Everything
started when i reminded i had
an old 1/28 Assembly Kit in
my cellar. I never built it,
it was an abandoned toy of my
youth. So one day i went down,
searched for that box, admired
all the photos on it and, fearing
about what i could find in it
- old memories of a never finished
job - i opened it at last. All
pieces were still there, a few
were still attached to their
frames. There was even the decal
sheet and instructions.
Specifications
of Brown's Camel:
Production
firm:
Sopwith
Aviation Company
Engine:
150hp
Bentley Rotary 1
Max.
Speed
at sea level:
117
MPH
190
km/h
Ceiling:
19,000
feet
5.800
m
Climb
Rate:
10 mins to reach
10,000
feet
3.048
m
Weight
- empty:
929
lb.
404
kg
Weight
- fully loaded:
1,453
lb
659
kg
Wingspan:
28
feet
8,53
m
Length:
18
ft 9 in
5,86
m
Height:
8
ft 6 in
2,6
m
Wing
area:
231
sq ft
21,46
m²
Range:
2½
h
Guns:
2
Vickers .303
Some
initial attempts of my job were
in it waiting for me to work on.
It didn't happen and no, for now,
I was not willing to do it. But
i seized the challenge. I closed
the box, cleaned the dust off
and took it up with me. The story
begun...
The
Camel, designed by Herbert Smith,
derived from the Sopwith Pup and
the Navy’s Triplane, became
known as a great plane, and even
revolutionary in design and appearance.
The fuselage was a wooden, box-like
structure, covered with aluminum
in the front, plywood-covered
around the cockpit, and then fabric-covered
steel back to the tail. It was
a combination of a distinct dihedral
in the lower wing with a flat
upper wing and it had a distinctive
"tapered gap” for visibility.
The engine, fuel tank, guns, and
pilot are all in the front third
of the plane; its center of gravity
was very far forward.
The powerful torque of its propeller
strongly emphasized its turn;
though it was a winning weapon
in the hands of skilled pilots,
it was a death-trap for rookies
who, lowering their torque too
much, found themselves falling
down into a lethal spiral. While
413 Camel pilots were shot down
in combat, 385 were lost in non-combat
related situations, many due to
the Camel's difficult handling.
Click
on single view to see the hi-res
images
The
Camel flew with different engines:
the Clerget made it faster, while
Le Rhone gave better rising performance.
The first unit that received the
Sopwith Camel was the 4th RNAS
squad, in July 1917.
The F1 prototype had its first
flight in December 1916, with
a 110 hp star Clerget. The first
series models, delivered in may
1917, were mounted with 130 hp
Clergets. Then many Camels were
produced with many different engines,
from an 110hp Le Rhone to a 150hp
Bentley B.R.I. used on Brown's
Camel.
The
Camel was the first British fighter
with propeller-synchronized Vickers
guns. The breeches were protected
by an aluminum protection with
a kind of hump behind engine hood.
There came the nickname “Camel”
that soon replaced the original
“Big Pup” they gave
when, just coming to the front,
it looked like a Sopwith Pup big
brother.
It
probably was the nimblest fighter
of the whole conflict, with the
only the Fokker Dr1 as an exception.
Engine
torque and propeller gyroscopic
effect led the Camel to tend to
close its turn to the right while
flying, while left turns came
out wider.
Besides,
on the right, when the plane turned
to lower its hood it risked starting
a spiral that, at low height or
in rookies’ hands, could
easily transform in a mortal trap.
With
left-hand turns, the pilot could
pull the clutch too much, thereby
stalling down into a spiral while
clamping and opposing to the gyroscopic
effect that led to straighten
and raising the hood.On
the other hand, the right-hand
turns were tighter than any other
plane, and this was the winning
weapon in duels. Air fights, in
fact, soon almost transformed
into a crazy spiral or merry-go-round,
where the two adversaries tried
to turn as tight as possible to
reach the rival’s tail.
In this maneuver, the Camel was
unbeatable: in aces hands it was
the most prolific fighter for
the allied forces, obtaining in
total 1,294 victories between
July, 1917, and the end of conflict.
At take off, the Camel tended
to choke. They needed to dilute
the fuel as soon as wheels left
the ground, under pain of stalling
the engine, which was fatal.
Units flying with Camel at night
found that flames coming from
Vickers could blind the pilot.
Special night versions were built
where the pilot was sitting a
bit more backward with two Lewis
guns mounted on the classical
Foster rails support on the upper
wing.
The
Sopwith 2F.I Camel Version was
planned to work on board of boats.
Its wings were shortened 33 cm
to make takeoff easier. The central
structure was made of steel to
better resist rough landings as
was typical of landing on decks.
A Vickers was installed on the
left side of the cockpit and a
Lewis on the usual Foster rail.
189 Camels were built for the
Navy and were used only since
spring 1918.
The first unit that received the
new fighter was the 4th Squad
R.N.A.S., in July 1917.
In the same month the first Camels
arrived to the 70th R.F.C., and
at the end of the year 1,325 Sopwith
were delivered out of 3,450 fighters
ordered by the Royal Air Force.
Camels were effectively used during
Ypres and Cambria battles, equipped
with a rake of 4 bombs of 20 lbs
under the fuselage and were used
in land attacks.
However, this way of using planes
was very dangerous: losses were
considerable.
The
US purchased 142 Camels equipped with
Clerget in June, 1918, all motorized
again with 150hp Monosoupapes.
Since August, 1917, Camels with the
Le Rhone engine were used by Home Defence
to fight Zeppelins.
Camels
intended to the fight Zeppelins were
equipped with 8 Le Prieur phosphorus
rockets controlled by an electric starting
device.
At the end of the war the RAF had 2,548
Camels out of 5,490 ordered. After the
war, British aviation quickly replaced
the Camel with the Snipe. The just born
Canadian Air Force, the Royal Hellenica
Naval Air Service, the Polish Air Force,
and the US Navy went on using the Sopwith
a little longer.
1,294 planes were shot down by the Sopwith
Camel; a few specifics are:
-
June 4th, 1917, Canadian ace Alexander
Shook was the first to obtain a victory
with a Sopwith Camel.
- March 24th, 1918, Capt. J.L. Trollope
on a 43rd Squad Camel became the first
English pilot to shoot down six enemies
in the same day.
- Just about one month later, Capt.
H.W.Woolett shot down 12 in a day on
a Camel.
- April 21st, 1918, Capt. A. R. Brown,
in an historical fight, shot down Red
Baron Manfred Von Richtofen’s
Fokker Dr.1 (who with 80 victories was
one of the first flying aces in the
WWI).
- With 54 victories Donald Mac Laren
was the pilot who obtained the most
wins with a Sopwith Camel.
