The Göppingen Gö 4 or Goevier is a German

sailplane A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplan ...

of the late 1930s used for training pilots. Its most notable features include side-by-side seating and dual controls, making the plane ideal for use as a trainer. It boasted average performance, compared to other gliders of the day, and was advertised as making the process of learning to fly sailplanes easier.

Design and development

The Goevier (or Gövier; Gö 4 read aloud in German) was designed as a modern trainer with side-by-side seating for easy communication between student and tutor, with performance comparable to that of the intermediate single seat trainers of the day such as the Grunau Baby and Göppingen Gö 1 Wolf. Its glide angle of 19:1 was rather better than that of both these aircraft (17:1). It is a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

mid-wing monoplane. The wing has a single spar and a

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

covered D-box nose; aft of the spar the wing is fabric covered. The centre section is of constant chord and the outer panels tapered, with sweep on both edges. Here the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

carries long span, broad chord

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

with curved edges which extend aft of the centre section trailing edge, giving a roughly elliptical plan. The side-by-side seat arrangement inevitably makes the front

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

wider (945 mm; 37.4 in externally) than that of a single or

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

seat aircraft, though as the seats are just ahead of the main spar and the mid-wing placed at shoulder height, the interior opening into the wing roots provides extra working space. These roots were early examples of the use of plastics in gliders, formed from hessian soaked in

phenolic resins Phenol formaldehyde resins (PF), also called phenolic resins or phenoplasts, are synthetic polymers obtained by the reaction of phenol or substituted phenol with formaldehyde. Used as the basis for Bakelite, PFs were the first commercial synthetic ...

and shaped in a mould. The cockpit is enclosed with glazing and its roof line runs smoothly into that of the upper fuselage above the wing. The fuselage, plywood covered all over, tapers to the tail where the cross-section is shield shaped. The ply covered tailplane is mounted on a small step above the fuselage; together with the fabric covered

elevators An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...

the horizontal tail is trapezoidal in plan with rounded tips. The fin and rudder were altered several times during the development of the Goevier, initially with both broad and with the fin extending forward to the leading edge of the tailplane, but on all production models it is narrow and upright, carrying several slightly different rudder designs. From 1941 the rudder was aerodynamically

balanced In telecommunications and professional audio, a balanced line or balanced signal pair is an electrical circuit consisting of two conductors of the same type, both of which have equal impedances along their lengths, to ground, and to other c ...

. The Goevier lands on a monowheel undercarriage, with a skid reaching forward from it to the nose and with a small tail skid. The Goevier V-1 made its first flight on 30 November 1937, piloted by Heinz Kensche. It was often towed by a Klemm Kl 25. Production began at Göppingen the following October.

Operational history

In a flight covering 1–3 June 1939, Josef Füringer and Hofmann flew a Goevier to a new world duration record of 49 h 45 min. A Goevier was used to develop the now ubiquitous

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 "Sport ...

airbrake with its

parallel ruler Parallel rulers are a Technical drawing, drafting instrument used by navigators to draw parallel lines on charts. The tool consists of two straight edges joined by two arms which allow them to move closer or further away while always remaining pa ...

action. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the Goevier was the standard advanced trainer with both the

National Socialist Flyers Corps The National Socialist Flyers Corps (; NSFK) was a paramilitary aviation organization of the Nazi Party. History NSFK was founded 15 April 1937 as a successor to the German Air Sports Association; the latter had been active during the years when ...

and the Werrmacht Luft gliding units. Goeviers have been regular attendees at Veteran Glider meetings in the later part of the last century. In 2010 one Goevier II and four Goevier IIIs remained on the civil registers of European countries, three in Germany and two in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Variants

Data from The ''Göppingen Gö 4 (GOEVIER)'', ''Der berühmtesten Segelfluzeuge'', and ''Sailplanes 1920-1945'' ;Goevier I: Prototype V-1. Length 6.74 m (22 ft 1 in), span 14.80 m (48 ft 6.7 in). Broad fin and rudder. ;Goevier II: Production model before and during World War II. About 100, possibly more, built before February 1941. Another 6 were built by

Fokker Fokker (; ) was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1912 to 1996. The company was founded by the Dutch aviator Anthony Fokker and became famous during World War I for its fighter aircraft. During its most successful period in the 19 ...

immediately post-war. Length 7.26 m (23 ft 10 in), span 14.73 m (48 ft 4 in). Narrower fin and rudder. From 1941 with horn-balanced and slightly less rounded rudder on same fin. ;Goevier III: (aka Hirth-Hütter Goevier III) – Dipl.-Ing. Wolf Hirth/Wolfgang Hütter.Post-war production model, prototype V-2. About 20 built. As later Goevier II but length 6.24 m (20 ft 5.6 in). ; Hirth Hi-20 MoSe: Powered, self launching version completed in 1941. Retractable propeller.

Aircraft on display

Of the several surviving airframes, the following are on public static display. *Goevier II: ''OE-0104'', ''Aviaticum''

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; Lower_Austria.html" ;"title=".e. Lower Austria">.e. Lower Austria , ) is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administr ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

*Goevier III: ''D-6007'', ''Deutsches Museum - Flugwerft Schleissheim'', Oberschleissheim, Germany *Goevier III: ''D-1084'', ''Deutsches Segelflugmuseum mit Modellflug'',

Wasserkuppe The Wasserkuppe (;) is the highest mountain in the Rhön Mountains, Rhön range and the tallest elevation in the Germany, German state of Hesse, standing at above sea level. It forms a prominent plateau within the Fulda district and is known as ...

, Germany

Specifications (Gö 4 III)

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goppingen Go 4 1930s German sailplanes Aircraft first flown in 1937 Mid-wing aircraft