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Sopwith Aviation Company Founded
The Sopwith Aviation Company was founded by Tommy Sopwith (later Sir Thomas Sopwith). Other than aviation, he was intererested in Motor Racing and Boating (on yatchs). The Company designed and built aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Air Sercvice during WW1. The Sopwith Aviation Company (shown on the left) was situated where the old Ice Rink stood. When closed down, Thomas Sopwith bought the building to build aircraft in. -
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Sopwith Pup
The more well known plane, the Sopwith Camel was developed using the Sopwith Pup Strenghts:
The Sopwith Pup was a Biplane with a top speed of 111mph and and a weight of 557kg when loaded giving it good manoevurability. The Pup was a bit heavier than the Camel meaning that it couldn't be blown around easily. The Pup had a single Vickers machine gun fired through the propeller. Disadvantages:
The Pup could only carry one person (the pilot) so reconnaissance flights couldn't take place. -
Sopwith Camel
Strengths
The Camel was a fast plane, with a top speed of 118 mph faster than the Fokker DR1
Made out of aluminium it was very light which made it more manoevurable. It had good firepower, twin Vickers machine guns, behind and syncronised with the propeller. Disadvantages
The Camel had a tendancy to turn left making it hard to fly Also being light, it could be blown away by winds and would be crushed on impact. The windscreen was made out of one pane of glass, would hurt the pilot if shattered -
Hawker Aircraft Limited
Hawker Aircraft Limited was created when The Sopwith Aivation Comapny became bankrupt.
The test pilot the the Sopwith Aivation Company, named Harry Hawker, bought the assets of the company (with three othe people, one of which was Thomas Sopwith) and formed Hawker Engineering, later Hawker Aircraft Limited. -
Hawker Sea Hawk
The Hawker Sea Hawk is a jet aircraft of the the Royal Navy Strenghts
The main strength of the Sea Hawk is that it is very light compared to the Harrier and the Hunter. The Sea Hawk weighs only 5996kg
The Sea Hawk also has good firepower. It has 4 Hispano Cannons, 20 Rockets and 4 bombs Weaknesses
One of the Sea Hawk's weaknesses is that it has a low top speed of only 650mph. This is low compared to the speed of the Harrier (730)
Also, the rockets used are unguided so hitting a target is hard. -
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a Jet Aircraft used untill the 1990s. The Hunter has a top speed of 715mph and a weight of 8050kg. But this wieght compared to its speed is good and the Aircraft is maneovurable.
The Hawker Hunter has a wide range of firepower, it has 4 ADEN revolver Cannons, with 4 Matra rocket pods, 32 Hispano rocket, 4 AIM-9 Sidewinder Air-to-air missiles, 4 AGM-65 Maverick Air-to-surface missiles along with a range of iron bombs.
However, the Hunter requires a lot of maintanace. -
Hawker Siddeley Harrier
The Hawker Harrier was a fighter jet capable of verticle take-off Strenghts
The Hawker Harrier has a top speed of 730mph and had a weight of 6140kg. This is an improvement to the Hunter which had a weight of 8050kg.
The Harrier had good firepower as well, it had 2 ADEN cannon pods, 4 Matra rocket pods (18 in each), 2 AIM-9 Sidewinders Air-to-air missiles, a range of iron/cluster/laser guided bonbs Disadvantages
The Harrier is high maintanance and have a short distance. They need skiled pilots -
Hawker Hawk
The Hawker Hawk is a jet aircraft, now used to train and used in the Red Arrows display team. However it is still in service. Strenghts:
The Hawker Hawk has a top speed of 638mph and a weight of 4480kg. The Hawk is quite slow compared to the speed of the Hunter and the Harrier, but this speed is good for its main purpose as a training aircraft. Disadvantages:
The Hawk has limated firepower, which is much less than the other jet aircraft. It has 1 ADEN Cannon and 4 AIM-9 Sidewinder rockets.
