"use ""C"" (Nieuport 17 C.1). Although the term ""fighter"" specifies aircraft designed to shoot down other aircraft, such designs are often also useful as multirole fighter-bombers, strike fighters, and sometimes lighter, fighter-sized tactical ground-attack aircraft. This has always been the case, for instance the Sopwith Camel and other ""fighting scouts"" of World War I performed a great deal of ground-attack work. In World War II, the USAAF and RAF often favored fighters over dedicated light bombers or dive bombers, and types such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Hawker Hurricane that were no longer competitive as aerial combat fighters were"
"animal names (Camel, Dolphin, Snipe etc.), which ended up with the Sopwith firm being said to have created a ""flying zoo"" during the First World War. Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup was a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful. The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German fighters, but it was not completely replaced on the Western Front until the end of 1917. Remaining"
"Sopwith Bat Boat The Sopwith Bat Boats were British flying boats designed and built from 1912 to 1914. A single-engined pusher biplane, the Bat Boat was the first successful flying boat and amphibious aircraft built in the United Kingdom, with examples used by the Royal Navy and by Greece and Germany. In summer 1912, the British pioneer aviator Thomas Sopwith, also a keen yachtman and power-boat racer, started design of a flying boat, to be called the ""Bat Boat"" after a flying machine in Rudyard Kipling's short story ""With the Night Mail"", to combine his interests in aviation and the"
"Sopwith 1½ Strutter The Sopwith Strutter was a British single- or two-seat multi-role biplane aircraft of the First World War. It was significant as the first British two-seat tractor fighter and the first British aircraft to enter service with a synchronised machine gun. It was given the name Strutter because of the long and short cabane struts that supported the top wing. The type was operated by both British air services and was in widespread but lacklustre service with the French ""Aéronautique Militaire"". In December 1914, the Sopwith Aviation Company designed a small, two-seat biplane powered by an Gnome rotary"
"Sopwith Dragon The Sopwith Dragon was a British single-seat fighter biplane developed from the Sopwith Snipe. In April 1918, the sixth Snipe prototype was fitted with a 320 hp (239 kW) ABC Dragonfly I radial engine. To compensate for the greater weight of the Dragonfly, the fuselage was lengthened by 22 in (56 cm). The prototype suffered persistent ignition system defects, but performance was encouraging when the Dragonfly engine operated properly. In June 1918, the Royal Air Force issued a contract for 30 Dragonfly-engined Snipes, which were subsequently named Dragons. In late November 1918, the RAF cancelled a production order"
"Sopwith Cuckoo The Sopwith T.1 Cuckoo was a British biplane torpedo bomber used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and its successor organization, the Royal Air Force (RAF). The T.1 was the first landplane specifically designed for carrier operations, but it was completed too late for service in the First World War. After the Armistice, the T.1 was named the Cuckoo. In October 1916, Commodore Murray Sueter, the Air Department's Superintendent of Aircraft Construction, solicited Sopwith for a single-seat aircraft capable of carrying a 1,000 lb torpedo and sufficient fuel to provide an endurance of four hours. The resulting"
"Sopwith Bulldog The Sopwith 2FR.2 Bulldog was a prototype British two-seat fighter of the First World War. A single-engined biplane, the Bulldog was a fighter/reconnaissance aircraft intended to replace the Bristol F.2 Fighter, but was unsuccessful, with no replacement for the Bristol Fighter being purchased. In August 1917, the Sopwith Aviation Company started design of a two-seat fighter reconnaissance aircraft intended to replace the Bristol F.2 Fighter, and received permission to build prototypes of the Sopwith FR.2. It was intended to power the FR.2 with a 200 hp (149 kW) Hispano-Suiza 8 water-cooled V-8 engine, but the Hispano was in"
"Sopwith Sociable The Sopwith Sociable (or sometimes Churchill or Tweenie) was a British single-engined two-seat tractor configuration biplane designed and built by Sopwith for the Royal Naval Air Service. The Sociable, so called because the crew were seated side-by side rather than in tandem, was ordered by the British Admiralty for use as a training aircraft by the Royal Naval Air Service. It was two-bay biplane powered by a Gnome Monosoupape radial. The Sociable was given serial number ""149"" by the Admiralty and first flew from Brooklands on 17 February 1914. Two days after its first flight, the Sociable was"
