H.King Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 (Putnam)

2F.1 Camel

   The easy way out in differentiating the 2F.1 Camel (or ‘Ship's Camel' as it was commonly known with the apostrophe variously placed, if placed at all) from the land-based F.1 was by the Lewis gun perched far forward above the wing, and by the single Vickers gun, offset to port and resulting in revised cowling lines, instead of the twin-Vickers installation with the famous 'hump'. But before detailing the finer points of distinction (some of which are hardly less obvious, once pointed out) one must remark how poetically unjust it was that the Navy - which itself had used twin 'bow-chaser' guns in its ships to shoot at an enemy's sails and slow him down should make such radical changes in a classic form of armament having such a romantic precedent.
   The finer points of distinction in the 'definitive' or 'standard' 2F.1 (though many modifications followed, including, for instance, skid landing gear, a steel-tube gear with jettisonable wheels, special armament, slinging gear and lashing-down points) were these:
   1. Shorter wing-span, resulting from a shorter centre section.
   2. Thinner centre-section struts these being of streamline-section steel tube instead of wood and being far less splayed-out than on the F.1.
   3. A fuselage made in two parts, visibly joined behind the bottom wings, and constructed thus for ready separation and stowage in a ship. (The Ship's Camel was consequently sometimes called the Split Camel).
   4. Extra tankage in place of the starboard Vickers gun and its ammunition.
   5. External elevator-control cables, running from a lever near the fuselage joint, thus facilitating dismounting and reassembly as well as clearing flotation bags inside the rear fuselage.
   6. A tailplane which (not in answer to the German comment quoted in the F.1 chapter, and possibly applicable also to some F.1 Camels) was adjustable on the ground. Thus, official instructions read (verbatim and in part): 'Fit the Nut and Screw Tail Plane Adjustment between the Fitting on the rear Spar Tube, and the corresponding Fitting on the Sternpost, not forgetting to lock the Nut to the Eyebolt provided with wire ... The Incidence of centre line of Tail Plane in normal position is 11/2'; in this position the distance from lop of Longerons to under-surface of Rear Spar Tube should be 115/16". Any adjustments can be made after tests.'
   7. Dihedral angle of the bottom wings increased to 5 1/2 deg. (On the F.1 it was 5 deg).
   In the chapter on the F.1 Camel it was declared that it 'owed something to the Baby as well as to the Pup', and that - as now further explained 'very early (and specialised) Naval interest was manifest in the design.’ It was added that ‘the first Camel was cleared by the Sopwith Experimental Department on 22 December, 1916.’ Perhaps of even greater significance here was the affirmation that the two synchronised Vickers guns 'constituted, in effect, the Camel's very heart’; so in now tracing the development of the 2F.1 on the Navy's specialised account we shall do well to focus attention first on armament, but also on the Baby which (it may be recalled) had that uncommon fitment a synchronised Lewis gun, with mechanical gear of Scarff or Hazelton type.
   Here it becomes necessary to remark that the Lewis gun, with its 47-round or 97- round magazine, and especially when stripped of its cooling radiator, was a lighter weapon than the belt-fed Vickers (250 rounds or more per gun, plus synchronising gear) and the Lewis, further, was more amenable to training, or setting, for upward fire, as, for instance, when using incendiary or other 'special' ammunition against Zeppelins (without the danger of hitting one's own propeller). On the other hand, the belt-fed Vickers clearly offered more continuous fire, and was more suitable for synchronising.
   It must also be noted here that by 1917 the Navy was feeling a need for a shipborne aeroplane for general duties and anti-Zeppelin work, having wheels or floats or both, and superior in performance to the improved Babies developed and produced by Blackburn and Fairey. Accordingly, Sopwith designed the FS.1, a Camel-type aircraft having two unstepped main floats of pontoon form and a faired tail-float. Thus the formula adopted for Pixton's 1914 racer, and adapted for the post-war Jupiter-engined Schneider racer, was generally followed. Jettisonable wheels to permit deck take-offs were intended (having been pioneered in 1915, as noted in the 'Schneider and Baby' chapter). The link between the two familiar forms of the Camel (F.1 and 2F.1) and the Baby was seemingly the aeroplane numbered N4, which crashed in March 1917 and which was otherwise called 'Improved Baby', 'Floatplane Scout' or 'Camel Seaplane". The engine was the 130 hp Clerget, as fitted in late Babies by Blackburn, at a time when Sopwith were busy making Camel landplanes.
   The aeroplane numbered N4 having now been mentioned, and the names Baby and Blackburn having recurred, it is not unedifying to recall the remark by A. J. Jackson, quoted in the 'Schneider and Baby' chapter and mentioning 'a prototype machine, N300'. Could this one-off Baby 'N300' (one wonders) be in any way equated with 'N3"?
   In any case, the next aircraft to be considered was numbered N5, and this was a Sopwith-built Naval Camel, possibly ordered at the same time as N4. That N5 was essentially a landplane version of the FS.1 design is sure; likewise that an aeroplane numbered N5 (though conceivably incorporating parts of N4) was flown by Harry Busteed at the Isle of Grain on 4 April, 1917, having already been the subject of a Martlesham Heath report in March. One feature that N5 possessed in common with the FS.1, as drawn at Kingston, was a fixed Lewis gun installed inverted on the top wing - an installation which, with the pistol grip pointed skyward, was reminiscent of a fitment on a Baby, whereby the grip jutted out to port, the gun itself being fixed to lie on its side, and thus offering its magazine-attachment peg to the pilot. With the upside-down arrangement on N5, it may have been supposed, the changing of the magazine - which projected down through a trailing-edge cutout would have been facilitated without recourse to a Foster mounting, or to one of the Admiralty Top Plane type, as eventually adopted. Temporary though it proved to be, the inverted-gun scheme would evidently have demanded a pilot strong in arm, long in reach and high in courage.
   As for the Lewis gun's complete inversion, while this extreme position may not have been foreseen in 1914, it was certainly claimed at that time (as a point in the gun's favour for aircraft use) that it could be 'trained freely in any direction from vertically upwards to vertically downwards.’ A little later, of course, there was the classic story of Capt Louis Strange and his inverted Martinsyde, with Strange literally hanging-on for dear life to his Lewis gun's magazine - which had obligingly jammed on its peg.
   A single Vickers gun was mounted additionally on N5, to port, as on production aircraft; and though the elevator-control cables on this aeroplane were still internal, the slender centre-section struts (already mentioned as a 2F.1 distinction) were present, and the rear part of the fuselage was seemingly detachable.
   During the spring and summer of 1917, N5 was the subject of extensive development, especially respecting its military equipment - though still with the elevator cables snugly inside. A wireless telegraphy set was fitted, the retractable wind-driven generator for which was bracket-mounted on the port side of the fuselage just forward of the cockpit, with the aerial fairlead projecting down between the landing gear struts like one of the downward-firing Lewis guns on the TF.1. Armament, in fact, continued to be of primary concern, and for the Lewis gun on N5 the Admiralty Top Plane mounting was adopted. This fitting was very different from the Foster (track-type) mounting, as used on some night-flying F.1 Camels, though its dual function of permitting upward fire as well as magazine-changing was of similar intent. It is likely, indeed, that the Admiralty Top Plane mounting was developed primarily for the 2F.1 Camel, just as left-hand feed had been developed for the F.1 type.
   The Lewis gun on N5's new Admiralty mounting (for the operation of which there was a centre-section aperture forward of the trailing-edge cut-out) was attached to the main, arc-shaped, member of the mounting by lugs and a collar, while at the rear end the gun's pistol grip was slotted-in to a projecting portion. Associated with the gun-carrying member was a system of steel lubes, knuckle-jointed to allow the gun to be raised or lowered, and spring-loaded by elastic cords. Though intermediate positioning of the gun was not possible, as with the Foster mounting, the gun from which the spade grip was removed - could be readily released by Bowden cable; a second cable of this type was used to fire the gun, the bullets from which passed in forward fire only just clear of the propeller, though the gun sat well above the wing. So close was the gun to the propeller, in fact, that its gas cylinder was a few inches only behind the tips.
   By about the same time (early summer 1917) the armament of N5 had been augmented by eight Le Prieur rockets, as described in the chapter on the Pup. The bottom wings and ailerons were then protected from the rocket efflux.
