The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the best-known fighter aircraft of the Great War. Pilots flying Camels were credited with downing 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter of the conflict. Towards the end of the war, Camels lost their edge as fighters and were also used as a ground-attack aircraft.
The Camel was powered by a single rotary engine and was armed with twin synchronized Vickers machine guns. It was difficult to fly, with 90% of its weight in the front two metres (seven feet) of the aircraft, but it was highly manoeuvrable in the hands of an experienced pilot, a vital attribute in the relatively low-speed, low-altitude dogfights of the era.
The main variant of the Camel was designated as the F.1. Other variants included the 2F.1 Ship's Camel, which operated from aircraft carriers; the Comic night fighter variant; and the T.F.1, a "trench fighter" armoured for attacks on heavily defended ground targets. A two-seat variant served as a trainer. The last Camels were withdrawn from RAF service in January 1920.
Development
When it became clear the Sopwith Pup was no match for the newer German fighters such as the Albatros D.III, the Camel was developed to replace it,Bruce Flight 22 April 1955, p. 527. as well as the Nieuport 17s that had been purchased from the French as an interim measure. It was 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.Bruce 1965, p. 3.
Early in its development, the Camel 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.Bruce 1965, pp. 4-5. On 22 December 1916, the prototype Camel was first flown by Harry Hawker at Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey; it was powered by a Clerget 9Z.Jackson 2007, p. 2.
In May 1917, the first production contract for an initial batch of 250 Camels was issued by the British War Office.Bruce 1965, p. 5. Throughout 1917, a total of 1,325 Camels were produced, almost entirely the initial F.1 variant. By the time that production of the type came to an end, approximately 5,490 Camels of all types had been built.Bruce Flight 29 April 1955, p. 563. In early 1918, production of the naval variant of the Sopwith Camel, the "Ship's" Camel 2F.1 began.Bruce 1965, p. 6.
Design Overview
The Camel had a conventional design for its era, with a wire-braced wooden box-girder fuselage structure, an aluminium engine cowling, plywood panels around the cockpit, and a fabric-covered fuselage, wings and tail. While possessing some clear similarities with the Pup, it had a noticeably bulkier fuselage. For the first time on an operational British-designed fighter, two 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns were mounted directly in front of the cockpit, synchronised to fire forwards through the propeller disc – initially this was the Sopwith firm's own synchronizer design, but after the mechanical-linkage Sopwith-Kauper units began to wear out, the more accurate and easier-to-maintain hydraulic-link Constantinesco-Colley system replaced it from November 1917 onward. In addition to the machine guns, a total of four Cooper bombs could be carried for ground attack purposes.
The bottom wing was rigged with 5° dihedral while the top wing lacked any dihedral; this meant that the gap between the wings was less at the tips than at the roots; this change had been made at the suggestion of Fred Sigrist, the Sopwith works manager, as a measure to simplify the aircraft's construction. The upper wing had a central cutout section to improve upwards visibility for the pilot.Bruce 1965, pp. 3-5.
Production Camels were powered by various rotary engines, most commonly either the Clerget 9B or the Bentley BR1.Bruce 1968, pp. 148-149. In order to evade a potential manufacturing bottleneck being imposed upon the overall aircraft in the event of an engine shortage, several other engines were adopted to power the type as well.Bruce 1965, pp. 7-8.
Flight characteristics
Unlike the preceding Pup and Triplane, the Camel was considered to be difficult to fly.Bruce 1965, pp. 5-6. With light and sensitive controls the type owed both its extreme manoeuvrability and its difficult handling to the close placement of the engine, pilot, guns and fuel tank (some 90% of the aircraft's weight) within the front of the aircraft, and to the strong gyroscopic effect of the rotating mass of the cylinders common to rotary engines.As compared with radial engines in which a conventional rotating crankshaft is driven by a fixed engine block.
Due to the torque of the rotary engine the Camel turned more slowly to the left, which resulted in a nose-up attitude, but the torque also resulted in being able to turn to the right quicker than other fighters,Clark 1973, p. 134. although that resulted in a tendency towards a nose-down attitude from the turn. Because of the faster turning capability to the right, some pilots preferred to change heading 90° to the left by turning 270° to the right.
Upon entering service, the Camel gained an unfortunate reputation with pilots,Jackson 2005, pp. 15–16. with inexperienced ones crashing on take-off when the full fuel load pushed the aircraft's centre of gravity beyond the rearmost safe limit.
When in level flight, the Camel was markedly tail-heavy. Unlike the Sopwith Triplane, the Camel lacked a variable incidence tailplane, so that the pilot had to apply constant forward pressure on the control stick to maintain a level attitude at low altitude. The aircraft could be rigged so that at higher altitudes it could be flown "hands off". A stall immediately resulted in a dangerous spin. RFC pilots used to joke that it offered the choice between "a wooden cross, the Red Cross, or a Victoria Cross".Leinburger 2008, p. 30.