"Sopwith Three-seater The Sopwith Three-seater was a British aircraft designed and built prior to the start of the First World War. One of the first aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company, it was operated by both the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), being used briefly over Belgium by the RNAS following the start of the War. In 1912, Thomas Sopwith, who had learned to fly during 1910 and had set up a flying school at Brooklands, built a tractor configuration biplane using the wings from a Wright Biplane and the fuselage and tail"
"Salamander armoured ground-attack development of the Snipe, but these types were too late to see action. Many other experimental prototypes were produced throughout the war, mostly named after animals (Hippo, Gnu etc.), leading to some referring to the 'Sopwith Zoo'. Following World War I, the Sopwith Snipe was chosen as the standard fighter of the much-reduced Royal Air Force, and soldiered on until finally replaced in the late 1920s. Sopwith Aviation Company The Sopwith Aviation Company later Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service,"
"Sopwith Aviation Company The Sopwith Aviation Company later Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Flying Corps and later Royal Air Force in the First World War, most famously the Sopwith Camel. Sopwith aircraft were also used in varying numbers by the French, Belgian, and American air services during the War. In April 1919 the company was renamed Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Company Limited. In September 1920 the company entered voluntary liquidation after a move to build motorcycles failed. The patents and assets"
"Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Pup was a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful. The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German fighters, but it was not completely replaced on the Western Front until the end of 1917. Remaining Pups were relegated to Home Defence and training units. The Pup's docile flying characteristics also made it ideal for use in aircraft carrier deck landing and"
"Alcock Scout The Alcock Scout, a.k.a. A.1 and Sopwith Mouse, was a curious ""one-off"" experimental fighter biplane flown briefly during World War I. It was assembled by Flight Lieutenant John Alcock at Moudros, a Royal Naval Air Service base in the Aegean Sea. Alcock took the forward fuselage and lower wings of a Sopwith Triplane, the upper wings of a Sopwith Pup and the tailplane and elevators of a Sopwith Camel, and married them to a rear fuselage and vertical tail surface of original design (presumably by Alcock himself). It was powered by a 110 hp Clerget 9Z engine, and"
"at least March 1919 carrying out test flights in futile attempts to solve the problems of the Dragonfly. Sopwith Bulldog The Sopwith 2FR.2 Bulldog was a prototype British two-seat fighter of the First World War. A single-engined biplane, the Bulldog was a fighter/reconnaissance aircraft intended to replace the Bristol F.2 Fighter, but was unsuccessful, with no replacement for the Bristol Fighter being purchased. In August 1917, the Sopwith Aviation Company started design of a two-seat fighter reconnaissance aircraft intended to replace the Bristol F.2 Fighter, and received permission to build prototypes of the Sopwith FR.2. It was intended to power"
"Dragon was finally declared obsolete in April 1923. Sopwith Dragon The Sopwith Dragon was a British single-seat fighter biplane developed from the Sopwith Snipe. In April 1918, the sixth Snipe prototype was fitted with a 320 hp (239 kW) ABC Dragonfly I radial engine. To compensate for the greater weight of the Dragonfly, the fuselage was lengthened by 22 in (56 cm). The prototype suffered persistent ignition system defects, but performance was encouraging when the Dragonfly engine operated properly. In June 1918, the Royal Air Force issued a contract for 30 Dragonfly-engined Snipes, which were subsequently named Dragons. In late"
"installations and had built some early aircraft. Manning and Wright both had an interest in aviation and Manning joined his firm in December 1908. The company soon established itself as the foremost aircraft constructor in the United Kingdom and Manning became the Chief Designer. The company made aircraft for private individuals and other companies, more than nine in the last few months in 1909 and another six were completed in early 1910. The most successful design was a biplane (later called the Howard Wright 1910 Biplane) which flown by Thomas Sopwith won a £4,000 prize for the longest flight in"
"seven aircraft registered. Possibly one aircraft from Switzerland in 1926. Two aircraft, CH-53 registered 9 April 1921, cancelled 9 October 1923. CH-67 registered 5 December 1923, cancelled December 1926 as sold to Sweden. One civil registered aircraft, G-EAVB. Original Sopwith Strutter aircraft are preserved at the following locations. Sopwith 1½ Strutter The Sopwith Strutter was a British single- or two-seat multi-role biplane aircraft of the First World War. It was significant as the first British two-seat tractor fighter and the first British aircraft to enter service with a synchronised machine gun. It was given the name Strutter because of the"