   The factors which seem to have deferred inauguration of 2F.1 production until the summer of 1917 were apparently indecision or other difficulties attending the fitting of floats (which were, in fact, never adopted partly, perhaps, because the improved Babies were performing quite well as water-based maids-of-all-work); the experimental and development work on equipment and armament, already described; and the Navy's obvious attachment to the F.1, with its greater wing area for ultra-short take-offs - and of a type, moreover, which they already possessed. But even with its smaller wing area than the F.1's - roughly 10 sq ft (0.93 sq m) less - and especially when flying below its maximum permissible weight (which varied considerably according to military load) the 2F.1 was a far deadlier 'ship's aeroplane' than was the Pup – and, as Lieut S. D. Culley was to show when using special light armament, as later noted - a mighty hunter of Zeppelins.
   Sopwith themselves undertook the first production contract (N6600-N6649) and by the autumn of 1917 examples were leaving the Kingston works (N6603, for instance, was at the Isle of Grain early in November). Sopwith's own fifty were stoutly backed (as might have been expected, having regard to development and production of 'ship's Pups') by a hundred from Beardmore which company, in fact, received Sopwith-built N6618 very early in 1918, before this aircraft joined the Navy at Rosyth, a short distance away on the other side of Scotland. Beardmore themselves flew their own first 2F.1 very shortly afterwards (N6750, 20 February) and later had a contract for another fifty, though 30 more still were cancelled. By October 1918, in any case, a total of 129 Sopwith 2F.1s were in service. Other constructors were Arrol, Johnston of Dumfries (who did, in fact, erect the last ten of Beardmore's second batch); Hooper; and Clayton & Shuttleworth; but contracts with Fairey (who eventually built the true 2F.1 replacement, the Flycatcher, in 1922), also with Pegler and with Sage the noted shopfitters, were cancelled with the ending of the war.
   Certainly it must be noted that the 2F.1 Camel, with Bentlev B.R.I engine, was still regarded as a standard RAF type as late as 1921 (as was the Clerget-engined ship's version of the 1 1/2 Strutter) - which was certainly not the case with the far more widely built and even more famous F.1 Camel.
   Although one of the most significant operations by 2F.1 Camels was the strike on the Tondern Zeppelin sheds, using relatively heavy bombs, the 2F.1 was essentially an intercepter and destroyer of aeroplanes and airships in their own element - to which end the type was flown from the rotating turret-platforms of capital ships, from the fixed foredeck platforms of cruisers, from the full-scale flying-off decks of aircraft-carriers, from special destroyer-towed lighters, and even from special rigs on airships.
   The three last-named schemes must be considered in particular. Thus, concerning 'real' aircraft-carriers it must be recorded that in one month (June 1918) Furious (already familiar in associations with the Pup and Pup-carrying light cruisers) flew-off 2F.1s to attack German seaplanes, as did similar aircraft from the light cruisers Sydney, Melbourne and Galatea. One seaplane was forced down on to the water by a 2F.1 from Furious, and (such was Naval/air co-operation) was eventually finished-off by a destroyer. But with Furious and 2F.1s, in any case, we most fittingly associate not the interception of enemy aircraft in the air but a classic strike at one of their bases. This operation involved the indispensible elements of sea-and-air collaboration, surprise, special training, swift and telling blows - and audacity and skill of high order. The date was 19 July, 1918; the target was the airship base at Tondern; the Sopwith aircraft involved in the strike were six of seven specially prepared 2F.1s, with pilots specially trained (in two flights) in the techniques of low-bombing with 50 lb bombs - two of which projectiles were carried by each 2F.1; the result was the destruction of Zeppelins L54 and L60 in one shed and damage to another shed. Only two of the Camels managed to return to the Naval force which had conveyed them from Rosyth; three landed in Denmark; one ditched fatally.
   For a special note on 50 lb bombs the reader is referred to the chapter 'Folder Seaplane Type 807'. Having regard, however, to the persistent affirmation - apparently based on a remark by Marshal of the RAF Sir William Dickson, who was one of the pilots engaged (then holding the RAF rank of captain) that the bombs were 'specially made 60 lb Coopers', one would reaffirm that the 20 lb Cooper bomb was a common Camel weapon but would add that the Cooper delay-action nose fuse might be applied to bombs of other types. This fuse itself weighed 2 lb, whereas the 20 lb Cooper bomb (which actually weighed nearer 25 lb) contained only 4 lb of Amatol explosive.
   'Dickson' (whatever rank we now accord him) was one of the two pilots who, as earlier remarked, 'managed to return to the Naval force which had conveyed them from Rosyth' - this by way of stressing that these stalwarts did not land back aboard Furious but ditched near a destroyer and were plucked from the deep.
   All such considerations aside, the Tondern raid by 2F.1 Camels was the first true carrier-borne strike and one that was not only successful but historic also. As for details concerning bombs etc, one would only recall Sir William Dickson's virtual apology, after his appointment as Chief of the Air Staff in 1953, for his possibly disappointing personal appearance. To which one's reaction was: did it really matter - especially with a record like Sir William's, which included service at the Isle of Grain and award to him of the Dunning Cup in 1921 for 'flying from aircraft carriers in experimental machines'. (In any case, concerning the Tondern bombs, we indubitably have the equation 2 x 60 lb the latter being the 'Dickson' figure - equalling 112 lb. Which is precisely the heaviest bomb-weight quoted in the F.1 Camel chapter!).
   Having thus digressed to consider bombs, we must further pursue inquiry into 2F.1 activities aboard what we have earlier termed "real" aircraft-carriers, including among these not only the big-and-famous Furious, Argus and Eagle but the smaller and less familiar Vindictive (a conversion of the light cruiser Cavendish, with flying-off deck forward and landing deck aft) and Pegasus, which had been laid down as a Great Eastern Railway packet, and is not to be confused with the Ark Royal that was renamed Pegasus in 1934 and which rendered possibly untold service to the development of Naval flying. For special trials in 1919 with deck-arrester gear Argus, with her flush deck, was the chosen vessel, and in the summer of 1920 Eagle was operating the 2F.1 Camel type with three large arrester-gear clips on the landing gear spreader bar, a strut-braced propeller guard forward and a quick-release bridle further aft. For Fleet co-operation work with wireless, a few F.1s, as well as 2F.1s, were modified. Indeed, both forms of the production Camel served the Navy afloat-an F.1 with jettisonable steel-tube landing gear being carried on a lighter, and a 2F.1 for similar employment having an F.1's armament of two Vickers guns. Three 2F.1s from Vindictive went to Riga in November 1919 to serve with the Latvian forces, and, as already intimated, the 'Ship's Camel’ was still regarded as a standard RAF type as late as 1921, though its lower power and smaller wing area clearly placed it at some disadvantage compared with the ‘interim' Nieuport Nightjar (even though that type, which entered service in 1922, was "derated" from a 320 hp Dragonfly radial to a 230 hp Bentley B.R.2 rotary).
   From 'real' aircraft-carriers we turn to destroyer-towed lighters - a form of aircraft-carrier particularly associated with the very large Felixstowe F.2A flying-boat and the very small 2F.1 Camel - though for the Camel not merely as a carrier, but as a flying-off platform also. With the development and operating techniques of towed lighters one name especially is linked-that of Lieut Col C. R. Samson, for that rank "Sammy" held in August 1918 when he set down some considerations concerning the use of ‘Camel Aeroplanes' from lighters. With the 150 hp B.R.I engine, Samson explained, the Camel could be armed with two synchronised Vickers guns; or one synchronised Vickers gun and one Lewis gun which could be ‘moved in elevation' (evidently meaning the standard 2F.1 scheme involving the Admiralty Top Plane mounting), or 'two Lewis guns on the top plane'. Clearly, this last-mentioned scheme was not only light (the guns being fixed, and their magazines unchangeable in flight) but allowed the firing with impunity above the Camel's propeller of 'special' (anti-Zeppelin) ammunition.
   It was Samson himself who made the first Camel/lighter test, on 30 May, 1918, using N6623 fitted with skids like those of a Pup, supposedly to run in guide-troughs. The skids got fouled-up; 'Sammy' got a ducking and was run-over by the lighter into the bargain. He survived until 1931.
   To Lieut S. D. Culley really fell the honour of vindicating the lighter scheme, and in this wise:
   On the evening of 10 August, 1918, the Harwich Light Cruiser Force had sailed for a special operation in the Heligoland Bight. The composition of this force was appropriately 'special', consisting as it did of four light cruisers, eight destroyers, and six attendant F.2A flying-boats (three on towed lighters, the others operating from Great Yarmouth) - the cruisers carrying six motor torpedo-boats for swift and potent strikes, and one of the destroyers - HMS Redoubt - towing yet another lighter. Upon this lighter was a 2F.1 Camel (Beardmore-built N6812) for which the pilot was Lieut Culley.
