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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1645.PDF
A production Tabloid for the Royal Flying Corps. These aircraft were fitted with the 80 h.p. Gnome engine. The Sopwith Tabloid, Schneider and Baby 733 FLIGHT, 8 November 1957 HISTORIC MILITARY AIRCRAFT No. 17 PART I By J. M. BRUCE, M.A. WHEN Frederick Sigrist, M.B.E., F.R.Ae.S., died onDecember 10 last year his passing was sympatheticallyreported in the aeronautical press. The forward-looking generation of the present day may have read those warm apprecia-tions with somewhat detached interest; but, for the relatively few who remember and others who care, such reports may have evokedmemories of a chilly Saturday afternoon a little more than two wars ago. On that day—November 29, 1913—more than 50,000 peoplehad gathered at Hendon to watch the flying and particularly to see B. C. Hucks perform aerobatics (then a newer development inflying than supersonic flight is today). Those spectators saw an unexpected addition to the flying programme when a tiny biplaneflew in from the west and made two circuits of the racing course at a speed of nearly 90 m.p.h. This aircraft was the new Sopwithtwo-seater, powered by an 80 h.p. Gnome rotary engine. The more knowledgeable members of the crowd at Hendon mayhave been discussing the excellent performance figures established by the Avro 504 when it underwent the official tests at Farn-borough five days earlier. The profound impression made by the little Sopwith on its public debut would have been enhanced hadit been known that at Farnborough the same morning it had returned performance figures excelling even those of the Avro.With its load of pilot, passenger and fuel for two and a half hours, the Sopwith had a maximum speed of 92 m.p.h., stalled at36.9 m.p.h., and climbed to 1,200ft in one minute. This speed range was very much better than that of any contemporary biplane,and indeed it was clear that the Sopwith was superior to any monoplane then in the United Kingdom. Fred Sigrist had played an important part in designing thelittle Sopwith, as he had likewise in the case of the aircraft's predecessors, the first Bat Boat and the three-seater biplane.Apprenticed as a marine engineer, he had joined Mr. (now Sir) T. O. M. Sopwith in 1910 and was responsible for the maintenanceof Mr. Sopwith's cars and motor boats. When Sopwith's interest turned to aircraft, Fred Sigrist's responsibilities increased, andwith the refractory aero-engines of those heroic days he soon proved to have a way that approximated, to genius. On December 18, 1910, Mr. Sopwith had won the Baron deForest prize with a 3J-hour flight in which he covered a distance of 177? miles. His aircraft was a Howard Wright biplane poweredby a 60 h.p. E.N.V. engine which had never functioned properly for longer than twelve minutes at a time. Behind locked doorsSigrist worked on the E.N.V. to such good purpose that it ran Perfectly throughout the 3\ hours and would have continued todo so had not extreme turbulence in hilly country obliged Sopwith to land. Such was the man who was T. O. M. Sopwith's chiefengineer. When the Sopwith Aviation Company was formed in 1912, Fred Sigrist became works manager of the factory that wasestablished in a disused roller-skating rink in Canbury Park Road, Kingston-on-Thames. Information supplied by Mr. Bruce Robertson and material lent byMr. A. R. Weyl, A.F.R.Ae.S., A.F.I.A.S., F.B.I.S., bas contributed substantially to this history, and the author wishes gratefully toacknowledge their assistance. The little two-seater which startled the Hendon spectators inNovember 1913 had been designed more or less in secrecy. It was intended for racing and demonstration flying, and had acleanness and economy of line which were remarkable for its day; it established a Sopwith tradition which was to have its mostendearing echo in the delightful Pup of the war years. Construction was of wood, with wire bracing and fabric cover-ing. The fuselage was built as a box girder with a rounded top decking, and the forward portion was covered with sheet alu-minium. The engine, an 80 h.p. Gnome rotary, was almost wholly enclosed in a cowling of peculiar form. The front bearing of thefore-and-aft mounting was carried between two transverse spacers, above and below which were fitted domed cowlings; the uppercowling established the contour of the fuselage top decking, and the lower was cut away to expedite the escape of exhaust gases.In the narrow gap between the spacers were two small apertures which were the only inlets for cooling air. The Sopwith apparentlysuffered from none of the cooling difficulties which beset the bigger Gnome of the later S.E.4. The pilot and passenger were accommodated side-by-side: theycould not have been very comfortable, for the fuselage was only 3ft 3in wide. The pilot occupied the left-hand seat. There wasno windscreen, but the forward edge of the cockpit was raised and probably deflected the airstream somewhat. The undercarriagewas a simple, twin-skid affair with the axle bound to the skids by rubber cord. The single-bay wings spanned 25ft 6in, had slight stagger, andcould be warped to provide lateral control. The external bracing consisted of stranded cables. The centre section was rigidlybraced but there were, of course, no incidence wires between the interplane struts. The tail unit was of simple design, and themovable surfaces were made of steel tubing. The tailplane was braced by two small struts, and there was no fin. Empty, the littleSopwith weighed a mere 670 lb; with pilot and fuel for 3^ hours aboard it weighed 1,060 lb: the wing loading was a little over4 Ib/sq ft. Few of the early aircraft manufacturers appeared to feel a needfor naming their products: named aircraft were the exception rather than the rule, a fact which does nothing to aid the researchesof the historian. In the case of the little Sopwith, however, the nickname "Tabloid" found early and universal acceptance amongthe aviation devotees of its day. In the history of the Sopwith Pup (Flight, January 1, 1954) it has been noted that the name Pup wasmade inseparable from that aircraft by official strictures ordering that the designation must in no circumstances be used. So it waswith the Tabloid: a threatened law-suit for alleged misappropria-
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