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Aviation History
1955
1955 - 0562.PDF
562 FLIGHT, 29 April 1955 Undercarriage of early deck-landing Camel 2F.1, showing the clips under the spreader bar and the airscrew guard. SOPWITH CAMEL . . . Yculett. (Capt. Smart, flying a Sopwith Pup from H.M.S. Yar- mouth, had shot down the Zeppelin L.23 on August 21st, 1917— see Flight, January 1st, 1954, page 10.) Only six Camels reached the objective, for one had been forced down on the water with engine trouble. The bombs of the first Flight struck one of the two airship sheds, and caused a great fire to break out. The shed was destroyed and with it the two Zeppelins it contained, L.54 and L.60. The second Flight of Camels bombed the other shed and damaged it badly, but no other airship was destroyed. Only two of the Camels, those flown by Dickson and Smart, returned to Furious. Jackson, Williams and one of the other pilots lost their way and had to land in Denmark; Yeulett had to come down on the water and was drowned. An experimentally modified 2F.1 Camel was at Felixstowe Air Station in 1918. This machine had twin Vickers guns and a special undercarriage made of steel tubes. Each vee was connected across its open end by a length of steel tube, and the structure had die appearance of being jettisonable. Lashing points under the lower wings and rear fuselage hinted at use from lighters, in which case a jettisonable undercarriage would lessen the risk of nosing over when ditching; for this was the inevitable conclusion of all flights made by the fighter-borne Camels when at sea. From land stations such as Great Yarmouth the R.N.A.S. used Camels, probably both F.ls and 2F.ls, as fighting escorts for the patrolling Short seaplanes and for anti-submarine patrols. These duties entailed long flights over the sea, and were not accom- plished without losses. In the summer of 1918 it was decided to conduct experiments to provide our own rigid airships with adequate means of defence against enemy aeroplanes. It was intended that an airship should carry with her a single-seat fighter which could be released and flown when the need arose. The first experiments were conducted at Pulham. The airship concerned was the R.23, and the fighter was the Sopwith 2F.1 Camel. A special horizontal surface was attached to the keel of R.23. The upper wing of the Camel fitted snugly up against this surface, which spanned the distance between the Camel's interplane struts; and the attachment between aeroplane and airship was made by a quick-release hook which passed through the central cut-out in the Camel's centre section. The aeroplane attachment fittings were made by No. 212 Squadron, R.A.F., Great Yarmouth. Camels used in these experiments were N.6622 and N.6814. The first test was made with a Camel which had its controls locked and carried a dummy pilot. The release was accomplished satisfactorily, and a live drop was then made by Lt. R. E. Keys, D.F.C., of No. 212 Sqn. He was able to start his Camel's engine after release and flew round the airship before landing safely at Pulham. The Armistice removed the need for such devices and almost eclipsed Keys' achievement. The Germans subsequently claimed that they had dropped an aeroplane from the Zeppelin L.35 in 1917. Experiments in Britain were abandoned until the end of 1925, but thereafter were not pursued. The Americans used the device on some of their airships in later years. The 2F.1 Camel remained in service for a time after the Armistice, and at least one continued to fly operationally. Early in 1919, H.M.S. Vindictive was operating in the Baltic during the campaign against the Bolsheviks, and her 2F.1 Camel carried out many patrols over Baltic waters. The type was used on aircraft carriers in experiments with arrester gear at a time when the arrester cables were longitudinal and had a wooden ramp under their forward ends. As the aircraft rai. up the ramp the friction of the cables in the undercarriage hooks increased until the machine was brought to rest. The Camel had three hooks under the spreader bar of the undercarriage, and a special guard was fitted in front of the wheels to prevent damage to the airscrew. The F.I Camel survived for a short time, but it had already been decided to re-equip Camel squadrons with Sopwith Snipes, which type had been adopted as the standard single-seat fighter of the post-war R.A.F. A number went to Canada and were used by the Canadian Air Force. Some were still to be seen in storage at Camp Borden, Ontario, in 1927. There was really no place for the Camel in civil aviation. Only two went on to the British Civil Register, as G-EAWN and G-EBER. The former, owned and flown by Capt. Hubert Broad, gave aerobatic displays at seaside resorts in 1921. There was never another aeroplane quite like the Camel. By those who survived their own early attempts to fly it, this stumpy little single-seater was usually regarded as an aeroplane without equal as a fighting machine, albeit one to be handled with respect. When thoroughly understood, the Camel became a marvel of manoeuvrability, and, for a time at least, Camel pilots were regarded almost as men apart. The diarist of War Birds did not disguise his feelings about Camels: "I don't want to fly Camels and certainly not Clerget Camels. I told him [Elliott White Springs] I'd crown him eternally if he got me put on those little popping firecrackers." Or, in the succinct words of Capt. Norman Macmillan: "The Camel was a fierce little beast. . ." : ... _,r SERVICE USE Western Front.—F.I Camel, 130 h.p. Clerget: R.F.C. Squadrons Nos.28, 43, 45, 54, 65, 70, 71 (Australian) (later No. 4 Sqn., A.F.C.), 73 R.N.A.S. Squadrons Nos. 6, 8 and 9. 148th Aero Squadron, U.S. AirService. 1st, 4th, 6th and 11th Squadrons, Belgian Flying Corps. F.I Camel, 110 h.p. Le Rhone: R.F.C. Squadrons Nos. 3, 46, 54,71 (Australian), 73 and 80. Night-fighter version used by R.A.F. Squadrons Nos. 151 and 152. 17th Aero Squadron, U.S. Air Service. F.I Camel, ISO h.p. B.R.1: R.N.A.S. Squadrons Nos. 1, 3, 4, 8,9, 10 later renumbered as R.A.F. Squadrons 201, 203, 204, 208, 209 and 210). Seaplane Escort.—R.N.A.S. Seaplane Defence Squadron, St. Pol,named No. 13 (Naval) Squadron in January 1918, renamed No. 213 Squadron, R.A.F., on April 1st 1918. R.N.A.S. Stations GreatYarmouth, Fehxstowe, Mansion. Italy.—R.F.C. Squadrons Nos. 28, 45 and 66. Major W. G. Barker,V.C., D.S.O., M.C, retained his Camel when with No. 139 Squadron. R.N.A.S. Station Otranto. R.A.F. Squadrons Nos. 224 and 225,Otranto (6 Camels each). R.A.F. Squadron No. 226, Taranto (6 Camels). Aegean.—R.N.A.S. Stations Thasos (later No. 222 Squadron),Imbros (No. 220 Squadron), Mitylene, and Lemnos (No. 223 Squadron). Macedonia.—No. 150 Squadron ("C" Flight). No. 221 Squadron. Mesopotamia.—No. 72 Squadron ("A" Flight). Rassia.—R.A.F. Contingent at Archangel. Slavo-British Aviation Group. No. 221 Squadron at Petrovsk. "B" Flight of No. 47 Squadron (1919). Home Defence.—R.F.C. Squadrons Nos. 37, 44, 50, 61, 78, 112, 143.R.N.A.S. Stations Great Yarmouth (No. 212 Squadron), Burgh Castle (Flight of No. 273 Squadron). Training.—Schools of Aerial Fighting at Marske, Turn berry, Freistonand Sedgeford; Advanced Air Firing School, Lympne; No. 10 Training Above is the Sopwith Scooter monoplane as it first appeared, and below is the Swallow, the single-seater tighter version of the same machine. These two 1918 Camel developments were mentioned in Pt. 7.
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