A two-seat trainer version was later built to ease the transition process: in his Recollections of an Airman, Lieutenant Colonel L. A. Strange, who served with the central flying school, wrote: "In spite of the care we took, Camels continually spun down out of control when by pupils on their first solos. At length, with the assistance of Lieut Morgan, who managed our workshops, I took the main tank out of several Camels and replaced [them] with a smaller one, which enabled us to fit in dual control." Such conversions, and dual instruction, went some way to alleviating the previously unacceptable casualties incurred during the critical type-specific solo training stage.
Despite these issues, its agility in combat made the Camel one of the best-remembered Allied aircraft of the First World War. Aviation author Robert Jackson notes that: "in the hands of a novice it displayed vicious characteristics that could make it a killer; but under the firm touch of a skilled pilot, who knew how to turn its vices to his own advantage, it was one of the most superb fighting machines ever built".
Operational history
Western front
In June 1917, the Sopwith Camel entered service with No. 4 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service, which was stationed near Dunkirk, France; this was the first squadron to operate the type.Jackson 2007, p. 3. Its first combat flight and reportedly its first victory claim were both made on 4 July 1917. By the end of July, the Camel also equipped No. 3 and No. 9 Naval Squadrons; and it had become operational with No. 70 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. By February 1918, 13 squadrons had Camels as their primary equipment. The Camel proved in service to have better manoeuvrability than the Albatros D.III and D.V and offered heavier armament and better performance than the Pup and Triplane. Together with the S.E.5a and the SPAD S.XIII, it helped to re-establish the Allied aerial superiority for a time. While flying a Sopwith Camel with the serial number B6313, the Canadian ace Billy Barker was credited with shooting down 46 aircraft. The total aircraft credited to Barker while flying B6313 is the highest attributed to a single aircraft during the war.Franks 2018, p. 89.
Home defence and night fighting
An important role for the Camel was home defence. The RNAS flew Camels from Eastchurch and Manston airfields against daylight raids by German bombers, including Gothas, from July 1917.Bruce 1965, p. 9. The public outcry against the night raids and the poor response of London's defences resulted in the RFC deciding to divert Camels that had been heading to the frontlines in France to Britain for the purposes of home defence; in July 1917, 44 Squadron RFC reformed and reequipped with the Camel to conduct the home defence mission.Davis 1999, p. 96. By March 1918, the home defence squadrons had been widely equipped with the Camel and by August 1918, a total of seven home defence squadrons were operating these aircraft.Davis 1999, p. 98.
When the Germans switched to performing night attacks, the Camel proved capable of being flown at night. Those aircraft assigned to home defence squadrons were quickly modified with navigation lights to serve as night fighters. A smaller number of Camels were more extensively changed; on these aircraft, the Vickers machine guns were replaced by over-wing Lewis guns and the cockpit was moved rearwards so the pilot could reload the guns. This modification, which became known as the "Sopwith Comic" allowed the guns to be fired without affecting the pilot's night vision and allowed the use of new, more effective incendiary ammunition that was considered unsafe to fire from synchronised Vickers guns.Davis 1999, p. 97.Bruce 1968, p. 151, 153.
The Camel was used to intercept and shoot down German bombers on several occasions during 1918, serving in this capacity through] to the final German bombing raid upon Britain on the night of the 20/21 May 1918.Jackson 2007, pp. 3-6. During this air raid, a combined force of 74 Camels and S.E.5s intercepted 28 Gothas and Zeppelin-Staaken R.VIs; three German bombers were shot down, while two more were downed by anti-aircraft fire and a further aircraft was lost to engine failure, resulting in the heaviest losses suffered by German bombers during a single night's operation over England.Jackson 2007, p. 6.
The Camel night fighter was also operated by 151 Squadron to intercept German night bombers operating over the Western Front. These aircraft also carried out night intruder missions against German airstrips. After five months of operations, 151 Squadron had claimed responsibility for shooting down 26 German aircraft.Davis 1999, pp. 98–99.
Shipboard and parasite fighter
The RNAS operated a number of 2F.1 Camels that were suitable for launching from platforms mounted on the turrets of major warships as well as from some of the earliest aircraft carriers to be built, HMS Furious for example. In the Tondern raid on 19 July 1918, seven Camels armed with bombs flew from Furious to attack the airship base at Tønder, resulting in the destruction of Zeppelin L 54 and L 60, the most successful aircraft carrier operation of the conflict.Layman 1996, p. 161
The Camel could also be deployed from "aircraft lighters", which were specially modified barges; these had to be towed fast enough that a Camel could successfully take off. The aircraft lighters served as means of launching interception sorties against incoming enemy air raids from a more advantageous position than had been possible when using shore bases alone. However, the only success of this technique was on 11 August 1918, when a Camel launched from a lighter towed by a destroyer shot down Zeppelin L 53.Layman 1996, pp. 166-167