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The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult to handle, to an experienced pilot it provided very good manoeuvrability. An excellent fighter, the Camel was credited with shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter of the conflict. It also served as a ground-attack aircraft, especially towards the end of the war, by which point it was outclassed in the air-to-air role. ==Design and development== The Camel's predecessor, the Sopwith Pup, was no longer competitive against newer German fighters, such as the Albatros D.III, and thus the Camel was developed specifically to replace the Pup,〔Bruce ''Flight'' 22 April 1955, p. 527.〕 as well as the Nieuport 17s that had been purchased from the French as an interim measure. It was recognised that the new fighter would need to be faster and have a heavier armament. To meet this demand, the chief designer of the Camel, Herbert Smith, opted to develop a biplane, designated the ''Sopwith F.1''.〔Bruce 1965, p. 3.〕 The "Big Pup", as it was known early in its development, and powered by a 110 hp Clerget 9Z was first flown by Harry Hawker at Brooklands on 22 December 1916. Its design was conventional for its time, featuring a wooden box-like fuselage structure, an aluminium engine cowling, plywood panels around the cockpit, and fabric-covered fuselage, wings and tail. While having some clear similarities with the Pup, it had a noticeably bulkier fuselage.〔 For the first time on an operational British-designed fighter, two 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns were mounted directly in front of the cockpit, synchronised to fire forwards through the propeller disc. A metal fairing over the gun breeches, intended to protect the guns from freezing at altitude, created a "hump", and it was this feature that led pilots to refer to the aircraft by the name Camel. This was never an official designation for the aircraft however.〔〔Bruce 1965, pp. 4-5.〕 The bottom wing was rigged with 3° dihedral but the top wing had no dihedral, so that the gap between the wings was less at the tips than at the roots; this change was made at the suggestion of Fred Sigrist, the Sopwith works manager, in order to simplify construction. The upper wing features a distinctive central cutout section to improve upwards visibility for the pilot.〔Bruce 1965, pp. 3-5.〕 Early productions Camels were powered by a single rotary engine, most commonly either the Clerget 9B or the Bentley BR1.〔Bruce 1965, p. 4.〕 To avoid a production bottleneck being imposed on the aircraft by a potential engine shortage, other engines were also used.〔Bruce 1965, pp. 7-8.〕 In May 1917, the first production contract for an initial batch of 250 Camels was issued by the War Office.〔Bruce 1965, p. 5.〕 During 1917, 1,325 Camels were manufactured, almost entirely of the initial F.1 variant and by the time production came to an end, approximately 5,490 Camels of all types had been built.〔Bruce ''Flight'' 29 April 1955, p. 563.〕 In early 1918, production of the navalised "Ship's" Camel 2F.1 began.〔Bruce 1965, p. 6.〕 Unlike the preceding Pup and Triplane, the Camel was considered to be difficult to fly.〔Bruce 1965, pp. 5-6.〕 The type owed both its extreme manoeuvrability and its difficult handling to the close placement of the engine, pilot, guns and fuel tank (some 90% of the aircraft's weight) within the front seven feet of the aircraft, and to the strong gyroscopic effect of the rotary engine, although other types with similar configurations did not suffer the same problem. The Camel soon gained an unfortunate reputation with pilots. Many crashed on take-off when the load of fuel usually carried pushed the centre of gravity beyond the rearmost safe limits. 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. The aircraft could be rigged so that at higher altitudes it could be flown "hands off." A stall immediately resulted in a dangerous spin. A two-seat trainer version of the Camel was later built to ease the transition process.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sopwith Camel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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