Sopwith Pup
WW1 Fighter

In total, 1,770 Sopwith Pup's were produced and soon found favour with their pilots, especially those of the Royal Naval Air Service who flew more Pup's than the Royal Flying Corps or the Australian Flying Corps. Referring to his first engagement with a Sopwith Pup in battle, Manfred von Richthofen said "We saw at once that the enemy airplane was superior to ours!", an expert testimony to Sopwith's experimental design department's excellence!

As the Sopwith Pup was so popular with it's R.N.A.S. pilots it is no surprise that this excellent small agile biplane was chosen for the first successful landing on to  a ship underway, H.M.S. Furious, a specially modified Courageous class light battle cruiser and the first ever Aircraft Carrier.

Sopwith Pup Specifications:

• Crew: Pilot

• Engine: Le Rhône 9C, 9 cylinder 80 hp or Gnôme Monosoupape 100 hp rotary engine

• Wing Span: 26 ft 6 in

• Length: 19 ft 3¾ in

• Height: 9 ft 5 in

• Empty Weight: 856 lb

• Gross Weight: 1225 lb

• Max Speed: 106 mph

• Ceiling: 18,500 ft

• Endurance: 3 hours maximum

Armament:

• Single Vickers .303 machine gun