FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1438.PDF
590 FLIGHT, 5 October 1956 Westl and-built V/i -Strutter afloat with Grain flotation gear inflated. THE SOPWITH 11-STRUTTER . . . to have been used on the battle cruisers Queen Elizabeth andBarham in addition to Australia. Other 1^-Stnuters had made oversea patrols long before thetype was used from shipboard. Germany began her campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare on February 1, 1917, at thesame time changing from surface gun-fire attacks to submerged attacks with torpedoes. Thirty-five ships were sunk in theEnglish Channel and the Western Approaches during the first week of February 1917, and the attacks were intensified in thefollowing month. Existing seaplane patrols were inadequate, and no additional seaplanes could be provided to augment thosealready in service. In April, therefore, three new aerodromes were opened, at Pembroke, Mullion and Prawle Point; and theinitial equipment of each station consisted of four 1£-Strutters. These units were short-lived, however, for the necessity of main-taining the strength of R.N.A.S. units attached to the R.F.C. in France led to a shortage of pilots; consequently the anti-sub-marine H-Strutter units had to be disbanded in August 1917. In the Mediterranean, li-Strutters based at Otranto wereused for anti-submarine duties, chiefly as stand-by aircraft which could be sent up immediately a U-boat sighting wasreported. On September 17, 1917, a H-Strutter from Otranto dropped a 65-lb delayed action bomb just ahead of a U-boata few seconds after it had dived. The explosion brought a large patch of oil to the surface. The 1^-Strutter was still in service with the R.A.F. at the timeof the Armistice. Of the few which survived until then, only those attached to the Grand Fleet and possibly those in theMediterranean could be regarded as being on an operational footing.If the War Office had been slow to acknowledge the worth of the H-Strutter our French allies were not. Nine of the first150 machines built for the Admiralty were transferred to France, and three of them bombed Essen with success. MoreR.N.A.S. machines, including several of the single-seat bomber version, were later transferred to France. The type was producedin France under licence and, if contemporary reports are correct, production was on a vast scale, for it has been said that 4,500were built by French firms. Many had the 110 h.p. Le Rhone engine as an alternative to the Clerget. In the service of our allythe H-Strutter was designated in French style: the two- seat reconnaissance version was known as the Sopwith 1A.2, thetwo-seat bomber was the Sopwith 1B.2, and the single-seat bomber the Sopwith B.I (which should not be confused with thelater single-seat bomber, powered by the 200 h.p. Hispano-Suiza engine, which had die Sopwith type number B.I). All versionssaw extensive use with French units on the Western Front, and a number were used in Macedonia. After its withdrawal fromoperational use in the escadriU.es the lj-Strutter was widely used as a trainer in France. Many of the machines were powered bythe 80 h.p. Le Rhone and were fitted with full dual control. Several French-built 1^-Strutters survived the Armistice andwent on to the French civil register. It seems probable that France supplied 1^-Strutters to Russiaand Belgium. A few British machines were given to each coun- try: Russia received N.5219 and N.5244; and eight two-seaters,N.5235-N.5242, were transferred to Belgium. It is known that the li-Strutters flown by Russia had both Le Rhone and Clergetengines, a fact which seems to confirm French manufacture. The Russians used their Sopwiths as reconnaissance aircraft in1917, and in the post-revolution fighting the White Russians used several. Three squadrons of the Belgian Flying Corps were equippedwith 1-J-Strutters. One of these units was the 4th Squadron, and one of the pilots of that squadron was First-Class SergeantWilly Coppens (later Major le Chevalier Willy Coppens de Houthulsf), who was to become Belgium's leading fighter pilot.He first flew a li-Strutter on April 29, 1917, and recorded in his book, Days on the Wing, an impression of the aircraft whichhints at the reason for the fitting of air-brakes: — "The machine glided marvellously, and the only difficulty wasto land on the spot selected: pilots, accustomed to come down steeply on aeroplanes that were not such good gliders, found theSopwith to attain so great a speed that they were unable to pull up within the limits of the aerodrome. I thus saw Ota, who had beengiven the first Sopwith acquired by the Belgian Flying Service—for the law of seniority held good even at the front—foozle his landingand carry on across the road that ran alongside the aerodrome, to the great alarm of the sentry, on duty