The Sopwith Three-seater was a British aircraft designed and built prior to the start 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 ...

. One of the first aircraft built by 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 ...

, it was operated by both the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

(RNAS) and the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

(RFC), being used briefly over Belgium by the RNAS following the start of the War.

Development and design

In 1912,

Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the eig ...

, who had learned to fly during 1910 and had set up a flying school at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

, built a

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

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 ...

using the wings from a

Wright Biplane The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...

and the fuselage and tail of a Coventry Ordnance Works biplane.Mason 1982, p. 78. and powered by a 70 hp (52 kW)

Gnome Gamma The Gnome 7 Gamma was a French designed, seven-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine. Powering several pre-World War I era aircraft types it produced 70 horsepower (52 kW) from its capacity of 12 litres (680 cubic inches ...

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 i ...

. The resulting aircraft, known as the Hybrid, first flew on 4 July 1912. The Hybrid was rebuilt in October 1912 and sold to the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

, being delivered in November 1912. When the Admiralty tendered further orders for an improved tractor biplane based on the design, Sopwith created the

, with a factory in a disused

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located i ...

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 ...

. The resulting aircraft, known variously as the Three-Seat Tractor Biplane, the Sopwith 80 hp Biplane,Bruce 1982, p. 491. the Sopwith D1, or the Sopwith Tractor Biplane, was flown on 7 February 1913 before being displayed at the International Aero Show at

Olympia, London Olympia London, sometimes referred to as the Olympia Exhibition Centre, is an exhibition centre, event space and conference centre in West Kensington, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London, England. A range of international ...

opening on 14 February. It had two-bay wings, with lateral control by

wing warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...

, and was powered by an 80 hp (60 kW)

Gnome Lambda The Gnome 7 Lambda was a French designed, seven-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine that was produced under license in Britain and Germany. Powering several World War I-era aircraft types it was claimed to produce from its capacity of al ...

rotary engine. It had two cockpits, the pilot sitting aft one and passengers sitting side by side in the forward one. Three transparent

celluloid Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporar ...

windows were placed in each side of the fuselage to give a good downwards view. A second aircraft was retained by Sopwith as a demonstrator, being used to set a number of British altitude records between June and July 1913. A further two tractor biplanes were built for the RNAS, being delivered in August and September 1913, with the original hybrid being rebuilt to a similar standard. Following tests of a Tractor Biplane fitted with

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s instead of wing warping for lateral control, a further nine aircraft were ordered for the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

(RFC) in September 1913.

Operational history

The RFC received its Three-seaters between November 1913 and March 1914, with the first example being tested to destruction in the

Royal Aircraft Factory Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

, where it was determined that the structural strength was inadequate. Despite this, the remaining eight aircraft were issued to No. 5 Squadron as two-seaters. Two were destroyed in a fatal mid-air collision on 12 May 1914, while several more were wrecked in accidents before the outbreak of the First World War. 5 Squadron left its remaining Tractor Biplanes in England when it deployed to France in August 1914, these being briefly used as trainers at the

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school. The school was based at R ...

.Mason 1982, p. 79. The RNAS aircraft were issued to seaplane stations to allow flying to continue when sea conditions were unsuitable for seaplane operation. On the outbreak of war, the RNAS also acquired Sopwith's demonstrator aircraft. Three Sopwith Tractor biplanes went with the Eastchurch wing of the RNAS when it deployed to Belgium under the command of

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

Charles Rumney Samson Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson, (8 July 1883 – 5 February 1931) was a British naval aviation pioneer. He was one of the first four officers selected for pilot training by the Royal Navy and was the first person to fly an aircraft fr ...

. These were used for reconnaissance and bombing missions, attempting to bomb

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

sheds at

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

on 23 September and railway lines on 24 September, being withdrawn in October. The RNAS also used Sopwith Tractor Biplanes for patrol duties from

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

, one remaining in use until November 1915.

Operators

; *

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

Bruce 1982, p. 493. ** No. 5 Squadron RFC **

Specifications (80 hp Gnome)

Notes

References

* Bruce, J. M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914–18''. London: Putnam, 1957 * Bruce, J. M. ''The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing)''. London: Putnam, 1982. * Davis, Mick. ''Sopwith Aircraft''. Ramsbury, UK: The Crowood Press, 1999. * Mason, Tim. "Tom Sopwith...and his Aeroplanes 1912–14". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to '' Air International'' maga ...

'', Number Twenty, December 1982 – March 1983. Bromley, UK: Pilot Press. . pp. 74–80 * Robertson, Bruce. ''Sopwith-The Man and his Aircraft''. Letchworth, UK: Air Review, 1970. * Thetford, Owen. ''British Naval Aircraft since 1912''. London: Putnam, Fourth edition 1978.

External links

"The 80-h.p. Sopwith Tractor Biplane"
''Flight'' 15 February 1913. {{Sopwith Aviation Company aircraft 1910s British military reconnaissance aircraft Tractor Biplane Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1912

Development and design

Operational history

Operators

Specifications (80 hp Gnome)

See also

Notes

References

External links