The Göppingen Gö 8 was a 1/5 scale model of the

Dornier Do 214 The Dornier Do 214 was a proposed large long-range flying boat, developed by Dornier in World War II. Development Originally designed as the Do P.93 for passenger transatlantic service from Lisbon to New York, the Do 214 was redesigned as t ...

, a large projected trans-atlantic long-range flying boat, designed by Dornier Werke GmbH in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The Gö 8 was used primarily to validate the hydro-dynamic and aerodynamic properties of the Do 214.

Design and development

The Gö 8 was designed and built by

Wolf Hirth Wolfram Kurt Erhard Hirth (28 February 1900 – 25 July 1959) was a German gliding pioneer and sailplane designer. He was a co-founder of Schempp-Hirth, still a renowned glider manufacturer.Segelflugbildkalendar 2011 Hirth was born in Stuttgart ...

and Ulrich Hütter /

Schempp-Hirth Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany. History Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth. The company was initially called "Sportfl ...

Göppingen Göppingen (Swabian: ''Geppenge'' or ''Gebbenga'') is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the bi ...

. Construction was primarily of wood, with smooth surfaces, replicating the planing surfaces in scale. A retractable

tailwheel Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

undercarriage was installed in the hull. The pilot sat under a long greenhouse canopy which followed the profiles of the proposed Do 214, giving good visibility. Accommodation for a flight test engineer was provided in the hull behind the pilot.

Operational history

The Gö 8 flight trials were undertaken at

Oberpfaffenhofen Oberpfaffenhofen is a village that is part of the municipality of Weßling in the district of Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is located about from the city center of Munich. Village The village is home to the Oberpfaffenhofen Airport and a m ...

, with

hydrodynamic In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including '' aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) a ...

testing on

Bodensee Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lak ...

, towed by a motorboat. Further aerodynamic testing was carried out at the Göttingen aeronautical research laboratory.

Specifications (Gö 8)

References

External links

Planeurs : Göppingen Gö-8
{{RLM aircraft designations 1940s German experimental aircraft Glider aircraft Flying boats