
Описание
Страна: Великобритания
Год: 1917
Single-engine, single-seat, two-bay biplane bomber
Варианты
- Sopwith - B.1 - 1917 - Великобритания
- Sopwith - Cuckoo / T.1 - 1917 - Великобритания
- H.King Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 (Putnam)
- F.Manson British Bomber Since 1914 (Putnam)
- P.Lewis British Bomber since 1914 (Putnam)
- J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)
- H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)
- O.Thetford British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Putnam)
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J.Bruce - British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 /Putnam/
Possibly taken on the same occasion as the preceding front view (though the propeller is differently angled) this picture of the original B.1 gives the false impression - due to an optical illusion - that the upper-starboard aileron has a balancing surface.
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O.Thetford - British Naval Aircraft since 1912 /Putnam/
The first Sopwith B.I, still carrying the manufacturers' stencil on its fin, and apparently without a serial number on the white rectangle forward of the tailplane, having its compass swung - essential when loaded with bombs - with No 5 (Naval) Squadron, RNAS, at
Petite Synthe on 16 May 1917. The unpainted rectangle immediately aft of the cockpit is the upper hatch of the bomb bay. Note the Lewis gun on the front fuselage decking, added during the Service trials. -
J.Bruce - British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 /Putnam/
The Sopwith B.1, serial number B.1496, with modified elevator controls.
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H.King - Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 /Putnam/
The second Sopwith B.1 bomber, B1496, in 1918, almost certainly at Marllesham Heath. The full Service camouflage makes it almost impossible to distinguish the external elevator control cables and rocking arms on the sides of the fuselage. It is thought likely that this B.1 only had provision to carry the twenty British 28 lb HE RL bombs as the Martlesham trials report on B1496 referred to a war load of 560 lb.
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H.Cowin - Aviation Pioneers /Osprey/
The sole example of the single seat Sopwith Type B I Bomber, serial no B 1496, photographed in January 1918, while still at the manufacturers. Similar to the company's Cuckoo, but with two, rather than three bay interstrutted wings and a lighter looking landing gear, the B I was evaluated by the RNAS early in 1918. Subsequently being put into service with the Airco DH 4-equipped No S Wing, RNAS, based just outside Dunkirk, the B I was powered by a 200hp Hispano-Suiza, giving it a top speed of 118.5mph at 10,000 feet. The time to reach this altitude with a 560lb bomb load was cited as being 15 minutes 30 seconds.
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H.King - Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 /Putnam/
Two superb studies of B1496 in the snow at Brooklands, the views being numbered by Sopwith S.151 (3/4 front) and S.153 (starboard side). The original captions read additionally: "Sopwith Bomber 200 hp Hispano Suiza- Type B.1 - Jan, 1918.'
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H.King - Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 /Putnam/
Sopwith Bomber, showing access panel to bomb compartment in side of fuselage aft of cockpit.
Superb study of B1496 in the snow at Brooklands, the view numbered by Sopwith S.154. The original captions read additionally: "Sopwith Bomber 200 hp Hispano Suiza - Type B.1 - Jan. 1918.' -
H.King - Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 /Putnam/
Certainly one of the earliest and rarest views of the B.1 Bomber is the frontal aspect here shown, bearing the Sopwith caption: "S.140 - Sopwith Bomber", 200 hp Hispano
Suiza 1917". -
J.Bruce - British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 /Putnam/
The Sopwith B.I with D.H.4s of the R.N.A.S. Fifth Wing at Coudekerque.
Другие самолёты на фотографии: De Havilland D.H.4 - Великобритания - 1916
H.King Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 (Putnam)
B.1 and Derivatives
French interest and influence were both apparent by early 1917 in a large single-engined single-seat bomber, intended to succeed the special version of the 1 1/2 Strutter which had been characterised (as already described) by internal bomb stowage behind the single seat. That there should accordingly be a distinct relationship between the wholly new B.1 Bomber (as the type was generally named) and the T.1 Cuckoo torpedo-carrier was not unexpected the bomber requiring its large wing area to lift a relatively small load to high altitude, with long range and security as prime considerations, and the torpedo-carrier needing it to lift its heavier war-load from an aircraft-carrier's deck and drop it from very low level. (A postwar attempt to combine both the high-level bombing and the low-level torpedo-delivery capabilities in a single type-exemplified by the Hawker Harrier of 1927 proved a notable failure, even though deck-operation was not a requirement).
