Sopwith 2F.1 Camel
A Sopwith Camel at the Imperial War Museum, London
Type	Biplane fighter
Manufacturer	Sopwith Aviation Company
Maiden flight	December 1916
Introduction	June 1917
Primary users	RFC (RAF) RNAS, AAF

The Sopwith Camel Scout is a British First World War single-seat fighter aircraft that was famous for its maneuverability. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2338x1397, 183 KB)A Sopwith Camel 2F1 bi-plane at the Imperial War Museum in London. ... The Imperial War Museum is a museum in London featuring military vehicles, weapons, war memorabilia, a library, a photographic archive, and an art collection of 20th century and later conflicts, especially those involving Britain, and the British Empire. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Hs123 biplane. ... An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ... An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft. ... The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service and later Royal Air Force in the First World War, most famously the Sopwith Camel. ... The Maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... An A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-86 Sabre, P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang fly in formation during an air show at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. ...

Design and development

Intended as a replacement for the Sopwith Pup, the Camel prototype first flew in December 1916, powered by a 110 hp Clerget 9Z. Known as the "Big Pup" early on in its development, the aircraft was armed with two .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns mounted in the cowl, firing forward through the propeller disc. A fairing surrounding the gun installation created a hump that led to the name Camel. The top wing was flat - but the bottom wing had dihedral, so that the gap between the wings was less at the tips than at the roots. The Sopwith Pup was a single seater biplane fighter aircraft used by Great Britain in the First World War. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... .303 cartridge The . ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled . ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... A Roman Catholic monk wearing a cowl The cowl (from the Latin, cuculla) is a long, outer garment, with wide sleeves, worn by Catholic monks when participating in the liturgy. ... For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation). ...

The type entered squadron service in June 1917 with No. 4 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service, near Dunkirk. The following month, it became operational with No. 70 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. By February 1918, 13 squadrons were fully equipped with the Camel. Approximately 5,500 were ultimately produced. Personnel of No 1 Squadron RNAS in late 1914 The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of World War I, when it merged with the British Armys Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to form the Royal Air Force. ... For other uses of Dunkirk or Dunkerque, see Dunkirk (disambiguation). ... The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of World War I. // Formed by Royal Warrant on 13 May 1912, the RFC superseded the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. ...

Operational history

Replica of Camel F.I flown by Lt. George A. Vaughn Jr., 17th Aero Squadron

This aircraft is currently displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force

Sopwith Camel, 1930s magazine illustration with the iconic British WWI fighter in a dogfight with a Fokker triplane

Unlike the preceding Pup and Triplane, the Camel was not considered pleasant to fly. The Camel owed its difficult handling characteristics to the grouping of the engine, pilot, guns, and fuel tank within the first seven feet of the aircraft, coupled with the strong gyroscopic effect of the rotary engine. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 541 pixel Image in higher resolution (1800 × 1218 pixel, file size: 448 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 541 pixel Image in higher resolution (1800 × 1218 pixel, file size: 448 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 545 pixel Image in higher resolution (1800 × 1226 pixel, file size: 420 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 545 pixel Image in higher resolution (1800 × 1226 pixel, file size: 420 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) source: http://www. ... The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official national museum of the United States Air Force and is located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Riverside, Ohio, just east of Dayton. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Sopwith Pup was a single seater biplane fighter aircraft used by Great Britain in the First World War. ... Sopwith Triplane Sopwith Triplane in the Aero Space Museum of Calgary. ... A gyroscope For other uses, see Gyroscope (disambiguation). ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The Camel soon gained an unfortunate reputation with student pilots. The Clerget engine was particularly sensitive to fuel mixture control, and incorrect settings often caused the engine to choke and cut out during takeoff. Many crashed due to mishandling on takeoff when a full fuel tank affected the center of gravity. In level flight, the Camel was markedly tail-heavy. Unlike the preceding Triplane, the Camel lacked a variable incidence tailplane. The pilot was therefore required to apply constant forward pressure on the control stick to maintain a level attitude at low altitude. However the machine could also be rigged in such a way that at higher altitudes it could be flown "hands off." A stall immediately resulted in a spin and the Camel was particularly noted for its vicious spinning characteristics. This page is a candidate to be moved to Wikibooks. ...

The Camel was nevertheless successful in combat. It offered heavier armament and better performance than the preceding Pup and Triplane. Its controls were light and sensitive. The Camel turned slowly to the left with a nose-up attitude, but turned very sharply to the right with a nose-down attitude. Because it was tail heavy, the plane also looped quickly. Agility in combat made the Camel one of the best remembered Allied aircraft of the First World War. It was said to offer a choice between a "wooden cross, red cross and Victoria Cross." Together with the S.E.5a, the Camel helped to wrest aerial superiority away from the German Albatros scouts. The Camel was credited with shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied scout. Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Victoria Cross (disambiguation). ... The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 was a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. ... Albatros-Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer that supplied the German airforces during World War I. The company was based in Johannisthal, Berlin, where it was founded in 1910. ...

