| Research Notes:
Sir Thomas Sopwith
a contemporary of the Wright Brothers whose 101-year life spanned aviation
history. You'll read of his Camel and Pup that revolutionized aerial combat in
WWI; of his Hurricane and Lancaster, which were amongst the most successful
designs of WWII; and of the remarkable Harrier "jump jet," which emerged from an
industrial empire that employed up to 127,000 people.
The Camel was perhaps the best Allied fighter of WWI, successfully downing
1,924 aircraft in only 16 months of fighting. It was known for being
extremely agile and for having a fast rate of climb, and perhaps most
notably, the great Baron von Richthofen fell to the guns of a 209 Squadron
RAF Camel flown by Canadian Roy Brown in 1918.
The Camel had great agility in combat because
of the fantastic torque of its rotary engine and because the engine, pilot
and guns were all located in the first seven feet of the wooden airframe.
No.10 Squadron was formed in February 1917 as part
of the rapid naval aviation expansion program on the Western Front.
Captain Elliot Springs, 16-victory WWI ace and
one of the most colorful American flyers of the war, leads the 148th Aero
Squadron.
British and Empire Aces of World War I, Shores.
While the Allies and their adversaries raced to outdo each other in the creation
of genuinely effective fighters in WWI, it was not until 1917 that the British
developed a truly effective interrupter gear, paving the way for the Sopwith
Camel, S.E.5 and Bristol F.2B.
The 17th Aero Squadron in World War I. Reed &
Roland. The 17th Aero Squadron flew Sopwith Camels under British command along
the Western Front during the summer of 1918.
The last of the famous Sopwith fighters to enter
service during WWI, the Dolphin and the Snipe built on the strong scouting
heritage of the Pup and Camel. The Dolphin, a heavily-armed,
negative-staggered-wing biplane, provided the pilot with the best possible
tactical view for seeking the enemy. The Snipe succeeded the Camel in August
1918 and proved its superiority over virtually all other fighters.
Sopwith Camels, each carrying 250-pound bombs,
take to the skies from HMS Furious - the first dedicated aircraft carrier in the
world - on a raid against the German Zeppelin sheds at Tondern. Carried out on
July 19, 1918, this was the first successful bombing raid ever to be launched
from a carrier.
The Sopwith Camel is widely recognized as the
most successful allied fighter of the Great War. Of the men who flew them
exclusively, one name stands out above the rest - Major Donald R. MacLaren, who
achieved 54 victories, the final nine of which were scored in this machine.
Captain R.A. Little, the RNAS' highest-scoring
ace with a total of 47 victories, achieves one of the 15 attained while flying a
Sopwith Triplane with No. 8 Squadron RNAS between April and July 1917
The Camel was the most successful fighting scout
employed by either side in WWI, responsible for destroying 1,294 enemy aircraft.
Requiring highly skilled pilots, many pilots were lost learning to fly the
nimble aircraft.
The family of Sopwith fighters served England,
France and the U.S. throughout World War I, with the 1½ Strutter, the Pup, the
Camel the Snipe and others becoming classics of the period.
Sopwith Pup, the first proper British fighting
scout that - though achieving much success after it arrived on the Western front
in 1916 - saw its final combat at the end of 1917 when it ceded the skies to the
even more famous and successful Sopwith Camel. |