For the new Sopwith single-seat bomber (or Bomber) the type-designations B.1 and B.2 were both utilised, and as far as possible the significance of these will later be explained. First, however, it must be noted that interest in a two-seat carrier-borne Government-adapted version called the P.V. N50 Grain Griffin was such that this quite widely differing type came to assume a distinct importance and identity of its own; and of this type likewise more later.
The first Sopwith B.1 Bomber was built under Licence No.6, was initially test-flown at Brooklands early in April 1917 and - such was the future contemplated for the type by both the French and British Governments - that it was ferried to Dunkirk for a joint assessment as early as mid-May. By that time the aircraft had been officially declared to be tail-heavy with full bomb load and nose-heavy when light, in spite of full tailplane adjustment. Further, it was 'tiring to fly’; yet controllability in the air and on the ground were reckoned 'very good’.
In general the airframe was similar to that of the first Cuckoo, the most notable differences being in the cockpit arrangement and landing gear, for in both cases the engine was a 200 hp Hispano-Suiza with a circular frontal radiator. This means that the equal-span non-folding wings were of two-bay construction, with cable-connected ailerons on all four panels, though the pilot sat in the middle of the four 'centre-section' struts (quotation-marks are explained by the top wing being in a single piece) whence he had a good forward and downward view for target-sighting and bomb-aiming; and the landing gear was of the familiar Sopwith V-type. Thus, instead of being of the new and advanced wholly divided form as on the Cuckoo, the gear was 'split' only in the sense that each wheel was on a half-axle of steel tube, this assembly moving vertically in guides against the tension of coiled rubber cord at the apex of each of the two 'Vs'. The tail unit appeared to be identical with that of the Cuckoo.
That the foregoing description applies to a type called B.1 is sure and that the B.1 designation is used in Sopwith captions to photographs illustrating two forms of a generally similar aircraft (the later one numbered B1496, and otherwise distinguished by external elevator-cables running from rocking-levers near the front of the bomb bay) is equally sure. No less certain, however, is that the designation B.2 was also applied to the second form mentioned B1496 - and neither letter/number combination can be identified with or linked with the Grain Griffin two-seater.
Clearly the B.1/B.2 Bomber (as it may here be conveniently styled) was something quite new in its class, especially because of its relatively large size - roughly that of a Bristol Fighter - its single seat and its armament, for in this last regard the interest lay not only in the bomb stowage and in the bombs themselves, but in respect of gunnery also.
The bomb bay was close behind the cockpit, its location being proclaimed by access panels that are clearly seen in photographs. Though the bay appears to have had provision for nine British 50 lb bombs, carried nose-up as in the D.H.9, bombs of French type were provided for, and -as witness an official report dated April 1917 - were actually carried as a test-load. This last-mentioned load was contemporarily described as comprising twenty 28 lb 'Analyte' bombs, whereas a later report (May 1918) - quoting a bomb load of 560 lb without reference to the bombs themselves - doubtless involved the same projectile load. That the rearranged elevator controls earlier mentioned could well have had some connection with bomb-stowage may have been gathered from the remark, earlier in this present account, that the external rocking-levers were 'near the front of the bomb bay.’
Two distinct types of bomb must now be considered in the order of their mention: thus, first, the 50 lb British pattern, or 'Bomb, H.E.R.L., 50 lb". Designed primarily for vertical (nose-up) stowage, this amatol-filled bomb actually weighed, when fused, 49 1/8 lb. Its length was 28 3/4 in well within the depth of the Sopwith bomber's fuselage-and its diameter was 7 in.
