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Posted by Tom Kwiatkowski Sr. - 309C
on 11/8/2009, 7:20 pm
74.44.81.74
In the Battle of Cambrai in March 1918, Captain J.L. Trollope of No. 43 Squadron used his camel to shoot down six enemy aircraft in one day - March 24. later that year, Camels were in the thick of what many historians believe to be the greatest dogfight of World War I. On the morning of 4 November 1918, Camels of Nos. 56 and 204 Squadrons attacked 40 Fokker DVIIIs. The pilots of No. 56 claimed eight destroyed, six out of control and one driven down, while the pilots of 204 claimed two destroyed and five out of control. Perhaps the most famous single Camel victory is, however, that of Canadian Camel pilot Roy Brown who was credited with the death of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron on 21 April 1918.
By the end of 1917, over 1,000 Camels were delivered and work began on subvariants including naval versions. Those specially designed for shipboard use were designated the 2F.1 Camel and were the last type of Camel built. The majority were powered by BR.1 rotary engines and most were armed with one Lewis and one Vickers machine-gun - some carried two 50 lb. bombs on underwing bomb racks. Sea-going Camels had a slightly reduced wingspan and a completely removable tail for easy stowage. They also differed from land-based Camels by having jettisonable tubular-steel landing gear. These versions were flown from Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Furious and Pegasus but were also launched, or more accurately, catapulted, from platforms built on the gun turrets or forecastles of other British fighting ships of the time. In July 1918, 2F.1 Camels took off from HMS Furious in the North Sea and flew into the mouth of the River Elbe where they attacked and bombed enemy airship sheds at Tondern. Despite being fighters, these nimble aircraft became bombers credited with the Zeppelins L54 and L60. By the armistice in November 1918, Britain's Gran Fleet had 112 2F.1s in its inventory. Post-war, six Camels that had served with US Navy squadrons in France during hostilities were shipped to the US for platform-launching trials aboard USS Texas and Arkansas.
In addition to the RFC, RNAS and RAF, Camels were also operated in Belgium, Canada, Greece and the air force of the American Expeditionary Force. Total Camel production was around 5,500.
Sopwith F.1 Camel
First flight: 26 February 1917.
Power: Clerget 130 hp. 9-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine.
Armament: Two synchronized Vickers machine-guns on nose, plus four 25 lb. bombs carried below fuselage.
Size: Wingspan - 28 ft.
Length - 18 ft. 9 in.
Height - 8 ft. 6 in.
Wing area - 231 sq. ft.
Weights: Empty - 929 lb.
Maximum take-off - 1,453 lb.
Performance: Maximum speed - 117 mph.
Ceiling - 19,000 ft.
Endurance - 2 hours, 30 minutes
Climb - 10,000 ft. in 10 minutes, 35 seconds.
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