   Early on the morning of 11 August the ships transmitted 'spoof wireless signals to proclaim their presence and lure out Zeppelins - a class of craft which had hitherto been shadowing the Harwich Force, to its discomfiture and embarrassment. Off Terschelling the motor torpedo-boats were lowered into the water and scudded off towards the River Ems. The three lighter-borne flying-boats could not be operated by reason of their overloaded state, a long swell and lack of wind; but the three from Great Yarmouth appeared and went to search for the now-overdue motor torpedo-boats (which had in fact, met trouble). From one of the flying-boats, however, Maj Robert Leckie saw a Zeppelin approaching at 15,000 ft, and duly warned the surface force by visual means. Leckie was told that the Camel was being prepared for launching, and that he himself was to go home.
   At 08.25 the Zeppelin L53 was spotted by the ships; Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt, who was commanding the force, ordered the destroyers to lay a smoke-screen (and thus to lure the Zeppelin further); and L53 nosed on from cloud to cloud.
   Working up to thirty knots and heading into wind Redoubt now had the situation in hand - with her lighter in tow. Culley in the Camel's cockpit, and the sea-drenched handling crew at their perilous posts. The engine having been swung into life (at particular peril) and the quick-release holding-down shackle on the landing gear spreader bar operated, the helpers made themselves scarce by lying flat, and the Camel was up and away in a mere five feet.
   Culley climbed, but lost sight of the Zeppelin, though he did see haze and ice. At length through the murk the Camel rose, though slowly, for the height was nearing ceiling - and then the Zeppelin, at 19,000 ft. began to head for home. The Camel was now at just about its ceiling, but from 300 ft below, Culley pulled back on the stick and fired at the airship above. After getting off only seven rounds one of his two fixed Lewis guns (for which there was an Aldis sight, offset to starboard) jammed; but not the second gun - and L53 burst into flame and broke in two. The Camel fell out of the action, and Culley felt the heat from the last German airship to be shot down in the war then soon to finish.
   As the sailors of the Harwich Force sent up their cheers and L53 hit the water, Culley began to find himself not only in navigation trouble but in engine trouble too, as the main tank emptied; though with his emergency petrol supply itself running out he was able to ditch near Redoubt.
   Lighters-and-aircraft engaging in battle with lighter-than-air craft had another symbolism for the RAF, quite aside from Culley's exploit - and one hardly less exciting, though far less known. For this last reason the writer has particular pleasure in acknowledging the researches of Philip Jarrett, who draws attention not only to the antiquity of the idea of lighter-than-air craft launching ones heavier than air, but avers that plans to experiment with the attachment of a Camel to, and its release from, the airship HMA R23 had been formulated before July 1918 referring in particular to photographs taken on or before 25 July and showing 2F.1 Camel N6622 suspended beneath the then-obsolete R23 in a Pulham shed. The Camel was attached by the 'Little-Crook anchoring gear', and one of the co-inventors (Maj I. C. Little, RAF) reported at the time the photographs were taken that the airship's forward engines were run at full speed, the slipstream passing over the Camel, which then ran its own B.R.I engine. This rig was probably only used for 'dry runs' and not for airborne-dropping trials.
   In the September following. Brigadier-General E. M. Maitland, Superintendent of Airships, listed the functions of the airship-carried fighter as attacks against hostile territory (the machines returning to neutral territory) and defence of the airship against hostile attack; while there was still a scheme propounded by Lieut-Col F. L. M. Boothby - in which the attached aircraft doubled as the principal motive power of the airship.
   By 3 October, 1918. R23 had flown for three hours with a Camel (almost certainly the Beardmore-built 2F.1 numbered N6814) in position, and on 3November, 1918, the F.1 Camel D8250 was air-tested beneath R23, the (unpiloted) Camel's rudder being secured in the neutral position and the elevators lashed about 2 deg down. The airship rose to 500 ft, turned into wind, and the tail support raised clear of the Camel, which was then released (turning over on landing). On 6 November possibly with 'Ship's Camel' N6814 again R23 ascended with Lieut R. E. Keys in the fighter's cockpit, and on 15 November Keys reported:
   'On Nov 6th 1918 I carried out experiment of dropping a Camel from a Rigid Airship.
   'My engine was started before leaving the ground and I kept it running at 500 revs. The Rigid Airship attained the height of 3000 ft. during which time the aeroplane was quite rigid and satisfactory. The saddle fitting over the after end of the fuselage was then removed. I gave the signal to be released and on being released the machine dropped about 10 ft and picked up her glide and was immediately under control. The machine showed no tendency whatever to get out of control. The speed of the Rigid Airship was 30 mph.
   'While being released from the Airship I had my controls neutral. I thoroughly tested the machine and found she had in no way suffered from being suspended from the Airship. I consider this method of attachment is entirely satisfactory.’
   It matters little whether the particular fighter concerned was a 2F.1 or an F.1; nor does the inconsistent spelling of Key's name with one or two 'e's - though it was evidently not 'Keyes' as typed on the report. What does, however, matter is that here was one Camel at least which 'showed no tendency whatever to get out of control' in distinctly unusual circumstances (and which, be it noted, remained rigid under its Rigid).
   Although 2F.1 Camel N7352 was fitted in February 1921 with an 'Airship and Overhead Wire Landing Gear for Small Craft' (following early-1920 tests with a Camel having an overwing cable-engaging hook, the patterns whereof were varied) no airship trials were involved. N7352, nevertheless, was fitted with a strikingly elaborate propeller-guard, had an entirely stripped centre section for optimum pilot-view, and - with its hook above - presented a singular appearance.
   But these and similar schemes were not Sopwith developments, and are noted here in token of that company's wide involvement in curious and stringent trials - if not beyond the call of duty, then beyond a clause of contract. More fittingly, perhaps, this present chapter may conclude as follows:
   Quite early in the account of the F.1 Camel it was remarked that the type 'owed something to the Baby as well as to the Pup', while in this present chapter on the 2F.1 the name 'Improved Baby' makes a similarly early appearance. Thus one recalls especially vividly the remarks of a Sopwith Schneider pilot serving in the RNAS (no less applicable to the Baby – and, in fact, even more so) to this effect; 'The duties of the Schneider Flight (at Yarmouth) were extraordinary in their variety. It was the machine for the lover of solitude and independence and a wandering kind of life. The Schneider was a sort of detective, exposing all mysteries, such as whales mistaken for submarines, streaks of oil, and rescuing colleagues in difficulties. Any wild rumour-out went the Schneider to investigate ...'
   How opportune, now, to re-emphasise the relationships between all the Sopwiths by appending this recollection by a Camel pilot (F.1 or 2F.1 seems immaterial) of a certain salty sortie: 'One day in May I was ordered to the Shipwash patrol on a Camel. When almost over this light vessel at a height of approximately 3,000 feet, I saw what appeared to be a submarine on the surface, or rather, going along with only the periscope above water. The visibility was poor, and the submarine, when challenged later, did nothing but proceed in a "suspicious manner".
   'After an interval, therefore, two dives were made and several bursts given from the two Vickers guns. Whereupon, the supposed submarine disappeared downwards, taking cover supposedly. In great glee I turned inland and landed ... I was suitably celebrating my success when I was told by the orderly. "You're wanted on the 'phone. Sir".
   'My submarine was a whale.'
   So, to round off these Camel chapters - from sending down other aeroplanes, and bombs of quite surprising sorts, to being hoisted-up by an airship and taken in by a whale - one would only affirm that if Sopwith's Camel never actually passed through the eye of a needle, then it must have come pretty close even to that attainment. Indeed, as someone once declared, it became so famous that the Arabs named an animal after it.
   As for the 2F.1, now under particular scrutiny, production orders were:
   Sopwith N6600-N6649.
   Arrol, Johnston N7350-N7389 (some not delivered, but company erected last ten of Beardmore's second order).
   Beardmore N6750-N6849; N7100-N7149.
   Clayton & Shuttleworth N8180-N8229 (deliveries halved).
   Hooper N8130-N8179.

