Sopwith F.1 Camel
| GENERAL DATA | |||
| Type |
Fighter
|
||
| Manufacturer(s) | Sopwith Aviation
Company |
||
| Prototype first flight | 22 December 1916 |
Introduction | June 1917 |
| Production | 5490 |
Crew | 1 |
| Variants | |||
| F.1 Camel | The F.1 was the main production version. It was armed with twin synchronised Vickers guns. | ||
| 2F.1 Camel | The 2F.1 was a shipboard variant, flown from HMS Furious.
It had a slightly shorter wingspan and a Bentley BR1 as its standard
engine. Additionally, one Vickers gun was replaced by an overwing Lewis gun. |
||
| Camel "Comic" Night fighter | The "Comic" was a Camel variant designed specifically for night-fighting duties. The twin Vickers guns were replaced by two Lewis guns on Foster mountings firing forward over the top wing, as the muzzle flash of the Vickers guns could blind the pilot. | ||
| F.1/1 | The F1/1 was a version with tapered wings. | ||
| T.F.1 | The T.F.1 was an experimental trench fighter used for development work for the Sopwith Salamander. Its machine guns were angled downwards for efficient strafing, and it featured armour plating for protection. | ||
| Trainer | The trainer variant had a second cockpit behind the normal pilot's position. The weapons were removed, although the hump was sometimes kept. | ||
| DIMENSIONS | |||
| Length | 5.72 m |
Empty Weight | 422 kg |
| Wingspan | 8.53 m |
Loaded Weight | 659 kg |
| Height | 2.59 m |
Max takeoff weight | ? kg |
| Wing area | 21.5 m² |
Wing loading | 31 kg/m² |
| ARMAMENT | ||||
| Guns | 2× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers
MG * |
Ammunition Carried |
? |
|
| Other Armament | 4 x 11 kg bombs |
|||
(*) Twin Vickers machine guns or one central mounted Vickers mg and one overhead Foster mounted Lewis mg. Balloon Buster Camels carried one upward firing Lewis mg.
| POWERPLANT | |||
| Engine | 1 ×
Clerget 9B |
Type & Displacement | 9-cyl air-cooled rotary piston,
16.29l |
| Horsepower | 130 hp |
Power/Weight Ratio | 197.27 hp / ton * |
| Fuel Capacity | 168 L
|
||
(*) with the loaded weight
Other engines used: TF.1 110 hp Le Rhone,
F.1 150 hp Mono Gnome, F.1 180 hp Le
Rhone, F.1 150 hp BR.1, F.1 150 hp BR.1
HC, 2F.1 130 hp Clerget, 2F.1 150 hp
BR.2
| PERFORMANCES | |||
| Maximum Speed | 182 km/h |
Stall Speed * | 77 km/h |
| Rate of Climb | 5.51 m/s |
Service Ceiling | 5800 m |
| Range | 480 km |
||
(*) vitesse de décrochage
| Sources | |||
| Wikipédia | aviation-history.com | - |
|
Drawings |
