Sopwith Admiralty Type C

Admiralty Type C
Role Experimental torpedo bomber
National origin United Kingdom
Manufacturer Sopwith Aviation
First flight 1914
Introduction November 1914
Retired 1916
Primary user Royal Navy Air Service
Number built 3


The Sopwith Admiralty Type C was an early British seaplane designed and built by Sopwith Aviation to drop torpedos. A single engined tractor biplane seaplane, three were delivered to the Royal Navy in November 1914 but proved unable to lift a torpedo.[1]

Design and development

The Admiralty had ordered a special torpedo carrying biplane (the Sopwith Special torpedo seaplane Type C, serial number 170) in February 1914 and followed it with an order in July 1914 for three similar Type C seaplanes (serial numbers 157, 158 and 159).[1] The specification called for folding wings, bomb gear, a gun and radio.[2] Work started at the Sopwith factory at Kingston-upon-Thames on 5 April 1914 and the three Type Cs, powered by a 200 hp Salmson (Canton-Uneé) piston engine, were completed by October.[2] They went to RNAS Calshot for evaluation in November 1914.[1] The Special, tested that July, had failed to lift a torpedo and the new Type Cs were little better, failing to take off under load:[2] 157 could not get airborne with a 14" Whitehead torpedo and the other two had similar poor performance.[1] 158 was accepted by the service on 4 February 1915 but it sank following a forced landing a few days later on the 8 February.[1] The two survivors, 157 and 159, were withdrawn from service at the end of 1915.[1]

Operators

 United Kingdom

See also


Related lists

References

Notes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sopwith Aviation Company.
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sturtivant and Page 1992, p. 40
  2. 1 2 3 Goodall & Tagg 2001 pp.300-1
Sources
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, June 23, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.