   N.B. Although the U S Navy may have had some 2F.1 Camels, the six known Camels used by that Service - sometimes from gun-turret platforms on battleships and sometimes also having external notation bags and a hydrovane - were seemingly of F.1 type. On 9 March, 1919, a Camel made the first turret-platform take-off from a US battleship (Texas). Paradoxically, the pilot's name was McDonnell!


2F.1 Camel (150 hp B.R.I)

   Span 26 ft 11 in (8.2 m): length 18 ft 9 in (5.7 m); wing area 221 sq ft (20.5 sq m). Empty weight 1,036 lb (470 kg); maximum weight 1,530 lb (694 kg). Maximum speed at 10,000 ft (3,050 m) 122 mph (196 km/h); maximum speed at 15,000 ft (4.570 m) 117 mph (188 km/h); climb to 10,000 ft (3,050 m) II min 30 sec; climb to 15,000 ft (4.570 m) 25 min; service ceiling 17.300 ft (5,270 m).

F.Mason The British Fighter since 1912 (Putnam)

Sopwith Camel

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   At sea Camels took over much of the work pioneered by the Pup. The 2F.1 Camel was specially developed for work from ships and was flown in prototype form (as N5) as early as March 1917. This version was distinguishable in having a fuselage built in two parts (the joint being just aft of the cockpit), the object of which was to enable the rear section to be detached for storage aboard ship. The joint necessitated a pair of external rocking levers to enable the elevator control cables to be disconnected. The wing span was reduced by about a foot, and the cabane struts, instead of being faired, were plain steel tubes.
   As with the RFC’s night fighters, the 2F.1 Camels were armed with an upward-firing Lewis gun, while a single Vickers was usually retained. Their principal task with the Home Fleet was to attack German airships and seaplanes at large over the North Sea, and they achieved a fair degree of success.
   Another memorable series of trials involved Camel take-offs from towed lighters. The first attempt was made on 30 May 1918 by the redoubtable Col Charles Rumney Samson (later Air Cdre, cmg, dso, AFC, raf) who was to fly a Camel from a lighter being towed by hm Destroyer Truculent off the coast at Orfordness. Because the lighter was not fitted with a flight deck, the Camel was equipped with skids instead of wheels, and these skids engaged in channels running the full length of the vessel. Unfortunately, as the fighter began its take-off, the skids jumped out of the channels, and the Camel fell over the side and was smashed to pieces as the lighter passed over it. Samson miraculously fought his way out of the wreckage and was rescued unhurt.
   Later a short deck was fitted to the lighter and the first successful take-off, using a normal wheel undercarriage, was accomplished by Lt S C Culley rn on 31 July. Towed lighters with Camels were used operationally, and, during a foray by the Harwich Force towards the Heligoland Bight on 11 August 1918, Culley took off from a lighter, climbed to 18,000 feet and shot down the Zeppelin L53 - despite one of his guns jamming. This was the last German airship to be shot down during the War. Two others had recently been destroyed by carrier-borne Camels when, on 19 July, seven aircraft, each carrying a pair of 50lb bombs, had taken off from hms Furious and hit the German airship sheds at Tondern, destroying the Zeppelins L54 and L60; only two of the Camels returned safely to Furious, flown by Captains F W Dickson and Bernard Arthur Smart dso* (the pilot who had shot down a Zeppelin while flying a Pup on 22 August 1917).
   One other interesting experiment of 1918 involved naval Camels, that of providing British airships with their own fighter protection. While the 2F.1 Camels N6622 and N6814 of No 212 Squadron were being prepared at Felixstowe, the airship R.23 was being fitted with a horizontal surface beneath its keel, under which the upper wing of the Camel would rest, retained in place by a quick-release hook which engaged with the fighter’s top wing centre section structure. A preliminary drop was made without pilot and with the Camel’s controls locked, and this was followed by a live drop by Lt R E Key dfc of No 212 Squadron who started his engine successfully, dropped away without trouble, and flew round the R.23 before landing at the airship station at Pulham. Similar trials, employing other fighter aircraft, continued until 1925 when they were finally abandoned.
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   Weights: (2F.1) Tare, 956lb; all-up, 1,523lb.
   Armament: 2.F1 Camels were usually armed with one synchronized Vickers gun on nose and one Lewis gun on Admiralty mounting above the upper wing.
   Production: Generally stated to be a total of 5,695, plus about 230 2F.1s, but at least 100 were cancelled.

W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters

SOPWITH 2F.1 CAMEL UK

   A shipboard version of the F.1 Camel single-seat fighter, the 2F.1 differed essentially in having an abbreviated upper wing centre section and correspondingly shorter lower wing; narrower, steel-tube cabane struts; external elevator cables, and a detachable rear fuselage to facilitate stowage aboard ship. The standard engine was the 150 hp Bentley B.R.1, but the 130 hp Clerget 9B was regarded as an alternative, and armament comprised one synchronised 0.303-in (7,7-mm) machine gun and a second weapon of similar calibre above the wing centre section. Deliveries of the 2F.1 to the RNAS began in the autumn of 1917 against an initial order for 50 fighters placed with the parent company. William Beardmore & Co subsequently became the major contractor for this version of the Camel, building a further 150 of which the first flew on 20 February 1918. The 2F.1 Camels were employed by the RNAS and (after the amalgamation of that service with the RFC on 1 April 1918) RAF from shore bases, towed lighters, battle cruisers, large light cruisers and from the carriers Argus, Furious, Pegasus and Eagle. On 31 October 1918, 129 were on charge with the RAF, of which 112 were with units of the Grand Fleet. The 2F.1 Camel remained in service as a carrier-borne fighter for some years after World War I, a number was supplied to Latvia and Estonia, and others supplied to Canada continued in use until the late ’twenties. The following data relate to the B.R.1-powered 2F.1 Camel.

Max speed, 122 mph (196 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3 050 m).
Time to 10,000 ft (3 050 m), 11.5 min.
Empty weight, 1,036 lb (470 kg).
Loaded weight, 1,530 lb (694 kg).
Span, 26 ft 11 in (8,20 m).
Length, 18 ft 8 in (5,69 m).
Height, 9ft 1 in (2,77 m).
Wing area, 221 sq ft (20,53 m2).

J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)