The second type of bomb was not only French, but was entirely different in conception. Alternatively (and apparently more correctly) called the anilite bomb - or liquid-anilite bomb - it required very careful handling on account of its sensitivity, for the explosive content was (according to one account) 80 per cent nitrogen peroxide and 20 percent hydrocarbon, the mixing of these two substances taking place after the bomb had been released. Professor A. M. Low, who may well have possessed first-hand knowledge by virtue of his wartime activities, described this 'ingenious French bomb' (or one form of it) as follows: 'The explosive was actually manufactured during the flight of the bomb. The bomb had two separate compartments, one containing petrol and the other liquid nitric oxide. Pressure of the air on a small propeller in the bomb opened the two compartments immediately the missile was released and the two liquids flowed together. Nitric oxide is a violent oxidizing agent and the mixture formed an exceedingly sensitive explosive which detonated as the bomb struck. No detonator was required, the impact itself being sufficient.'
Certainly, at least one official British list of bombs includes the entries '10 kg anilite' and '20 kg experimental model’ - the latter, by implication, likewise connoting ‘anilite', while another British document alludes to tests with an anilite bomb of 'about 20 kg' weight. This last figure - representing about 44 lb - would approximate to the 'actual' weight of the 'Bomb, H.E.R.L., 50 lb', already quoted at 49 1/8 lb.
But the armament interest of the new type of Sopwith bomber extended also to gunnery; for though it originally had no gun at all, the first example, as service-tested in bombing raids together with D.H.4s of the RNAS Fifth Wing at Dunkirk, was fitted with a synchronised Lewis gun on the centre line of the fuselage ahead of the cockpit. The type of synchronising gear employed is not known, though for the Lewis gun in particular the French Alkan system was devised in 1916.
Finally, a brief note on the closely-related two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, the P.V. N50 Grain Griffin, the development of which followed the delivery to Port Victoria of the Sopwith Bomber which had been flown to Dunkirk for assessment in its designated role. After close deliberations in October 1917, folding wings and wireless were installed in a modified example, numbered N50, and the addition of a hydrovane landing gear and a pillar-mounted swivelling bracket for a free Lewis gun behind the rear cockpit further proclaimed the new-found application. Drastic redesign of the whole aircraft was quickly found to be necessary, and the seven aircraft formally named Grain Griffin (N100-N106) were built accordingly. These were somewhat larger aeroplanes, powered by the Sunbeam Arab or Bentley B.R.2 engine; and though they still owed much to the basic Sopwith design, they were not true inmates of the 'zoo'. Certainly they would have done it little credit respecting handling, though during 1919 Griffins, together with Camels, 1 1/2 Strutters and Short 184s were aboard HMS Vindictive (formerly Cavendish) in the Baltic on anti-Bolshevik operations.
B.1 Bomber (200 hp Hispano-Suiza)
Span 38 ft 6 in (11.7 m); length 27 ft (8.2 m); wing area 460 sq ft (42.7 sq m). Empty weight 1.700 lb (770 kg): maximum weight 3,050 lb (1,380 kg). Maximum speed at 10.000 ft (3.050 m) I 10 mph (177 km/h); maximum speed at 15.000 ft (4,570 m) 98.5 mph (159 km/h): climb to 10.000 ft (3,050 m) 16 min 25 sec; climb to 15.000 ft (4.570 m) 34 min 10 sec; service ceiling 17,000 ft (5.180 m).
N.B. Weight and performance data relate to the aircraft with Lang 5150 propeller. Tests were also made with a Lang 3280 propeller, the aircraft's maximum weight - with the same bomb load of 560 lb (254 kg) - then being given as 2,945 lb (1,335 kg), the service ceiling as 19,000 ft (5,790 m), the climb to 15,000 ft (4.570 m) as 29 min 36 sec, and the endurance as 3 3/4 hr. At least two different Hispano-Suiza engines were installed, and the greatest altitude attained (possibly the absolute ceiling without bombs) was 22.000 ft (6.700 m).
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