Sopwith Baby
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Use British English Template:Infobox aircraft
The Sopwith Baby is a British single-seat floatplane that was operated by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) from 1915.
Development and design
The Baby (also known as the Admiralty 8200 Type) was a development of the two-seat Sopwith Schneider. The Baby utilized a wooden structure with fabric covering. A Lewis Gun was fitted, either above the fuselage firing through the propeller arc without the benefit of synchronization, or over the top wing, firing above it.[1] To meet the more demanding conditions of 1916–18, further modifications were made on aircraft built by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds, United Kingdom. A modified variant of the Baby, the Fairey Hamble Baby was built by Fairey and Parnall.
The Royal Naval Air Service ordered 286 Sopwith Babies of which 100 were built by Sopwith at Kingston and 186 by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds with others for export. License manufacture was also undertaken in Italy by SA Aeronautica Gio Ansaldo of Turin, who built 100 examples for the Italian Aviazione della Regia Marina.[2]
Operational history
The Baby was used as a shipborne reconnaissance and bomber aircraft operating from seaplane carriers and cruisers, as well as naval trawlers and minelayers. Many Babies were attached to RNAS coastal air stations located in England and Scotland and RNAS stations in Egypt, Greece and Italy.[3]
A major role of the Baby was to warn of German Zeppelin raids as far from Britain as possible, along with tracking German naval movements.
Babies also saw service with the navies of the United States, France, Chile, Greece and Norway. In Norway additional Babies were built as replacements, with some seeing service until 1930. Two of the 10 Sopwith Baby floatplanes that were acquired by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service were brought to Svalbard in the summer of 1928 to participate in the search for the lost Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, but were not used for the search.
Surviving aircraft
The original components of two Babies built by Sopwith, Nos. 8214 and 8215, have been utilized to complete a composite aircraft for display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset. The exhibit has been marked with the serial N-2078, which was a Blackburn-built aircraft, and has been named The Jabberwock.[4]
Operators
- Script error: No such module "flag".
- Royal Australian Navy operated 1 example (with a Royal Naval Air Service crew) in 1917 from cruiser HMAS Brisbane.[5]
- Script error: No such module "flag".
- Chilean Navy operated 3 examples from 1919–1923[6]
- Script error: No such module "flag".
- French Navy operated 33 examples from 1916–1919[7]
.svg){kind=link}
- Hellenic Navy operated 19 from 1918–1919[8]
- File:Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg Kingdom of Italy
- Aviazione della Regia Marina 102 examples from 1917–1923 (including 2 trials aircraft from the UK)[9]
_crowned.svg){kind=link}
- Script error: No such module "flag".
- Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service operated 1 example from 1916[10]
- Script error: No such module "flag".
- Dutch Naval Aviation Service 1 example from 1916–1919[11] An RNAS aircraft force landed forty miles off the Dutch coast and was towed in and interned.
- Script error: No such module "flag".
- Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service operated 10 examples from 1917–1931[12]
- Script error: No such module "flag".
- Script error: No such module "flag".
Specifications
Data from Jane's Vintage Aircraft Recognition Guide[13]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1Template:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/engTemplate:Aircraft specs/engTemplate:Aircraft specs/engTemplate:Aircraft specs/lengthTemplate:Aircraft specs/convert
- Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propellerTemplate:Aircraft specs/length
PerformanceTemplate:Aircraft specs/speedTemplate:Aircraft specs/speedTemplate:Aircraft specs/speedTemplate:Aircraft specs/speedTemplate:Aircraft specs/speedTemplate:Aircraft specs/rangeTemplate:Aircraft specs/rangeTemplate:Aircraft specs/range
- Endurance: 2 hours 15 minutesTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convertTemplate:Aircraft specs/convert
Armament
- Guns: 1 × Template:Cvt Lewis gun
- Bombs: 2 × Template:Cvt bombsScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
See also
Related development
Related lists
References
Notes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Footnotes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Woodman 1989, p. 173
- ↑ Alegi, 2001, pp.3–4
- ↑ Thetford, 1878, p. 291
- ↑ Ellis, 1977, p. 48
- ↑ World Air Forces – Australia Script error: No such module "webarchive". accessdate: March 2014
- ↑ Huertas Air International February 1984, pp. 73–74.
- ↑ World Air Forces – France Script error: No such module "webarchive". accessdate: March 2014
- ↑ World Air Forces – Greece Script error: No such module "webarchive". accessdate: March 2014
- ↑ Alegi, 2001, pp.2–4 & 8
- ↑ World Air Forces – Japan Script error: No such module "webarchive". accessdate: March 2014
- ↑ World Air Forces – Netherlands Script error: No such module "webarchive". accessdate: March 2014
- ↑ World Air Forces – Norway Script error: No such module "webarchive". accessdate: March 2014
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Bibliography
Script error: No such module "Side box".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Navbox".
Script error: No such module "Navbox". Script error: No such module "Authority control".