Sopwith Camel

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  There are indications that a few F.1 Camels may have been used from ships and even from the towed lighters mentioned later. Be that as it may, another version of the Camel was designed specifically for use from ships, and differed sufficiently from the standard machine to be given a new Sopwith type number: it was the Sopwith 2F.1. The prototype 2F.1, numbered N.5, was tested as early as March, 1917. It was powered by the 130 h.p. Clerget, as were the first production 2F.1s.
  The Sopwith 2F.1 was distinguished from the F.1 by a fuselage which was made in two parts: the division occurred one bay behind the cockpit, and at that point the rear portion of the fuselage could be completely detached. The object of the divisible fuselage was, of course, to economise in space on board ship. The necessary modifications to the controls resulted in the appearance of external rocking levers for the elevator controls, immediately behind the division in the fuselage.
  The centre-section of the 2F.1 was of shorter span than that of the F. 1, and reduced the overall span of the aircraft by about a foot. The lower mainplanes were correspondingly shorter. The centre-section was supported on steel-tube struts which, in front elevation, were splayed less sharply than the spruce struts of the F.1 Camel; they were noticeably more slender than those of the F.1 and provided a useful distinguishing feature.
  One of the more important duties of ship-board fighters of the period was to attack enemy airships, not only those which raided the United Kingdom but those which performed the tactically more important tasks of scouting for and protecting German naval units. For these attacks the R.N.A.S. favoured upward-firing guns, and the armament of the Sopwith 2F.1 was arranged accordingly. A single fixed Vickers gun was mounted on top of the fuselage, to port of centre; and a Lewis gun was carried above the centre-section on a mounting which enabled the weapon to be swung back for reloading and for upward firing. The structure of the centre-section differed from that of the F.1 Camel to permit the gun to pass through the central cut-out.
  The Sopwith 2F.1 Camel was flown from ships in the same way as the Pup, which it largely supplanted. A short runway, little more than twice the Camel’s own length, was built on the forecastle of some of the light cruisers, but many had a platform built on top of a gun-turret. A rather longer run was provided on battle cruisers by similar platforms on gun-turrets. In all cases the tail-guide trestle first used for the Sopwith Pup was fitted. The 2F.1 was also flown from the aircraft carriers Furious, Pegasus and, later, Argus and Eagle.
  On June 1st, 1918, during one of the sweeps made by the Harwich Force, the Camels of the Australian light cruisers Sydney and Melbourne took off to attack enemy seaplanes: Lieutenant A. C. Sharwood of the Sydney forced one down on the sea, but machine-gun trouble made it impossible for him to follow up his attack. Two Camels from Furious attacked two German seaplanes in the Heligoland Bight during a reconnaissance operation by the First Light Cruiser Squadron on June 17th. Lieutenant G. Heath forced one of the enemy down on the sea; the seaplane was later sunk by the destroyer Valentine.
  One of the most daring uses of Sopwith 2F.1 Camels was their operation from lighters towed by destroyers. As is related in the history of the Felixstowe flying boats, these lighters had been developed for the transportation of flying boats across the North Sea in order to increase their radius of action. By using them to carry single-seat fighters the Admiralty was provided with a means of making daylight attacks on Zeppelins over the North Sea and on enemy seaplane bases.
  The first attempt to fly a Camel from a lighter was made by Colonel C. R. Samson on May 30th, 1918, and it nearly cost that gallant officer his life. There was no proper flying-off' deck, the take-off device consisting of a pair of troughs running the full length of the lighter. The Camel which Samson used had been specially fitted with twin skids instead of wheels, in the same way as the Sopwith 9901a version of the Pup, and these skids ran in the troughs. Samson resorted to this arrangement partly to enable the experiments to be conducted as quickly as possible, and partly to ensure that his Camel would keep straight and not fall over the side of the lighter before it was properly airborne. The trial was carried out off Orfordness; and on board the towing destroyer Truculent was Lieutenant-Colonel E. D. M. Robertson, the officer commanding Felixstowe Air Station.
  With the lighter under tow at 32 knots, Samson started to take off, but the Camel’s skids jumped from the tracks in the lighter’s deck. The machine fell over the bows and was run over by the lighter. Major Egbert Cadbury, D.S.C., D.F.C., was on board the lighter, and his description of what followed appears in these words in The Story of a North Sea Air Station, by C. F. Snowden Gamble (p. 393):
  “I gasped, and could not believe it possible that Samson could avoid being battered to atoms. It was all over in a second, and before I had regained my legs, the wreckage of the machine was 300 or 400 yards astern, and no Samson. Suddenly, up bobbed a little white flying cap, and all heaved a sigh of relief.
  “An escorting destroyer had got a whaler away in about 30 seconds, and picked him up. He was unhurt, but had had a nasty time under the water disentangling himself from the wires of the wreck. The first thing he said as he ran nimbly up the side of the destroyer was, ‘Well, Robertson, I think it well worth trying again ... ’ ”
  On that occasion Major Cadbury had acted as a human tail-guide trestle for Samson’s Camel: he lay on his back and lifted the tail of the machine with his feet.
  Despite its premature termination, this first trial provided useful experience, for it showed that the lighter rode stern down when under tow at speed. Since the staging which carried the trackway had been fitted parallel with the water when the lighter was at rest, the Camel had to attempt to take off from what was in effect an uphill runway. A full-size 30-foot flying deck was therefore fitted and was arranged to slope down towards the bows at such an angle that it was horizontal when the lighter was under tow.
  The tracks were discarded, and the next test was made with a Camel which had a wheel undercarriage. On July 31st, 1918. Lieutenant S. D. Culley made a successful take-off from the lighter, and the practicability of the scheme was proved.
  When the Harwich Force set out for the Heligoland Bight on the evening of August 10th, 1918, three of the destroyers towed lighters carrying flying boats and a fourth (Redoubt) towed a lighter with a Camel on board. The machine’s pilot was again Lieutenant Culley. Early in the morning of August 11 th, the force was off Terschelling, and six coastal motor boats set off in search of enemy vessels. The flying boats were prevented from taking off by a long, smooth swell, the absence of any wind, and an overload of fuel and ammunition.
  Soon after the C.M.Bs had started, four German seaplanes appeared and shadowed the Harwich Force for a time; then, just before 8.30 a.m., the Zeppelin L.53 (Kapitanleutnant Prolss) was sighted N.E. of the flotilla at a height of about 15,000 feet. Admiral Tyrwhitt turned his force seawards and laid smoke screens. These manoeuvres sufficed to entice the Zeppelin to follow the ships, and at 8.58 a.m. Culley took off in his Camel. His take-off run on this occasion was but five feet.
  At 9.30 a.m., Culley was at 18,000 feet, with the Zeppelin 1,000 feet higher; and at 9.41 a.m. the two craft were approaching each other, the Camel no more than 300 feet below the airship. Culley could climb no higher. He pulled back the control column and fired at the L.53. One of his guns jammed after firing only seven rounds, but the other sent a stream of bullets into the airship. Some seconds later the Zeppelin caught fire, flared up in a great burst of flame, and broke in two. It was the last German airship to be shot down during the war.