Major William Barker's Sopwith Camel (serial no. B6313, the aircraft in which all his victories were scored,^[1]) became the most successful fighter aircraft in the history of the RAF, shooting down 46 aircraft & balloons from September 1917 to September 1918 in 404 operational hours flying. It was dismantled in October 1918. Barker kept the clock as a memento, although he was asked to return it the following day. Lt. ...

By mid-1918, the Camel was approaching obsolescence as a fighter, limited by its slow speed and comparatively poor performance over 12,000 feet (3650 m). It found a new lease of life as a ground-attack aircraft and infantry support weapon. During the German Offensive of March 1918, flights of Camels harassed the advancing German Army, inflicting high losses (and suffering high losses in turn) through the dropping of 25lb (11 kg) Cooper bombs and ultra-low-level strafing. The protracted development of the Camel's replacement, the Sopwith Snipe, meant that the Camel remained in service until the Armistice. The Sopwith Snipe was a single-seat bi-plane fighter of the Royal Air Corps (RAC), designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War and was arguably the definitive fighter of the Allied side by the end of World War I. // History The Snipe was...

In summer 1918, a 2F.1 Camel (N6814) was used in trials as a parasite fighter under Airship R23 An example of a parasite aircraft is the Boeing X-43 being dropped from under the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress. ... USS Akron (ZRS-4) in flight, November 2, 1931 An airship or dirigible is a buoyant lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air. ... No. ...

Variants

The Camel was powered by a variety of rotary engines during the production period.

• 130 hp Clerget 9B Rotary (standard powerplant)
• 140 hp Clerget 9Bf Rotary
• 110 hp Le Rhone 9J Rotary
• 150 hp Bentley BR1 Rotary (gave best performance - standard for R.N.A.S. machines)
• 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape 9B-2 Rotary
• 150 hp Gnome Monosoupape 9N Rotary

This page is a candidate to be moved to Wikibooks. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Le Rhône 9C Gnome et Rhône was a major French aircraft engine manufacturer. ... Le Rhône 9J, general view. ... The Bentley BR.1 was a British rotary aircraft engine of the First World War. ...

Engine variants

• With the Clerget rotary engine, the crankshaft remained fixed while the cylinders and attached propellor rotated around it. The result of this torque was a significant "pull" to the right. In the hands of an experienced pilot, this characteristic could be exploited to give exceptional manoueverability in a dog-fight. The rate of turn to the right was twice that of a turn to the left.
• The Gnome engines differed from the others in that a selector switch could cut the ignition to all but one of the cylinders to reduce power for landing. (This was because rotary engines did not have throttles and were at full 'throttle' all the while the ignition was on) On the others the engine had to be "blipped" (turned off and on) using a control column-mounted ignition switch, (blip switch) to reduce power sufficiently for a safe landing.

Crankshaft (red), pistons (gray) in their cylinders (blue), and flywheel (black) Continental engine marine crankshafts, 1942 Components of a typical, four stroke cycle, DOHC piston engine. ... Torque applied via an adjustable end wrench Relationship between force, torque, and momentum vectors in a rotating system In physics, torque (or often called a moment) can informally be thought of as rotational force or angular force which causes a change in rotational motion. ...

Sopwith Camel F.1

• Single-seat fighter scout aircraft.
• The main production version.

Sopwith Camel 2F.1

• Shipboard fighter scout aircraft.
• Slightly shorter wingspan
• One Vickers gun replaced by an overwing Lewis
• Bentley BR1 as standard

The Bentley BR.1 was a British rotary aircraft engine of the First World War. ...

Sopwith Camel "Comic" Nightfighter

Pilot seat moved to rear. The twin Vickers guns were replaced with two Lewis guns firing forward over the top wing on Foster mountings. Served with Home Defence Squadrons against German air raids. The "Comic" nickname was of course unofficial, and was shared with the night fighter version of the Sopwith 1½ Strutter. In early 1916 Sergeant Foster of No. ... Sopwith 1½ Strutter The Sopwith 1½ Strutter was a British one or two-seat biplane multi-role aircraft of the First World War. ...

F.1/1

• Version with tapered wings.

(Trench Fighter) T.F.1

• Experimental trench fighter.
• Downward angled machine guns
• Armour plating for protection

(See also Sopwith Salamander) The Sopwith Salamander was a British World War I ground attack aircraft. ...