"it operated Sopwith Pups. When the Royal Naval Air Service merged with the Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, it was renumbered as 213 Squadron. In this incarnation, it flew Sopwith Baby floatplanes and transitioned to Sopwith Camels. It was during this time that the squadron derived its Hornet insignia and motto for the squadron badge, after overhearing a Belgian General refer to the squadron's defence of his trenches, ""Like angry hornets attacking the enemy aircraft"". The Hornet became affectionately known as ""Crabro,"" Latin for hornet. The squadron's official motto became, ""Irritatus Lacessit Crabro"" (The Hornet Attacks"
"recognised that the new fighter needed to be faster and have a heavier armament. The design effort to produce this successor, initially designated as the ""Sopwith F.1"", was headed by Sopwith's chief designer, Herbert Smith. Early in its development, the new aircraft was simply referred to as the """"Big Pup"""". A metal fairing over the gun breeches, intended to protect the guns from freezing at altitude, created a ""hump"" that led pilots to call the aircraft ""Camel"", although this name was never used officially. On 22 December 1916, the prototype Camel was first flown by Harry Hawker at Brooklands, Weybridge,"
"handling, with the Snipe winning the Camel replacement competition. Only a single prototype was produced. Boulton & Paul Bobolink The Boulton & Paul P.3 Bobolink was a World War I British single-engined single-seat fighter aircraft. It was built by Boulton & Paul Ltd. The ""Bobolink"" was the first aeroplane designed by Boulton & Paul Limited of Norwich. The company was a manufacturer of wooden buildings but during World War I it, like many other companies, built aircraft under Ministry contracts. Aircraft built included the Sopwith 1½ Strutter and Sopwith Camel. The British Air Ministry requested proposals to replace the Sopwith"
"Sopwith Bee The Sopwith Bee was a small biplane built in 1916 as a personal aircraft for Harry Hawker, Sopwith's chief test pilot. The Bee was a single-bay biplane powered by a Gnome Omega rotary engine, intended for use by Hawker as a runabout and for aerobatics. As with contemporary Sopwith fighter aircraft, great effort was made to concentrate the heaviest components as close to the aircraft's centre of gravity in order to optimise manoeverability: this necessitated a large semi-circular cutout in the trailing edge of the upper wing to accommodate the pilot. Lateral control was achieved by wing-warping. The"
"Sopwith Tabloid The Sopwith Tabloid and Sopwith Schneider were British biplanes, originally designed as sports aircraft and later adapted for military use. They were among the first types to be built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. The ""Tabloid"", so named because of its small size, caused a sensation when it made its first public appearance. A floatplane variant was prepared and entered for the 1914 Schneider Trophy race; piloted by Howard Pixton. This aircraft comfortably won the competition, the prizewinning variant being known as the Sopwith Schneider. Production orders for both types were placed by the military, and although a"
"Sigrist, led the design of the company's types. Following a number of pre-war designs for the Royal Naval Air Service, such as the Three-seater and the Bat Boat, Sopwith's first major success was the fast and compact (hence the name) Tabloid, a design which first showed the influence of the company's test pilot, the Australian Harry Hawker. A float-equipped version of this aircraft won the Schneider Trophy in 1914. The landplane version was used by both the RNAS and RFC at the start of the war. With higher power and floats, the type evolved into the Sopwith Baby, which was"
"Sopwith B.1 The Sopwith B.1 was an experimental British bomber aircraft of the First World War. A single-seat, single-engined biplane, the B.1 was built by the Sopwith Aviation Company for the Royal Navy. Although only two were built, one was used for bombing raids over France. In late 1916, Sopwith, whose earlier 1½ Strutter had proved successful as a light bomber, (particularly when operated as a single seater), designed a new, single-engined bomber aircraft. The new bomber was developed in parallel with the Cuckoo carrier based torpedo bomber and closely resembled the Cuckoo. It, like the Cuckoo, was a compact"
"of a Coventry Ordnance Works biplane. and powered by a 70 hp (52 kW) Gnome Gamma rotary engine. The resulting aircraft, known as the Hybrid, first flew on 4 July 1912. The Hybrid was rebuilt in October 1912 and sold to the British Admiralty, being delivered in November 1912. When the Admiralty tendered further orders for an improved tractor biplane based on the design,Sopwith created the Sopwith Aviation Company, with a factory in a disused roller rink at Kingston upon Thames. The resulting aircraft, known variously as the Three-Seat Tractor Biplane, the Sopwith 80 hp Biplane, the Sopwith D1, or"