  Culley had some difficulty in finding the flotilla again and had switched over to his emergency tank before he sighted the British ships. He came down on the water alongside his destroyer; when his Camel was hoisted aboard the lighter it had a pint of petrol in the tank.
  Four lighter-borne Camels accompanied the Harwich Force on October 24th, when an attempt was made to attack the German seaplane stations at Borkum and Nordeney. Four flying boats were also taken on lighters, and ten more were flown out from Yarmouth and Felixstowe. The plan miscarried: again it proved impossible for the lighter-borne flying boats to take off, and it was found that three of the Camels could not be flown because the heavy seas coming aboard had damaged their tail-guide trestles.
  The most spectacular of the exploits of the carrier-borne 2F.1 Camels had taken place some three months earlier - on July 19th, 1918. It had been decided to attack the Zeppelins in their sheds, for which purpose two special Flights of Camels had been formed and their pilots had been carefully trained for the operation. The Camel Flights embarked in Furious at the end of June, 1918.
  The first attempt was abandoned owing to unfavourable weather on June 29th, and Furious and the First Light Cruiser Squadron did not leave Rosyth again until July 17th. A thunderstorm postponed the operation until the 19th. At dawn on that day the carrier was 80 miles N.W. of the German airship base at Tondern, and soon after 3 a.m. the seven Camels were airborne, each carrying two 50-lb bombs. The first Flight of three were flown by Captain W. D. Jackson, Captain F. W. Dickson and Lieutenant N. E. Williams; and the four machines of No. 2 Flight were in the hands of Captain B. A. Smart, Captain T. K. Thyne, Lieutenant S. Dawson, and Lieutenant W. A. Yeulett. (Captain Smart, flying a Sopwith Pup from H.M.S. Yarmouth, had shot down the Zeppelin L.23 on August 21st, 1917.)
  Only six Camels reached the objective, for one had been forced down on the water with engine trouble. The bombs of the first Flight struck one of the two airship sheds, and caused a great fire to break out. The shed was destroyed and with it the two Zeppelins it contained, L.54 and L.60. The second Flight of Camels bombed the other shed and damaged it badly, but no other airship was destroyed.
  Only two of the Camels, those flown by Dickson and Smart, returned to Furious. Jackson, Williams and one of the other pilots lost their way and had to land in Denmark; Yeulett had to come down on the water and was drowned.
  An experimentally modified 2F.1 Camel was at Felixstowe Air Station in 1918. This machine had twin Vickers guns and a special undercarriage made of steel tubes. Each vee was connected across its open end by a length of steel tube, and the structure had the appearance of being jettisonable. Lashing points under the lower wings and rear fuselage hinted at use from lighters, in which case a jettisonable undercarriage would lessen the risk of nosing-over when ditching; for such was the inevitable conclusion of all flights made by the lighter-borne Camels when at sea. Tests were in fact conducted with a Camel which had a jettisonable undercarriage: the aircraft was successfully ditched after its undercarriage had been dropped.
  From land stations such as Great Yarmouth the R.N.A.S. used Camels, probably both F.1s and 2F.1s, as fighting escorts for the patrolling Short seaplanes and for anti-submarine patrols. These duties entailed long flights over the sea, and were not accomplished without losses.
  In the summer of 1918 it was decided to conduct experiments to provide our own rigid airships with adequate means of defence against enemy aeroplanes. It was intended that an airship should carry with her a single-seat fighter which could be released and flown when the need arose. The first experiments were conducted at Pulham. The airship concerned was the R.23, and the fighter was the Sopwith 2F.1 Camel.
  A special horizontal surface was attached to the keel of R.23. The upper wing of the Camel fitted snugly up against this surface, which spanned the distance between the Camel’s interplane struts; and the attachment between aeroplane and airship was made by a quick-release hook which passed through the central cut-out in the Camel’s centre-section. The aeroplane attachment fittings were made by No. 212 Squadron, R.A.F., Great Yarmouth. Camels used in these experiments were N.6622 and N.6814.
  The first test was made with a Camel which had its controls locked and a dummy pilot. The release was accomplished satisfactorily, and a live drop was then made by Lieutenant R. E. Keys, D.F.C., of No. 212 Squadron. He was able to start his Camel’s engine after release and flew round the airship before landing safely at Pulham. The Armistice removed the need for such devices and almost eclipsed Keys’ achievement. The Germans subsequently claimed that they had dropped an aeroplane from the Zeppelin L.35 in 1917. Experiments in Britain were abandoned until the end of 1925, but thereafter were not pursued. The Americans used the device on some of their airships in later years.
  The 2F.1 Camel remained in service for a time after the Armistice, and at least one continued to fly operationally. Early in 1919, H.M.S. Vindictive was operating in the Baltic during the campaign against the Bolsheviks, and her 2F.1 Camel carried out many patrols over Baltic waters.
  The type was used on aircraft carriers in experiments with arrester gear at a time when the arrester cables were longitudinal and had a wooden ramp under their forward ends. As the aircraft ran up the ramp the friction of the cables in the undercarriage hooks increased until the machine was brought to rest. The Camel had three hooks under the spreader bar of the undercarriage, and a special guard was fitted in front of the wheels to prevent damage to the airscrew.
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SPECIFICATION
  Manufacturers: The Sopwith Aviation Company, Ltd., Canbury Park Road, Kingston-on-Thames.
  Other Contractors: For 2F.1 Camel: Wm. Beardmore & Co., Ltd., Dalmuir, Dumbartonshire; The Fairey Aviation Co., Ltd., Hayes, Middlesex. Pegler & Co., Ltd., Doncaster.
  Power: 2F.1 Camel: 130 h.p. Clerget; 150 h.p. B.R.1.
  Dimensions: Span: 2F.1, 26 ft 11 in. Length, 2F.1: 130 h.p. Clerget, 18 ft 6 in.; B.R.1, 18 ft 8 in. Height, 2F.1: 9 ft 1 in. Chord: 4 ft 6 in. Gap: at fuselage, 2F.1, 4 ft 11 in. Stagger: at fuselage, 18 in.; at interplane struts, 18 5/16 in. Dihedral: upper, nil; lower (2F.1) 5° 30'. Incidence: 2°. Span of tail: 8 ft 2 1/2 in. Wheel track: 2F.1, 4 ft 5 1/8 in.
  Areas: 2F.1: Wings: 221 sq ft.
  Tankage: Petrol: main (pressure) tank, 30 gallons; gravity tank, 7 gallons; total, 37 gallons. Oil: 6 1/2 gallons.
  Armament: 2F.1 Camel: one fixed, synchronised Vickers machine-gun mounted on top of fuselage to port of centre, firing forward through the airscrew. One Lewis gun on Admiralty top plane mounting above centre-section. At least one 2F.1 of the R.N.A.S. Station, Felixstowe, had twin Vickers guns as on the F.1 Camel. The 2F.1 Camels which bombed Tondern each carried two 50-lb bombs.
  Service Use: 2F.1 Camel: aircraft carriers Argus, Furious, Pegasus and Eagle. Battle cruisers Barham, Repulse, Renown, Australia, New Zealand, Inflexible, Indomitable, Tiger, Princess Royal, Lion. Large light cruisers Glorious, Courageous, Vindictive. Light cruisers Caledon, Calliope, Cassandra, Cordelia, Dublin, Birkenhead, Southampton, Chatham, Galatea, Melbourne, Sydney, Phaeton, Royalist and Tarmouth. Flown from lighters towed by destroyers of the Harwich Force. Used at some shore stations of the R.N.A.S., e.g. Great Yarmouth, Manston, Port Victoria, Cranwell, Donibristle.
  Production and Allocation: A total of 5,490 Camels were built: 1,325 in 1917 and 4,165 in 1918. Of the 4,188 machines which were distributed to units of the R.F.C. and R.A.F., 2,116 went to squadrons with the B.E.F. in France; twenty-four went to the Independent Force; 145 to squadrons with the Dover-Dunkerque Command; 218 to Italy; seventy-two to units in the Mediterranean; fifty-seven to the Middle East Brigade; 377 to Home Defence squadrons; and 1,1.79 to training units. In 1918, thirty-six Camels were supplied to Belgium and six to Greece. The American Expeditionary Force purchased 143 Camels in June, 1918.