Operators

Belgian Camel preserved at the Musée Royal de l'Armée et de l'Histoire Militaire in Brussels

•  Australia: Australian Flying Corps
•  Belgium
•  Canada
•  Estonia
•  Greece
•  Latvia
•  Netherlands
•  Poland (post-war)
•  Sweden
•  United Kingdom: (RAF, RFC, RNAS)
•  United States

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the Air Force branch of the Australian Defence Force. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Belgium_(civil). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Canada-1868-Red. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Estonia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Greece_(1828-1978). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Latvia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_Netherlands. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Poland. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Sweden. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...

Survivors

There are only seven authentic Sopwith Camels left in the world, with one in the United States. It can be found at the Aerospace Education Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Another one, beautifully restored to near-flying condition, is at the Brussels Air Museum Restoration Society (BAMRS) in Belgium. An example of a model F.1 can be found at the Polish Aviation Museum. The Camel, which is on display in the Polish Aviation Museum, serial number B 7280, at first flew in Royal Naval Air Service and then in Royal Flying Corps. The two pilots, who were flying this aircraft, shot down 11 German planes in total and it is the only original Sopwith with shoot down records. Location in Pulaski County, Arkansas Coordinates: , Country State County Pulaski Founded 1821 Incorporated 1831 Government  - Mayor Mark Stodola Area  - City  116. ... Albatros B.II Grigorovich M-15 Curtiss Export Hawk II De Havilland 82A Tiger Moth II Jak-17UTI Lim-6bis in Museum (behind it - the MiG alley) LWD Szpak-4T PWS-26 PZL M-4 Tarpan RWD-13 SAAB J 35J Draken SAAB AJSF 37 Viggen WSK-Mielec M-15...

A replica Sopwith Camel can be found at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Another replica is currently under construction by the Northern Aeroplane Workshops for the Shuttleworth Collection.^[2]. The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official national museum of the United States Air Force and is located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Riverside, Ohio, just east of Dayton. ... The Shuttleworth Collections Bristol F.2B Fighter The Shuttleworth Collection is an aeronautical and automotive museum located at the Old Warden airfield in Bedfordshire, England. ...

Specifications (F.1 Camel)

Data from Quest for Performance^[3] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 18 ft 9 in (5.71 m)
• Wingspan: 26 ft 11 in (8.53 m)
• Height: 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
• Wing area: 231 ft² (21.46 m²)
• Empty weight: 930 lb (420 kg)
• Loaded weight: 1,455 lb (660 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Clerget 9B 9-cylinder Rotary engine, 130 hp (97 kW)
• Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0378

• Drag area: 8.73 ft² (0.81 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 4.11

Performance

• Maximum speed: 115 mph (185 km/h)
• Stall speed: 48 mph (77 km/h)
• Range: 300 mi ferry (485 km)
• Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,085 ft/min (5.5 m/s)
• Wing loading: 6.3 lb/ft² (30.8 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.09 hp/lb (150 W/kg)

• Lift-to-drag ratio: 7.7

Armament

• Guns: 2× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns

The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wikibooks. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... In aerodynamics, the zero-lift drag coefficient is a dimensionless parameter which relates an aircrafts zero-lift drag force to its size, speed, and flying altitude. ... In aerodynamics, the zero-lift drag coefficient is a dimensionless parameter which relates an aircrafts zero-lift drag force to its size, speed, and flying altitude. ... The low aspect ratio wing of a Piper PA-28 Cherokee In aerodynamics, the aspect ratio is an airplanes wings span divided by its standard mean chord (SMC). ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ... Stall speed is an aerodynamic term. ... The maximal total range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing, as limited by fuel capacity in powered aircraft, or cross-country speed and environmental conditions in unpowered aircraft. ... In aeronautics, the service ceiling is the maximum density altitude where the best rate of climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet per minute climb(twin engine) and 50 feet(single engine) at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by the area of the wing. ... Power-to-weight ratio is a measure commonly used when comparing various vehicles (or engines), including automobiles, motorcycles and aircraft. ... In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio, or L/D ratio (ell-over-dee, as opposed to ell-dee), is the amount of lift generated by a wing, compared to the drag it creates by moving through the air. ... The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled . ...