"Sopwith Salamander The Sopwith TF.2 Salamander was a British ground-attack aircraft of the First World War designed by the Sopwith Aviation Company which first flew in April 1918. It was a single-engined, single-seat biplane, based on the Sopwith Snipe fighter, with an armoured forward fuselage to protect the pilot and fuel system from ground fire during low level operations. It was ordered in large numbers for the Royal Air Force but the war ended before the type could enter squadron service, although two were in France in October 1918. In August 1917, the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) introduced the"
"remainder of the War. The Pup began the famous series of ""animal""-named Sopwith aircraft during the war, which, as a whole, would become renowned in aviation history as ""The Flying Zoo"". Experimentally equipped with three narrow-chord wings and a more powerful engine, the Pup led to the Triplane, which was used by just four squadrons of the RNAS during 1917, but became well known for its startling fighting qualities, put to best use by Raymond Collishaw's famous 'Black Flight' of 'Naval 10' (No. 10 Squadron RNAS). This flight was so called due to the black identification colour of the flight's"
"Sopwith Two-Seat Scout The Sopwith Two-Seat Scout (or Type 880) was a 1910s British biplane Anti-Zeppelin scout biplane designed and built for the Admiralty by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It was nicknamed the Spinning Jenny due to a tendency to enter a spin. First flown in November 1914 the Two-Seat Scout was developed from the 1914 Circuit of Britain seaplane. It was two-bay unswept biplane with equal span wings and ailerons fitted on all four wings and a braced tailplane and a single rudder. It had a fixed tailskid landing gear with a cross-axle type main gear with twin wheels"
"Sopwith Buffalo The Sopwith Buffalo was a British armoured fighter/reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War. A single-engined biplane, two examples of the Buffalo were built by Sopwith to carry out reconnaissance missions low over the trenches while protected against machine-gun fire from the ground, but no production followed, with the end of the war removing the need for such an aircraft. In July 1918, the British Air Ministry requested Sopwith, who was already building the Sopwith Salamander armoured single-seat ground attack fighter, to build an armoured two-seat aircraft to carry out the dangerous contact patrol mission. This mission involved"
"Sopwith Hippo The Sopwith 3F.2 Hippo was a prototype British two-seat fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was a single-engined biplane with considerable negative stagger. It was not successful, the Bristol F.2 Fighter (already in production) being preferred by the Royal Flying Corps. In the summer of 1917, the Sopwith Aviation Company designed a two-seat fighter aircraft, the 3F.2 Hippo, possibly to replace the Sopwith 1½ Strutter in French service. While the British Air Board did not place an order for the Hippo, it did grant Sopwith a licence to allow it to build prototypes as a private"
"Sopwith Baby The Sopwith Baby was a British single-seat tractor seaplane used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) from 1915. The Baby (also known as the Admiralty 8200 Type) was a development of the two-seat Sopwith Schneider. Although the Schneider had won the Schneider trophy in 1914, the RNAS did not place a formal order until January 1915. Sopwith's initial production version of the Baby differed little from the Schneider Trophy winner. The Baby utilized a wooden structure with fabric covering. A Lewis Gun was fitted, either above the fuselage firing through the propeller arc without the benefit of"
"carried a .303 Vickers machine gun. Affectionally referred to as the 'Sopwith Mouse' by Alcock and his fellow designers, Alcock never flew it himself, but squadron-mate FSL Norman Starbuck made a few flights in it, the first on 15 October 1917. However, it crashed in early 1918, was written off and never flew again. Alcock Scout The Alcock Scout, a.k.a. A.1 and Sopwith Mouse, was a curious ""one-off"" experimental fighter biplane flown briefly during World War I. It was assembled by Flight Lieutenant John Alcock at Moudros, a Royal Naval Air Service base in the Aegean Sea. Alcock took the"
"Sopwith Rhino The Sopwith 2B2 Rhino was a British two-seat triplane bomber designed and built by Sopwith Aviation Company as a private venture. The Rhino was powered by a Beardmore Halford Pullinger inline piston engine. Only two aircraft were built and the type did not enter production. In mid-1917, the Sopwith Aviation Company prepared a design for a single-engine bomber aircraft, the Sopwith Rhino. As it did not match any official specification, it received no orders from the Royal Flying Corps or Royal Naval Air Service, but Sopwith was granted a licence to allow it to build two prototypes as"