  Camels on Charge of the R.A.F. on October 31st, 1918:
F.1 Camel F.1 Camel F.1 Camel F.1 Camel 2F.1
   Clerget Le Rhone and Monosoupape B.R.1 Total -
Expeditionary Force, France 344 272 186 802 -
Independent Force, France 27 - - 27 -
Italy 75 - - 75 -
Mediterranean 100 - - 100 6
Dover-Dunkerque Command 12 - 24 36 -
Home Defence units - 181 - 181 -
Training units 142 3 1 146 2
Other units in U.K. 355 39 34 428 8
Egypt and Palestine - 9 - 9 -
Macedonia - 11 - 11 -
Mesopotamia - 11 - 11 -
En route to Middle East 26 25 - 51 -
With units of the Grand Fleet 4 10 26 40 112
Aeroplane Repair Depots 72 14 1 87 -
In store 160 127 84 371 -
Aircraft Acceptance Parks 25 119 - 144 1
Totals 1,342 821 356 2,519 129

  Serial Numbers: 2F.1 Camel: N.5 (prototype). N.6600-N.6649. N.6750-N.6799. N.6800-N.6849. N.7100-N.7149: built by Beardmore. N.7200-N.7299: ordered from the Fairey Aviation Co., but contract cancelled. N.7300-N.7349: ordered from Pegler but contract cancelled. Between and about N.7357-N.7369 (probable batch N.7350-N.7399). N.8151-N.8156 and N.8204 are known to have been 2F.1 Camels.
  Costs:
   Sopwith 2F.1 airframe without engine, instruments and guns £825 0s.

