Air Vanguard 03 - Sopwith Camel.pdf

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SOPWITH CAMEL
JON GUTTMAN
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
AIR VANGUARD 3
SOPWITH CAMEL
JON GUTTMAN
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS AND VARIANTS
Sopwith Camel performance figures
Flying the Camel
Night Fighters and Comics
A Camel (re)built for two
Monoplanes
Trench Fighter 1
The shipboard Camel
4
4
13
OPERATIONAL HISTORY
Western Front
Italy
The East
Carrier operations
Post-war Camels
32
CONCLUSION
FURTHER READING
INDEX
61
63
64
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
SOPWITH CAMEL
INTRODUCTION
When the average person hears about World War I in the air, among the first
names that come readily to mind is ‘Sopwith Camel’. Its iconic status may be
somewhat exaggerated, but there is no question that the Camel was among
the most produced, versatile and ubiquitous combat aeroplanes of its time,
serving over land and sea from England to Mesopotamia, as well as post-war
revolution-convulsed Russia. Camels sallied forth from frontline aerodromes
to take on all opposition from Flanders to the Champagne. Night-fighting
Camels and even more extensively modified Comics rose from airfields in
England to defend its cities from bombing raids by Zeppelin airships, Gothas
and Zeppelin-Staaken giants, while other Camels, acting as pioneering night
intruders, tried to ambush them as they returned to their own aerodromes.
Sopwith 2F1 ‘Ships Camels’ shot up from carrier decks and towed lighters to
engage enemy aircraft at sea – and in one case, to carry out a seaborne airstrike
on an airship base.
Those who delve deeper into the Camel mystique – past its evocative name
– find a curiously ambiguous attitude toward its flying characteristics. In stark
contrast to its predecessor, the much-loved Pup, the Camel was described as a
constant handful to fly, unforgiving and even vicious to the complacent and
careless. Yet many of those who mastered its quirks revered the Camel as a
breathtaking aerobat and a peerless dogfighter, and regarded themselves as
something of a privileged fraternity, similar to pilots who got to take the
controls of a Supermarine Spitfire in the next war.
The Camel was by no means the most aesthetically pleasing aeroplane to
take to the sky in 1917. It was, however, among the most evocative of its era
– and equally evocative of strong feelings from both its pilots and its
adversaries. From its own era through the mists of time to the present, from
dread to admiration, the one reaction that the sight, sound or image of a
Sopwith Camel does not evoke is indifference.
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
The line of fighting aircraft associated with Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith
began with the Sopwith Tabloid, a sport aeroplane that seated two – a pilot
to the left of his passenger – under the upper wing. A boxy looking but
compact single-bay biplane of wood and canvas whose wing cellule was held
4
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Key
1.
Aileron connecting cable
2.
Right upper aileron
3.
Upper wing cutout
4.
Aldis gunsight
5.
Control column
6.
Cocking lever
7.
Pilot’s basketwork seat
8.
Fuselage longeron
9.
Auxiliary fuel tank
10.
Main fuel tank
11.
Dorsal stringer
12.
Fuselage longeron
13.
Vertical stabilizer
14.
Rudder
15.
Elevator
16.
Horizontal stabilizer
17.
Tail skid
18.
Interplane strut
19.
Pilot’s foot step
20.
Main wing spars
21.
Wing rib
22.
Ammunition box
23.
Carburetor air intake
24.
Wind driven fuel pressurizing pump
25.
Ammunition ejection chute
26.
Spoked wheel
27.
Undercarriage strut
28.
Axle
29.
130-hp Clerget 9B rotary engine
30.
Oil tank
31.
Lang propeller
32.
.303-inch Vickers machine guns
31
32
3
4
1
2
5
30
29
25
28
27
26
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