Sopwith Triplane

Sopwith Triplane in the Aero Space Museum of Calgary. 2005

The Sopwith Triplane was a single seater triplane fighter aircraft used by the British in World War I. It was manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company and was nicknamed the Tripe or the Tripehound. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x760, 245 KB) Sopwith Triplane in Russland, eigener Scan, File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Sopwith Triplane ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x760, 245 KB) Sopwith Triplane in Russland, eigener Scan, File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Sopwith Triplane ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (990x747, 498 KB) A picture of a Sopwith Triplane in a Museum. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (990x747, 498 KB) A picture of a Sopwith Triplane in a Museum. ... A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three sets of wings, each roughly the same size and mounted one above the other. ... 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. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire French Empire Italy Russian Empire Kingdom of Serbia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria German Empire Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Nikolay II Nikolay Yudenich Radomir Putnik Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Oskar... 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. ...

Designed, like the Sopwith Pup, by Herbert Smith the Triplane possessed a fuselage similar to that of the Pup, although the disposition of spacers, formers and stringers differed. Likewise the tailplane, elevators, rudder and fin resembled those of the Pup. Initially powered by a 110 hp Clerget 9Z nine-cylinder rotary engine, however most planes were fitted with a 130 hp Clerget 9B rotary. At least one Triplane was tested with 110 hp Le Rhône rotary engine. The Sopwith Pup was a single seater biplane fighter aircraft used by the British in World War I. It was manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company and was officially named the Sopwith Scout. ... Herbert Smith is a large UK law firm with a number of international offices. ... The fuselage can be short, and seemingly unaerodynamic, as in this Christen Eagle 2 The fuselage (from the French fuselé spindle-shaped) is an aircrafts main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. ... Tailplane and rudder of an Me 262 A tailplane is a small lifting surface located behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplanes. ... For other meanings of elevator see Elevator (disambiguation). ... The worlds oldest depiction of a rudder. ... 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. ...

Introduced in November 1916 the Sopwith Triplane was flown by the Royal Naval Air Service and the French Navy. A total 152 were built. By almost all accounts, the Triplane was a very pleasant and easy airplane to fly, with effective, well-harmonised controls. In sharp contrast to the Sopwith Camel, the Triplane could be trimmed to fly hands-off. While the Triplane was more agile and a faster climber than most contemporary scouts, it was slower in a dive than German aircraft of the time. In a steep dive, the wings sometimes collapsed due to inadequate wire bracing. 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 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. ... The French Navy (Marine Nationale) is the maritime arm of the French military and the largest Western European navy in terms of personnel. ... A Sopwith Camel at the Imperial War Museum in London. ...

Most Triplanes were armed with a single fixed Vickers machine gun that fired, using an interrupter gear, through the propeller. However, six of the planes were fitted with twin Vickers guns. The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a name primarily used to refer to the water-cooled . ... The interrupter gear, more properly (and correctly) known as a synchronisation gear, was a triggering device attached to a fighter aircrafts machine gun so that it would fire only at certain times. ...

Originally a batch of aircraft were also destined for the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), but these were swapped for the French SPAD VII and the Tripe served exclusively with the RNAS. Had the Triplane been in RFC service through early 1917 it may have reduced significantly the huge losses sustained during Bloody April. The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of World War I. Origin and Early History Formed by Royal Warrant on May 13, 1912, the RFC superseded the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. ... During the First World War, the month of April 1917 was known as Bloody April by the Allied air forces. ...

The Tripe was famously flown by the "Black Flight" (of No. 10 Naval Squadron) which was commanded by the Canadian ace Raymond Collishaw. The unit claimed 87 German aircraft in three months while equipped with the Sopwith Triplane. Collishaw himself scored 33 victories in the aircraft, more than any other pilot. Air Vice-Marshal Raymond Collishaw (November 22, 1893 - September 28, 1976) was the highest scoring Royal Naval Air Service flying ace and the second highest scoring Canadian pilot of World War I. Raymond Collishaw was born at Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada on 22nd November 1893. ...

After less than a year, the Triplane was withdrawn from service and replaced by the Sopwith Camel. The Germans were so impressed by the performance of the Triplane that it spawned a brief triplane craze among German aircraft manufacturers. Almost all of the German triplanes were unsuccessful, with the notable exception of the Fokker Dr.I. A Sopwith Camel at the Imperial War Museum in London. ... Fokker Dr.I Fokker Dr.I Fokker Dr.I replica at the ILA 2006 Fokker Dr.I replica at an airshow The Fokker Dr. I Dreidecker (triplane) was a World War I fighter aircraft built by the company of Anthony Fokker, and designed by Reinhold Platz. ...

Specifications (Clerget 9B-engined variant)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 18 ft 10 in (5.73 m)
• Wingspan: 26 ft 6 in (8 m)
• Height: 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m)
• Wing area: 231 ft² (21.46 m²)
• Empty weight: 993 lb (450 kg)
• Loaded weight: 1,415 lb (642 kg)
• Powerplant: × Clerget 9B rotary engine, 130 hp (96 kw) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 116 mph (187 km/h) at 6,000 ft (1,830 m)
• Range: 280 mi (450 km)
• Service ceiling: 20,500 ft (6,250 m)
• Wing loading: 6.13 lb/ft² (29.92 kg/m²)

• Endurance: 2.75 hrs
• Time to altitude: 6.33 min to 6,500 ft (1,980 m) For an explanation of the units and abbreviations in this list, please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/Units key.

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. ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ... The maximal total range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing as limited by its fuel capacity. ... 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. ... In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by the area of the wing. ...

Operators

• France (6 aircraft)
• Russia (1 aircraft)
• United Kingdom
  • Royal Naval Air Service
• United States (1 aircraft)

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. ...

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