Sopwith Camel

This article deals with the British fighter plane, for the band named after it see Sopwith Camel (band) .

Sopwith Camel
Sopwith F.1 Camel
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	United Kingdom
Manufacturer:	Sopwith Aviation Company
First flight:	December 1916
Number of pieces:	5490

Sopwith 2F.1 (marine version)

The Sopwith F.1 Camel is a biplane and is considered the most successful British fighter aircraft of the First World War . It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company . With it, Allied pilots succeeded in shooting down 1,294 aircraft of the Central Powers.

development

The Camel was a larger and heavier development of the Sopwith Pup . The official name was Sopwith Biplane F.1 ; The plane got the nickname Camel because of the hump-like fairings of the two machine guns. At a not exactly known time, the nickname became the official name.

The first flight was in December 1916.

A total of 5490 pieces of this aircraft were made, some of which still exist today.

construction

The hull was made of wood. The planking consisted of metal in the front area, while the area behind the cockpit was planked with plywood. The rest of the fuselage was covered with fabric.

The plane was a single-handled biplane . The wings were made of wood with fabric covering and had two spars. All wings were equipped with ailerons.

The tail unit was constructed in a braced normal construction. Wood was also used as a material. The covering was made of fabric.

The aircraft had a rigid landing gear with a continuous axle and a tail spur .

commitment

The concentration of the masses (engine, pilot, armament and fuel) around the center of gravity resulted in an extremely manoeuvrable aircraft - at least when it flew clockwise with the rotational direction of the rotary engine . Not all pilots could handle it; the pattern was considered very difficult to fly, and losses in training were higher than combat losses.

On July 19, 1918, seven camels loaded with bombs from the first aircraft carrier, HMS Furious, launched an attack on the German airship hangars in Tondern . The airships L 54 and L 60 and their halls were destroyed in the attack. This was the first carrier air strike in history.

The name of the Canadian flying ace Major William George Barker , who scored a total of 52 kills, remains associated with the Camel . He got 44 in the Camel with the serial number B6313, most of them in Italy in the fight against Austria-Hungary. This made the B6313 the most successful single aircraft of the First World War.

Performance comparison

Performance comparison of single-seaters in the front line at the end of the First World War :

Surname	Country	First flight	Commissioning	Engine power	Max. speed	Takeoff mass	Armament ( MG )	Summit height	number of pieces
Albatros D.III	German Empire	1916-08-01	1917-01-15	170 hp	165 km / h	886 kg	2	5,500 m	1352
SE5a	United Kingdom	1916-11-22	1917-03-15	200 hp	222 km / h	880 kg	2	5,185 m	5205
Sopwith Camel	United Kingdom	1916-12-31	1917-06-15	130 hp	185 km / h	659 kg	2	5,791 m	5490
Sopwith Dolphin	United Kingdom	1917-03-23	1918-02-15	200 hp	211 km / h	890 kg	2	6,100 m	2072
Albatros D.Va	German Empire	1917-04-15	1917-07-15	185 hp	187 km / h	937 kg	2	6,250 m	2562
Palatinate D.IIIa	German Empire	1917-04-15	1917-08-15	180 hp	181 km / h	834 kg	2	6,000 m	750
SPAD S.XIII	France	1917-04-30	1917-05-31	220 hp	222 km / h	820 kg	2	6,650 m	8472
Nieuport 28	France	1917-06-14	1918-03-15	160 hp	195 km / h	740 kg	2	5,200 m	300
Fokker Dr.I	German Empire	1917-07-05	1917-09-01	130 hp	160 km / h	585 kg	2	6,500 m	420
Sopwith Snipe	United Kingdom	1917-10-31	1918-08-30	230 hp	195 km / h	955 kg	2	6,100 m	497
LFG Roland D.VIa	German Empire	1917-11-30	1918-05-15	160 hp	190 km / h	820 kg	2	5,500 m	353
Siemens-Schuckert D.IV	German Empire	1917-12-31	1918-08-15	160 hp	190 km / h	735 kg	2	8,000 m	123
Fokker D.VII	German Empire	1918-01-24	1918-04-15	180 hp	189 km / h	910 kg	2	6,000 m	800
Fokker D.VIIF	German Empire	1918-01-24	1918-04-15	226 hp	205 km / h	910 kg	2	7,000 m	200
Palatinate D.VIII	German Empire	1918-01-24	1918-09-15	160 hp	190 km / h	740 kg	2	7,500 m	120
Palatinate D.XII	German Empire	1918-03-31	1918-07-15	160 hp	180 km / h	902 kg	2	5,640 m	750
Fokker D.VIII	German Empire	1918-05-31	1918-07-31	110 hp	204 km / h	605 kg	2	6,300 m	289

Technical specifications

Three-sided view of Sopwith F.1

9-cylinder rotary engine Clerget 9 B

Parameter	Data
crew	1
length	5.72 m
span	8.53 m
height	2.59 m
Wing area	21.45 m²
Empty mass	421 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	659 kg
Top speed	185 km / h
Service ceiling	5791 m
Range	230 km
Engines	1 × rotary engine Clerget 9 B with 130  PS (96  kW )
Armament	two synchronized 7.7 mm Vicker machine guns (F.1), or two 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns on the upper wing (2F.1, see picture) up to four 11.3 kg bombs

Trivia

The Sopwith Camel plays a role in the comic series The Peanuts . The dog Snoopy uses his dog house as a Sopwith Camel and denies the First World War aerial combat against the Red Baron .

The Sopwith Camel is mentioned several times in the book Percy Jackson - The Curse of the Titan by Rick Riordan .

The Sopwith Camel was recognized in Microsoft Flight Simulator 3.0 .

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Melvyn Hiscock: Fokker, Sopwith & Co. HEEL Verlag, Königswinter 1995, ISBN 3-89365-426-7 .
• Scale Aircraft Drawings. Volume 1: World War I. Air Age Inc., Wilton, CT 1986, ISBN 0-911295-02-X .

Web links

Commons : Sopwith Camel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sopwith Camel of No 45 Sqn RFC, 1917
• Flight demonstration of a Sopwith Camel (replica)
• Sopwith in Russia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Robert Jackson: Britain's Greatest Aircraft . Pen and Sword, Barnsley 2007, ISBN 1-84415-600-1 . , Page 2