Goebel Goe.III in operational use

[Greybeard]

I was intrigued reading NACA technical memory No.11 about Goebel rotaries by Goe.III, there mentioned as the sole that reached the front.

I found it interesting on a technical ground since an "over-dimensioned" (similar to overcompressed ones, based on a slightly different concept) I know it developed 160 PS at sea level and 200 PS at 2100 m. Surprisingly, it retained automatic inlet valves on piston head, discarded years before by Gnome.

I wonder what was mentioned use at the front, on what airplanes and in what number.

GB

[YavorD]

A Report from RAF Technical Branch (PRO file AIR1/2094/207/12/17) is partially reproduced within Paul Leaman's "Fokker Aircraft of World War One", The Crowood Press, 2001, ISBN 1 86126 353 8.
According to this report

...rotaries which have been installed on Fokker monoplanes [E.V/D.VIII] are:

• Oberursel 110 hp;
• Oberursel 140 hp (11 cylinders);
• Goero [Goebel Rotary] 160 hp;
• Siemens [-Halske] 160 hp.

Regards,
Yavor

[Greybeard]

Thanks Yavor.

It looks it saw very little operational use.

GB

[YavorD]

Goe.III is listed as an option, but probably never used operationally. NACA Technical Memorandum No.11 is translation from a brief magazine article focused on Goe.V and VI post-war engines.
The British report listing Goe.III as a possible option is not enough to prove is it actually used.
I will be glad to see more reliable source of information.

Regards,
Yavor

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Greybeard:
While it was being considered for service use in 1918 and its late arrival, it did not see front service.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[Greybeard]

Thanks, Dan!

GB

[Bletchley]

There may have been two different engine variants: a 160 hp Goe.III and a 200 hp Goe.IIIa (according to J M Bruce's 'The Fokker D.VIII' Profile Pub. no.67).

A Fokker V.28 with a 160 hp Goe.III was flown at the second Adlershof fighter trials in June 1918, and climbed to 6,000m in 16 m. A production order was placed for V.28 with the 200 hp version, but as it had not been fully tested and cleared for operational use the 110 hp Thulin built Le Rhone (from remaining stocks) and Oberursel UR.II were substituted (designated EV):

"If hostilities had continued into 1919 the Fok.DVIII might have proved to be a thorn in the Allied flesh; particularly so because by then the 145 hp Oberursel UR.III and 200 hp Goebel Goe.IIIa engines would have been available ... installations of these engines are known to have been made in 697/18 and 692/18 respectively .... a Schwade supercharger had been developed for use on the [D.VIII] type following successful tests on a Fok. Dr.I in 1918"

Bletchley

[Greybeard]

Thanks, Bletchley, interesting info.

GB

[Taz]

Bletchley- The Thulin Le Rhone in wide service is a myth perpetrated by Weyl in Fokker: The Productive Years. The original order for the Fok E.V called for either an 11 cylinder Oberursel Ur.III or a 9 cylinder Goebel Goe.III. When neither was available in sufficient quantities for series production, Ur.IIs were fitted. Ur.IIs continued to be built by Oberursel. Rhemag-Rhenania, and even Mercedes until the war ended.

Taz
Terry Phillips

[Bletchley]

Thank you for the correction Taz - yes, I believe the Profile publications that I have are now a bit dated, and I expect J M Bruce must have used Weyl as his source.

Bletchley