The Sopwith Swallow was a British
parasol wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
fighter aircraft of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. A single example was built, but it saw no production, offering no performance advantages over contemporary
biplanes.
Design and development
In June 1918, the
Sopwith Aviation 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 famously ...
flew an unarmed
parasol
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy (building), canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunburn, sunlight. The term ''umbr ...
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
derivative of the
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the ...
, the Sopwith Monoplane No. 1, also known as the Sopwith Scooter. It used a normal Camel fuselage, with the wing mounted just above the fuselage, with a very small gap. The wing was braced using RAF-wire (streamlined bracing wires) to a pyramid shaped
cabane above the wing. It was powered by a single 130 hp (97 kW)
Clerget 9B rotary engine
The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...
.
[Bruce 1957, p. 627.][Robertson 1970, p. 221.]
The Scooter, which was used as a runabout and aerobatic mount by Sopwith test pilot
Harry Hawker
Harry George Hawker, MBE, AFC (22 January 1889 – 12 July 1921) was an Australian aviation pioneer. He was the chief test pilot for Sopwith and was also involved in the design of many of their aircraft. After the First World War, he co-fo ...
, demonstrated excellent manouevrability, and formed the basis of a fighter derivative, originally the Monoplane No. 2, and later known as the Sopwith Swallow.
Like the Scooter, the Swallow used the fuselage of a Camel, but it had a larger, slightly swept, wing of greater
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...
and area, which was mounted higher above the fuselage to allow the pilot to access the two
synchronised Vickers machine gun
The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...
s. It was powered by a 110 hp (82 kW)
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 ...
engine.
[Mason 1992, pp. 140–141.][Bruce 1969, pp. 33–34.]
Operational history
The Swallow made its maiden flight in October 1918, and was delivered to
RAF Martlesham Heath on 28 October 1918 for official testing.
[Bruce 1969, p. 33] One possible role for the Swallow was as a shipboard fighter.
Engine problems delayed testing of the Swallow,
but when these problems were resolved, the Swallow proved to have lower performance than Le Rhône-powered Camels, and was discarded soon after testing was completed in May 1919.
[Bruce 1969, p. 34.]
The Scooter remained in use, and was given the civil
registration
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), th ...
''K-135'' in May 1919 (soon changed to ''G-EACZ''). It was sold to Harry Hawker in April 1921, but was placed into storage when Hawker was killed in July. It was refurbished in 1925, and was used for aerobatic displays and for racing until 1927, when it was scrapped.
[Jackson 1988, p. 308.]
Specifications (Swallow)
See also
Notes
References
* Bruce J.M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914-18''. London:Putnam, 1957.
* Bruce, J,M. ''War Planes of the First World War: Volume Three: Fighters''. London: Macdonald, 1969, .
* Jackson, A.J. ''British Civil Aircraft 1919–1972: Volume III''. London: Putnam, 1988. .
* Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter Since 1912.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1992. .
* Robertson, Bruce. ''Sopwith – The Man and His Aircraft''. London: Harleyford, 1970. .
{{Sopwith Aviation Company aircraft
1910s British fighter aircraft
Scooter
Aerobatic aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1918
Rotary-engined aircraft