H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)

Camel 2F.1. This was the "ships'" version of the Camel and normally had only one Vickers gun (port) and one Lewis gun above the centre-section. The type was a derivative of a design known as the FS.1 which may actually have been constructed as the 'Camel Seaplane' and of which a landplane version was certainly built. Like the FS.1, this aircraft had a Vickers gun to port and a Lewis gun over the centre-section. This gun was fixed and was installed in the inverted position, with the ammunition drum projecting through a trailing-edge cut-out so that it could be changed by the pilot without recourse to a movable mounting of Foster or Admiralty Top Plane type. The latter was, however, standardised. Two double drums were provided for the Lewis gun, and there were 250 rounds for the Vickers gun, which had a ring-and-bead sight mounted upon it. At least one aircraft was modified to have twin Vickers guns, and the most famous 2F.1 of all - used by Lieut S. D. Culley to shoot down Zeppelin L.53 on 10 August, 1918 - had two Lewis guns above the centre-section. An experimental installation of eight strut-mounted Le Prieur rockets was made.
   It has been stated that for the raid on the Tondern Zeppelin sheds on 19 July, 1918, the bombs used by the seven Camels engaged were of 50-lb type. Marshal of the RAF Sir William Dickson, who took part in the raid, has, however, described them as 'specially made 60-lb Coopers'. He has also recorded that before the raid the pilots experimented with various forms of sight to improve their aim.

O.Thetford British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Putnam)

Sopwith 2F.I Ship Camel

   Unlike the F.I Camel. which served both the RNAS and RFC, the 2F.I was designed specifically as a shipboard fighter and, to this end, incorporated a number of features that distinguished it from the earlier Camel. The fuselage was made in two parts, the rear half being detachable just behind the cockpit: this conserved space aboard ship. Another distinguishing feature was the use of steel tubular centre-section struts instead of the wide wooden struts of the F.I.
   The prototype 2F.I Camel (N5) flew in March 1917, and the 230 production aircraft that followed were built by the major sub-contractor Beardmore and six other companies after an initial 50 by Sopwith.
   The main operational function of the 2F.I Camels was to intercept Zeppelins over the North Sea. For this purpose they were carried in numerous warships, where they were flown from platforms mounted above gun turrets in the same way as the Pups they superseded. They were also flown from aircraft-carriers such as Furious. Yet another means of getting the Camels to the scene of operations was from lighters towed by destroyers of Harwich Force; the first successful take-off by this method was achieved by Lt S D Culley on 31 July 1918. A few days afterwards, on 11 August, the same officer shot down the Zeppelin L53 whilst flying from a lighter in Camel N6812. It was the last Zeppelin to be destroyed in air combat.
   Another method of attacking Zeppelins was to bomb them in their sheds - a technique much favoured by the RNAS from the earliest days of the war. In June 1918 a specially trained force of 2F.I Camels joined Furious for an audacious strike on the airship sheds at Tondem. Escorted by the First Light Cruiser Squadron. Furious flew off seven Camels on 19 July 1918. Six of the Camels, each carrying two 50 lb bombs, succeeded in reaching Tondem and the Zeppelins L54 and L60 were destroyed.
   By October 1918 there were 129 2F.1 Camels in service and 112 were carried in ships of the Grand Fleet. Camels aboard Argus took part in some of the earliest experiments with deck-arrester gear in 1919.

UNITS ALLOCATED
   Carriers: Argus, Furious, Manxman, Pegasus and Vindictive. Turret platform launch from 47 battleships, battle cruisers and cruisers. RNAS shore stations: Cranwell, Dover (No.233 Squadron), East Fortune, Felixstowe (No.230 Squadron), Great Yarmouth (Nos.212 and 273 Squadrons), Isle of Grain, Leuchars, Manston (No.219 Squadron), Port Victoria and Turnhouse. Air launch experiments from airship R23.

TECHNICAL DATA (2F.I CAMEL)
   Description: Single-seat ship-board fighting scout.
   Manufacturers: Sopwith (N6600-6649) and seven sub-contractors (serials ranging from N6750 to 8204).
   Power Plant: One 150 hp Bentley B.R.I.
   Dimensions: Span, 26 ft 11 in. Length, 18 ft 9 in. Wing area, 221 sq ft.
   Weights: Empty, 1,036 lb. Loaded, 1.530 lb.
   Performance: Maximum speed, 117 mph at 15.000 ft. Climb, 25 min to 15.000 ft. Service ceiling, 17.300 ft.
   Armament: One fixed, synchronised Vickers gun above the fuselage and one Lewis gun above the wing centre section. Four 25 lb bombs.

C.Owers Beardmore Aircraft of WW1 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 69)

Sopwith 2.F1 Ship's Camel

  Following on from the Ship’s Pup, Beardmore was given orders for the ship-born version of the famous Sopwith Camel fighter. The 2.F1 version.
  The Ship Camel was proposed be built by Beardmore at the 23rd Air Department Weekly Progress Meeting in October 1917, however this depended on whether the machine gives a satisfactory performance on trial, and whether there is a demand for these machines from the Fleet. At the Admiralty Air Department Progress Meeting of 18 December 1917, it was stated that Beardmore would require a new contract very soon and a new contract for 50 ships Camels should be given to them.
  Beardmore went on to build the greater number of 2F.1 Ship Camels including the most famous one of all, N6812, that resides in the Imperial War Museum. This is the machine that Lt Stuart D. Culley used on 31 July 1918, taking off from a towed lighter to bring down the Zeppelin L53.


Sopwith 2F.1 Ships Camel Manufactured by Sir William Beardmore & Co Ltd
Contract No. Serials Notes
A.S.35920 N6750-N6799
A.S.2301/18 N6800-N6849 150-hp B.R.1 engine.
38a/663/C695 & A.S.224907/18 N7350-N7399 N7375-N7399 cancelled.
38a/662/C694 N7650-N7679 Cancelled.

Журнал Flight

Flight, February 6, 1919.

"MILESTONES"

THE SOPWITH MACHINES

The Sopwith "Camel" (Sea Type)

   This design was almost identical with the above, except that the fuselage was made detachable at the rear of the pilot's seat, enabling the machine to be conveniently stowed aboard ship. It was used for flying from the deck of seaplane carriers, and, in addition to this, was also carried on some of our fast cruisers. The method of launching was off the Barbet guns. It will be appreciated that it required a machine of considerable efficiency to get off with certainty and satisfaction with so short a run.