The Camel in popular culture

The Camel appears in literature and popular media as:

• The single-seater scout plane flown by the Royal Flying Corps Squadron in the great First World War, semi-autobiographical, air combat book Winged Victory written by Victor Maslin Yeates.
• The fighter flown by Biggles in the novels by W. E. Johns during the character's spell in 266 squadron during the First World War.
• The "plane" of Snoopy in the Peanuts comic strip, when he imagines himself as a First World War flying ace and the nemesis of the Red Baron. The "Sopwith Camel" is actually his doghouse.
• A 1960s American music group was called "The Sopwith Camel".
• An early name of the The J. Geils Band was "Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels".
• Featured in the novel The Razor's Edge, by British playwright and author W. Somerset Maugham
• The type of aircraft flown in the First World War by John and Bayard Sartoris in William Faulkner's Flags in the Dust. Under fire from a pupil of Richthofen (the Red Baron), John's Camel caught fire over occupied France. Bayard's last sight of his twin brother was of John jumping out of his fighter feet first.
• Private Baldrick in the British TV series Blackadder Goes Forth wished to become a pilot. In the episode "Private Plane," at one point he began making a shrill noise and flapping his hands. When asked what he was doing, he responded "I'm a Sopwith Camel, Sir" to which Captain Blackadder replied "I always confuse the sound of a Sopwith Camel with that of a malodorous runt who is wasting everybody's time."
• The Camel also appears in numerous videogames, including the famous Red Baron PC Game.
• The Camel is used by the American rock band The Royal Guardsmen in several of their songs. In The Story of The Return of The Red Baron which precedes the song, The Return of The Red Baron on their Snoopy And His Friends album (a follow up to their Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron) it is mentioned in a mock radio broadcast that the Red Baron "went down like a shot through the clouds, with a Camel on his tail giving it to him proper." The Camel also is mentioned as the plane the unfortunate Allied pilot is flying in Down Behind the Lines. The Camel also lends its name to their Sopwith Camel Time and appears in the song, Snoopy for President.
• Bartholmew Bandy flies a Camel in the first "Bandy Papers" book by Donald Jack, Three Cheers for Me.

Winged Victory is a now out of print, 1934 novel by an English World War I fighter pilot named V.M. Yeates. ... Victor Maslin Yeates (30 September 1897 — 15 December 1934), often abbreviated to VM Yeates, was an English RAF fighter pilot in World War I. Yeates, who was born at Dulwich, joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. in 1916 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal... The dust jacket of an early 1970s edition of Johns Biggles, Pioneer Air Fighter James Bigglesworth, better known in flying circles as Biggles, is a fictional pilot and adventurer created by W. E. Johns. ... W. E. Johns (February 5, 1893 - 21 June 1968) was an English pilot and writer of adventure stories, best known as the creator of the ace pilot and adventurer Biggles. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Snoopy is a fictional character in the long-running comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. ... For other uses, see Peanut (disambiguation). ... “Red Baron” redirects here. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... Sopwith Camel was a rock music band associated with the San Francisco psychedelic rock scene of the late 1960s. ... The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967 in Worcester, Massachusetts, that had a successful R&B-influenced blues rock sound in the 1970s, before moving towards a more pop-influenced sound in the 1980s, which brought them MTV airplay and their 1982 international hit single... For other uses, see The Razors Edge (disambiguation). ... W. Somerset Maugham as photographed in 1934 by Carl Van Vechten. ... Flags in the Dust is a novel written by William Faulkner, completed in 1927. ... Baldrick is a fictional character featured in the television series Blackadder. ... Blackadder Goes Forth was the fourth and final series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989. ... The Royal Guardsmen were a rock band from Ocala, Florida, a sextet composed of Bill Balough (bass), John Burdette (drums), Chris Nunley (vocals), Tom Richards (guitar), Billy Taylor (organ), and Barry Winslow (vocals/guitar). ... Donald Lamont Jack (December 6, 1924 - c. ...

References

• Winchester, Jim, ed. "Sopwith Camel." Biplanes, Triplanes and Seaplanes (Aviation Factfile). London: Grange Books plc, 2004. ISBN 1-84013-641-3.

is the 112th day of the year (113th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Sopwith Camel
• Download the Sopwith Camel for MS Flight Simulator 2004
• Sopwith Camel images at Airliners.net
• Camel photos and links to museums with Camels

Related content

Comparable aircraft

• Fokker Dr.I

Designation sequence

• Pup - Triplane - Camel - Dolphin - Cuckoo - Snipe

Related lists

• List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force

The Fokker Dr. I Dreidecker (triplane) was a World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz and built by the company led by Anthony Fokker. ... The Sopwith Pup was a single seater biplane fighter aircraft used by Great Britain in the First World War. ... Sopwith Triplane Sopwith Triplane in the Aero Space Museum of Calgary. ... This aircraft article has not been updated to WikiProject Aircrafts current standards. ... The Sopwith Cuckoo was a bi-plane torpedo bomber used by the British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), and its sucessor organisation, the Royal Air Force (RAF). ... The Sopwith Snipe was a single-seat bi-plane fighter of the Royal Air Corps (RAC), designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War and was arguably the definitive fighter of the Allied side by the end of World War I. // History The Snipe was... Many aircraft types have served in the Royal Air Force since it was formed in 1918 by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. ...