Sopwith Bee
| Sopwith Bee | |
|---|---|
| Role | experimental aircraft |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Sopwith Aviation Company |
| First flight | 1916 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Sopwith Bee was a small biplane built in 1916 as a personal aircraft for Harry Hawker, Sopwith's chief test pilot.
History
The Bee was a single-bay biplane powered by a 50 hp (37 kW)
centre of gravity in order to optimise manoeverability: this necessitated a large semi-circular cutout in the trailing edge of the upper wing to accommodate the pilot. Lateral control was achieved by wing warping.[1]
The Bee was subsequently fitted with a single
torpedo-boat destroyers, but this came to nothing and no further development of the type was carried out.[1]
The aircraft was sometimes referred to as the Tadpole.
Specifications
Data from Mason[1]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 14 ft 3 in (4.34 m)
- Wingspan: 16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
- Powerplant: 1 × Gnome Omega 7-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine
- Propellers: 2-bladed
Armament
- One Vickers .303machine gun
References
Citations
Bibliography
- Mason, Francis K. The British Fighter Since 1912. London: Putnam, 1992. ISBN 0 85177 852 6