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Aviation History in Kingston
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World War 1
As you can see, there were many planes invented for fighting in World War I because whoever had the best equipment and weaponry, such as planes, would beat the other army. -
Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter Made
This plane was a 1 or two people seated biplane that was used for multiple roles in World War 1. It was the first British tractor fighter that went into service with a syncronised machine gun. It was named the 1 1/2 Strutter because of the "one and a half" struts supporting the top wing. -
Sopwith Pup Made
This plane was a single seater biplane fighter aircraft that entered service in the autumn of 1916. It had good manoueverability and flying characteristics, which made it very successful. -
Sopwith Triplane Made
This was the first triplane fighter in the war, and was dominant over France for a while. The body and tail were almost the same as the Sopwith Pup, but there were three wings to provide the pilot with a better view. Only 147 of these planes were made. -
Sopwith Camel Made
This plane was the most successful allied fighter in WWI. It had a short body, two wings, a heavy and powerful rotary engine, and its fire was concentrated from twin synchronised 7.7 Vickers machine guns at the front of the plane. About 5,490 camels were built, and they were responsible for shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft. -
Pup taken out of service
The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German aircraft, and was completely replace on the Western Front in 1917. The remaining Pups were relegated to home defence and training units. -
Sopwith Dolphin Made
This plane was the firat 4 gun fighter. The dolphin was a biplane, with one wing below the body and one wing above, so the pilot could look over the top and was given an excellent field of view. 2,072 of these planes were built. -
Sopwith Snipe Made
This plane was sai to be the "Best Fighter of World War One" and was the RAF standard fighter until 1925. It was a single seater biplane with two Vickers machine guns. It was not a very fast plane, but it had an excellent climb and manoueverability, which made it a good mach for the German fighters at the time. 2,097 Snipes were made. -
Sopwith Atlantic Made
This was the plane that Harry Hawker tried the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight in. The flight was ditched, due to an overheating engine, and only one of these planes was made. -
Hawker Signet Made
This was Sydney Camm's very lightweight and successful plane. Two were built for entering a lightweight plane competition run by Royal Aero Club. The 2 planes that Sydney built came 3rd and 4th place. -
Hawker Hart Light Bomber Made
The Hawker Hart light Bomber had an easy to build steel tube structure, and flew faster than the RAF's best fighters, at 160 mph. -
Hawker Fury Fighter Made
This plane was a biplane that was the counterpart to the Hawker Hart Light Bomber, with a Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine. This plane was almost the exact same as the Hawker Hart, but it had the equipment of a fighter plane rather than a bomber. 275 of these planes were built. -
Hawker Hurricane Made
The RAF’s first 300mph aircraft. The first 8-gun fighter and which had a retractable undercarriage. Having a retractable undercarriage meant that when it took off it could retract its landing gear, and become more streamlined, and therefore move faster. -
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World War II
Again, there were many new planes build in this war to outnumber and to beat the planes in the opposite army. -
Hawker Typhoon Made
This was the first 400mph aircraft in RAF service. It was used as both a single seat fighter and a bomber, so it was supposed to be succesful. It was meant to be a direct replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but many problems were encountered, and it never completely satisfied this requirement. 3,317 of these were made. -
Hawker Tempest Made
This plane downed more V1 flying bombs than any other type of plane in World War II. It was a plane that could be used as a fighter or a bomber and was an improved version of the Hawker Typhoon. It held more ammunition than the Typhoon because it had thicker wings, but having this ammunition lowered the size of the fuel storage, which they made up by storing some of the fuel under the cockpit. -
Hawker Sea Fury Made
The Hawker Sea Fury was a variation of the Hawker Tempest. This was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, it was also one of the fastest production single piston-engined aircraft ever built. 864 of these were built. -
Hawker Sea Hawk Made
The Hawker Sea Hawk was Hawker's first jet engine built. the Navy buy 420, far more than any other jet aircraft type. It was similar to the Hawker Sea Fury, but the cockpit was at the very front of the body and it used the Rolls-Royce Nene engine, which was more powerful. 542 made. -
Hawker Hunter Made
Made a “Super Priority” aircraft for the RAF and NATO – nearly 2000 built. It is single seater and very manoueverable. Two seater variants remained in use for training and secondary roles with the RAF until 1990. It was very fast, almost reaching 730 mph.
