WOW534 CAUDRON G.3

Description

Caudron G.3

The Caudron G.3 was designed by René and Gaston Caudron as a development of their earlier Caudron G.2 for military use. It first flew in May 1914.

The aircraft had a short crew nacelle, with a single engine in the nose of the nacelle, and an open tailboom truss. It was of sesquiplane layout, and used wing warping for lateral control, although this was replaced by conventional ailerons fitted on the upper wing in late production aircraft. Usually, the G.3 was not armed, although sometimes light machine guns and small bombs were fitted.

It was ordered in large quantities following the outbreak of the First World War with the Caudron factories building 1423 of the 2450 built in France. 233 were also built in England and 166 built in Italy along with several other countries. The Caudron brothers did not charge a licensing fee for the design, as an act of patriotism.

It was followed in production by the Caudron G.4 which was a twin-engined development and much larger.

The G.3 equipped Escadrille C.11 of the French military at the outbreak of war, and was well-suited for reconnaissance use, proving stable and having good visibility. As the war progressed, its performance and lack of armament made it too vulnerable for front line service, against newer German aircraft and it was withdrawn from front line operations in mid-1916.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 (continuing operations until October 1917), who fitted some with light bombs and machine guns for ground attack. The Australian Flying Corps operated the G.3 during the Desert of 1915–16.

It continued in use as a trainer until well after the end of the war. Chinese warlord Caudron G.3s remained in service as trainers until the Mukden incident of 1931, when many were captured by the Japanese.

In 1921 Adrienne Bolland, a French test pilot working for Caudron, made the first crossing of the Andes by a woman, flying between Argentina and Chile in a G.3.

Now I am not biased as I love all of our warbirds equally but this has to be one of the most intricate and beautifully detailed 1/30 scale Mahogany WW1 birds we have ever made. Its a pure delight to look at and hold. We know its not cheap, its reassuringly expensive, but then in our opinion its worth every penny.

The TG/K&C/JJD figures in the photos are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.