The Sopwith Gnu was a 1910s

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

touring

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, designed and built by the

Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Company The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force during the First World War, most famous ...

Kingston-upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

. It was one of the first cabin aircraft designed for civil use.

Design and development

Designed for the postwar civil market, the Gnu was a conventional equal-span biplane. It had an open cockpit for a pilot with seating for two passengers under a hinged and glazed roof. Most of the aircraft were powered by a 110 hp

Le Rhône Le Rhône was the name given to a series of popular rotary aircraft engines produced in France by Société des Moteurs Le Rhône and the successor company of Gnome et Rhône. They powered a number of military aircraft types of the First Worl ...

rotary engine. The enclosed passenger cabin was cramped and unpopular, and most production aircraft had an open rear cockpit. One prototype and twelve production aircraft were built. A postwar slump ended production, and the company had problems selling the aircraft, although two aircraft were sold in Australia.

Operational history

The United Kingdom-based aircraft were mainly used to provide joyrides in the early 1920s. Two aircraft that were used for exhibition and stunt flying in the late 1920s crashed. Most of the production aircraft were not sold, and were dismantled, including four aircraft that remained unsold when the Sopwith Aviation Company folded in 1920. Two Australian aircraft were used by

Australian Aerial Services Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

on the

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mail route.

Operators

; *

Specifications (Gnu)

References

* A.J. Jackson, ''British Civil Aircraft since 1919 - Volume 3'', Putnam, London 1988, * ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' (Part Work 1982-1985), Orbis Publishing. {{Sopwith Aviation Company aircraft 1910s British sport aircraft

Gnu GNU () is an extensive collection of free software (383 packages as of January 2022), which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operat ...

Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1919 Rotary-engined aircraft