The Gotha Bomber was produced in the autumn of 1916 when the limitations of the Zeppelin as a raider had become obvious. The German High Command ordered that 30 Gotha bombers were to be ready for a daylight raid on London on February 1st 1917 but the machines were not ready until May. The first daylight raid on London was carried out by 14 Gothas on June 13th 1917. On July 7th 22 Gothas raided London. Night raids began in August of 1917 and continued until May 1918 when they were abandoned because of the increasingly heavy losses. At peak employment in April 1918 36 G.Vs were in service.Operational use of the G.IV demonstrated that the incorporation of the fuel tanks into the engine nacelles was a mistake. In a crash landing the tanks could rupture and spill fuel onto the hot engines. This posed a serious problem because landing accidents caused 75 of operational losses. Gothaer produced the G.V which housed its fuel tanks in the center of the fuselage. The smaller engine nacelles were mounted on struts above the lower wing.Read moreThe Gothas pilot seat was offset to starboard with the bomb bay immediately behind. This allowed for a connecting walkway on the port side allowing crew members to move between the three gun stations. The Gotha included an important innovation in the form of a gun tunnel whereby the underside of the rear fuselage was arched allowing placement of a rearward facing machine gun protecting from attack from below removing the blind spot.The G.V entered service in August 1917. It offered no performance improvement over the G.IV. The G.V was up to 450 kg 990 lb heavier than the G.IV due to additional equipment and the use of insufficiently seasoned timber. Inferior quality fuel prevented the Mercedes D.IVa engines from producing the rated 190 kW 260 hp. For these reasons the G.V generally operated at much lower altitudes than the G.IV.In February 1918 Gothaer tested a compound tail unit with biplane horizontal stabilizers and twin rudders. The