2009, it operated the Boeing Sentry AEW1 Airborne Warning And Control System aircraft from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire.-First World War:...

    • No. 25 Squadron RFC
    • No. 29 Squadron RFC
      No. 29 Squadron RAF
      No. 29 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was first raised in 1915, and is one of the world's oldest fighter squadrons. The second British squadron to receive the Eurofighter Typhoon, it is currently the Operational Conversion Unit for the RAF's newest fighter.-Service in World War I:This unit was...


 United States:
 Venezuela:

Specifications (G.3)

External links

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