at that point, who threw himselfface down on the cobbled highway. After passing over the sentry, Orta did his best to get the engine to pick up again, but it choked,and the wretched Sopwith went on to finish up in a field, so violently that our first One-and-a-Half Strutter was reduced to matchwood;and great was the pity." Coppens later says: ". . . and the Sopwith, in spite of all its good points [was] ratherslow in manoeuvring.... I dared not put my Sopwith into too steep a dive, and was therefore forced to go down in a broad spiral. Evenso, at the speed the machine thus gathered, the wires screamed and the controls became terribly stiff. Assuredly the Sopwith two-seaterwas no fighter aeroplane! At that time, Coppens' H-Strutter had no forward gun fitted.He was therefore at a disadvantage when attacked by four German single-seaters on May 1, and was lucky to escape with32 bullet-holes in his aircraft. When King Albert of the Belgians visited the 4th Squadronon July 6, 1917, he expressed a desire to fly in one of the unit's Sopwiths. He was taken over the lines by Jacques de Meeus.The American Expeditionary Force bought 514 1^-Strutters from France in February and May of 1918. The majority ofthese machines were used as trainers at the A.E.F. training aerodrome at Issoudun, but some were allocated to the U.S.90th Aero Squadron, which flew these ageing warriors opera- tionally for a time. Small numbers of H-Strutters went to other countries. Somewere sent to Roumania before the end of the war, and the type was also used by Japan. A few were used by Latvia in the 1919fighting against the Bolsheviks. Today, only one example of this fine aeroplane is known tosurvive. Of the thousands which were built in Britain and France none now remain in their countries of origin, for thelast survivor of the species is in Brussels, in the Musee Royal de 1'Armee et d'Histoire Militaire. There, bearing the Belgiannumber S.88, rests the last of the first great fighting Sopwiths. SPECIFICATION AND SUMMARY Fowerplant.—110 h.p. Clerget 9Z; 130 h.p. Clerget 9Bc; 135 h.p.Clerget 9Ba; 110 h.p. Le Rhone 9J; 130 h.p. Le Rhone 9Jby; 80 h.p. Le Rhone 9C. Dimensions.—Span, 33ft 6in; length, 25ft 3in; height, 10ft 3in; chord,5ft 6in; gap, 5ft 4jin; stagger, 2ft; dihedral, 2 deg 23 min; incidence, 2 deg 10 min; tailplane span, 13ft 6in; wing area, 346 sq ft. Manufacturers.—Sopwith Aviation Co., Ltd., Canbury Park Road,Kingston-on-Thames. Other Contractors.—Fairey Aviation Co., Ltd., Hayes, Middlesex;Hooper and Co., Ltd., 77 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, S.W.; Mann, Egerton and Co., Ltd., Prince of Wales Road, Norwich; Morgan andCo., Leighton Buzzard; Ruston, Proctor and Co., Lincoln; Vickers, Ltd. (Aviation Department), Imperial Court, Basil Street, Knightsbridge;Wells Aviation Co., Ltd., 30 Whitehead's Grove, Chelsea; Westland Aircraft Works, Yeovil. France: F. Liore et Olivier, Rue de Villers 46,Levallois-Perret; and doubtless other French manufacturers. Production and Allocation.—The precise total number of SopwithlJ-Strutters built is not known. Serial numbers show that over 1,500 were ordered from British contractors for the R.F.C. and R.N.A.S.Additional British-built lJ-Strutters may have been delivered to France and Russia, and it has been said that 4,500 were built by Frenchmanufacturers. According to official statistics, 607 two-seat 11-Strutters and 89examples of the bomber version were delivered to the R.F.C.; these figures included 77 aircraft transferred from the R.N.A.S. R.F.C.Squadrons in France received 346 two-seaters and one single-seater; 13 single-seaters were sent to the Middle East Brigade; 56 two-seatersand three single-seaters went to Home Defence squadrons; and 205 two-seaters and 72 single-seaters were delivered to training units. Ofthe li-Strutters built for the R.N.A.S., apart from those transferred to the R.F.C., 61 were transferred to France, eight to Belgium and twoto Russia. On October 31, 1918, the R.A.F. had 171 li-Strutters on charge.They were located thus:— Two-seaters Single-seatersWith the Grand Fleet 36 2 With the 5th Group 1 *Egypt - 3 Mediterranean area 11 2 At various aerodromes in the U.K. ... 58 10At Aeroplane Repair Depots ... ... 11 In store 18 16In February and May, 1918, the American Ejapeditionary Force pur- chased 514 Sopwith lJ-Strutters from the French Government. Someexamples of the aircraft were also supplied to Roumania and Japan. Costs.—Airframe without eneine, instruments or armament: £842 6s; Engines: 130 h.p. Clerget, £907 10s; 110 h.p. Le Rhone, £771 10s. Armament.—One fixed Vickers machine-gun mounted centrally ontop of the fuselage in front of the pilot's cockpit; this gun was fired forward through the airscrew by means of the Vickers-Challenger,
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
