Sopwith Camel

Sopwith Camel vu par Wikipedia.en

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The Sopwith Camel was a British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] single-seat [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] introduced on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1917.

Manufactured by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], it had a combination of a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and concentrated fire from twin [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] machine guns.

The Camel was credited with shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter in the First World War.

Design and development


Intended as a replacement for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the Camel prototype was first flown by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]
on 22 December 1916, powered by a 110 hp Clerget 9Z. Known as the "Big Pup" early on in its development, the biplane design was evolutionary more than revolutionary, featuring a box-like fuselage structure, an aluminium engine cowling, plywood-covered panels around the cockpit, and fabric-covered fuselage, wings and tail.

Two [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (7.7 mm) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] were mounted directly in front of the cockpit, firing forward through the propeller disc with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

A metal [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] over the gun breeches created a "hump" that led to the name [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The bottom wing had [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] but not the top, so that the gap between the wings was less at the tips than at the roots.

Approximately 5,490 units were ultimately produced.

Unlike the preceding Pup and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the Camel was not considered pleasant to fly.

The Camel owed both its extreme manoeuvrability and its difficult handling characteristics to the placement of the engine, pilot, guns and fuel tank (some 90% of the weight of the craft) within the front seven feet of the aircraft,
coupled with the strong [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] effect of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The Camel soon gained an unfortunate reputation with student pilots.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engine was particularly sensitive to fuel mixture control, and incorrect settings often caused the engine to choke and cut out during take-off.

Many crashed due to mishandling on take-off when a full fuel tank affected the centre of gravity.

In level flight, the Camel was markedly tail-heavy.

Unlike the Sopwith Triplane, the Camel lacked a variable incidence tailplane, so that the pilot had to apply constant forward pressure on the control stick to maintain a level attitude at low altitude.

However the aircraft could also be rigged in such a way that at higher altitudes it was able to be flown "hands off."

A stall immediately resulted in a spin, and the Camel soon became particularly noted for its vicious spinning
characteristics.