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Sopwith Biplane F.1. - FIrst Flight
The Sopwith Camel was designed to be a fighter that carried machine guns - specifically a pair of 7.7mm Vikers Machin Guns. Up until this point, the way that fights would occur in airplanes was by either having a gun that the pilot would carry, or by throwing small heavy objects at eachother, such as bricks. However, this was not convinent, so times had to change. At the time of the Sopwith's first flight, it was evident that it shared the manouverablility of it's redaccessor, the Sopwith Pup. -
Sopwith Dolphin
The Sopwith Camel was utilised throughout WWI (not postwar, however), but had many engine problems. There were often failures hwne changing gears, and this lead to many deaths. 2,072 were made all in all, ainy chosed for their usage of synchronised Lewis machine guns. This meant that they could use incediary rounds, which was an advantage over the other planes at the time. -
Sopwith Camel - Introduction to the battlefield
Just under a year after the first prototype flight, the Sopwith F.1. (which had gained the title of Camel due to the 'hump' which was designed to prevent it from freezing in altitude). It was added to the Royal Naval Air Service suqd, near Dunkirk. At this points, the strength's were obvious; it was small, manouverable, and easy to produce. In essence, it was a more accented version of the Pup. All strengths were stronger, but that lead to more weaknesses. One such fault was that the rotary -
Sopwith Camel - Introduction to the battlefield (cont)
the Rotary engine caused the aircraft to raise it's nose when turning left, lowering it when turning right, and it often cascading to oblivion on the runway under the guise of student pilots, who would be unable to take control of the engine when taking off. This sent many men to their deaths, as most pilots were new at this stage in time. This did not stop the Camel from being the most successful aircraft during WWI, and being an influence to all planes in the future. -
Sopwith Snipe
The Sopwith Snipe was designed to be 'the new Camel'. One improvement was what you could see from the cockpit. It was higher, so you had a better view, and also it had a more powerful engine. It was heavier than previous Sopwiths, but also far more robust. 4,500 were ordered in the end, but only 500 produced, due to the war ending sooner than expected. -
The Royal Airforce is founded
Following the success of the introduction of the Camel to British Ranks, it was obvious that the Royal Naval Air Service was expanding too swiftly to be branded under the Navy, and so it split and formed the RAF. -
Hawker Duiker
The Hawker Duiker was the first plane formally produced by Hawker. It had a very perculiar design. It was a monoplane, but at the time biplanes dominated, and it had the typical Sopwith small design. After many prototypes were designed, all in order to fulfill reconnaissance, artillary spotting, and liason duties, but was immediately deemed a failure by the RAF. Nonetheless, it was the first plane that Hawker designed, and did have many features that would herald a new age of fighter craft. -
Hawker Fury
The Hawker Fury was designed to defend the Hawker Hart, whilst it went on it's bombing runs. It was the first operational fighter aircraft to exceed 200mph due to it's powerful Rolls Royce Kestrel Engine. This very engine was also water cooled, which was a definate improvement on other planes, which would often go on fire without even being shot! This kind of engine was innovative, and became standard in later planes. -
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane was most noted for it's presence in the battle fo Britain. It was designed to improve on the designe of the Fury and the Demon, and improve it did: the main improvement was it's 4 guns, and superior engine. Over 14,000 were ordered, and these were used to win over 60% of battles in dogfights in the RAF. Overall, it was a fantastic plane, and was difficult to improve on. -
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon had 12 machine guns, each with 500 rounds. It was intended to replace the Hawker Hurricane, and did so nicely.It's max speed was jut over 400 mph, and it had a paload of two powerul bombs. It could outperform the spitfire, and also many German planes. But it did have issues: Frequent CO2 leaks caused pilots to have to wear gas masks, and the sabre engine often burned up into flames when starting. It was replaced by the Hunter, but served well in WWII -
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter broke the world air speed reccord, achieving 727 mph. It used 2 ADEN Cannons (:D), which were very important in the history of warefare, and still are to this day, and had an amazing turbo jet engine which was shockingly efficient, and had a rate of climb that outmatched that of the Typhoon. -
Harrier Jump Jet
It was designed to meet the NATO specification for a 'Light Tactical Support Fighter'. Naturally, it fulfilled that role, but also did and still does so much more. It was vital in the Fawklands war, and even in Afghanistan! It has a maximum speed of 635 mph, uses a powerful peguasus engine, but the most amazing thing is it's short take fof and landing capability. It uses 2 rotating jets, which it uses to hover, and then turns them around when flying forward. It is also fun to fly!
