Sopwith Baby

{{Short description|British WW1 biplane reconnaissance aircraft}}

{{Infobox aircraft

|name= Baby

|image= File:Sopwith Baby WW1 aircraft.jpg

|caption=Sopwith Baby in use with the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service

|type=scout and bomber floatplane

|national_origin= United Kingdom

|manufacturer=Sopwith Aviation Company

|designer=

|first_flight=September 1915

|introduction=1915

|retired=

|status= Retired

|primary_user=Royal Naval Air Service

|more_users=Aviazione della Regia Marina

|produced=

|number_built=386100 were built by Sopwith, 186 by Blackburn and 100 by Ansaldo.

|developed_from=Sopwith Schneider

|variants=Fairey Hamble Baby

}}

The Sopwith Baby is a British single-seat floatplane that was operated by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) from 1915.

Development and design

The Baby (also known as the Admiralty 8200 Type) was a development of the two-seat Sopwith Schneider. The Baby utilized a wooden structure with fabric covering. A Lewis Gun was fitted, either above the fuselage firing through the propeller arc without the benefit of synchronization, or over the top wing, firing above it.Woodman 1989, p. 173 To meet the more demanding conditions of 1916–18, further modifications were made on aircraft built by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds, United Kingdom. A modified variant of the Baby, the Fairey Hamble Baby was built by Fairey and Parnall.

The Royal Naval Air Service ordered 286 Sopwith Babies of which 100 were built by Sopwith at Kingston and 186 by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds with others for export. License manufacture was also undertaken in Italy by SA Aeronautica Gio Ansaldo of Turin, who built 100 examples for the Italian Aviazione della Regia Marina.Alegi, 2001, pp.3–4

Operational history

The Baby was used as a shipborne reconnaissance and bomber aircraft operating from seaplane carriers and cruisers, as well as naval trawlers and minelayers. Many Babies were attached to RNAS coastal air stations located in England and Scotland and RNAS stations in Egypt, Greece and Italy.Thetford, 1878, p. 291

A major role of the Baby was to warn of German Zeppelin raids as far from Britain as possible, along with tracking German naval movements.

Babies also saw service with the navies of the United States, France, Chile, Greece and Norway. In Norway additional Babies were built as replacements, with some seeing service until 1930. Two of the 10 Sopwith Baby floatplanes that were acquired by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service were brought to Svalbard in the summer of 1928 to participate in the search for the lost Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen, but were not used for the search.

Surviving aircraft

File:Sopwith Baby N2078 1 YVTN 17.07.71.jpg, named The Jabberwock]]

The original components of two Babies built by Sopwith, Nos. 8214 and 8215, have been utilized to complete a composite aircraft for display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset. The exhibit has been marked with the serial N-2078, which was a Blackburn-built aircraft, and has been named The Jabberwock.Ellis, 1977, p. 48

Operators

;{{AUS}}

Royal Australian Navy operated 1 example (with a Royal Naval Air Service crew) in 1917 from cruiser HMAS Brisbane.[http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/australia/aus.html World Air Forces – Australia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125040313/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/australia/aus.html |date=25 January 2012 }} accessdate: March 2014

;{{CHI}}

Chilean Navy operated 3 examples from 1919–1923Huertas Air International February 1984, pp. 73–74.

;{{FRA}}

French Navy operated 33 examples from 1916–1919[http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/france/fra.html World Air Forces – France] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125045104/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/france/fra.html |date=25 January 2012 }} accessdate: March 2014

;{{flag|Greece|old}}

Hellenic Navy operated 19 from 1918–1919[http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/greece/gre.html World Air Forces – Greece] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125060929/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/greece/gre.html |date=25 January 2012 }} accessdate: March 2014

;{{flag|Kingdom of Italy}}

:Aviazione della Regia Marina 102 examples from 1917–1923 (including 2 trials aircraft from the UK)Alegi, 2001, pp.2–4 & 8

;{{JPN}}

:Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service operated 1 example from 1916[http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/japan/jpn.html World Air Forces – Japan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417000025/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/japan/jpn.html |date=17 April 2012 }} accessdate: March 2014

;{{NLD}}

Dutch Naval Aviation Service 1 example from 1916–1919[http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/netherlands/net.html World Air Forces – Netherlands] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125030417/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/netherlands/net.html |date=25 January 2012 }} accessdate: March 2014 An RNAS aircraft force landed forty miles off the Dutch coast and was towed in and interned.

;{{NOR}}

Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service operated 10 examples from 1917–1931[http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/norway/nor.html World Air Forces – Norway] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125030643/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/norway/nor.html |date=25 January 2012 }} accessdate: March 2014

;{{UK}}

;{{USA}}

United States Navy

Specifications

File:Sopwith Baby dwg.jpg

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Jane's Vintage Aircraft Recognition Guide{{cite book |last= Holmes |first= Tony |title=Jane's Vintage Aircraft Recognition Guide |year=2005 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=London |isbn = 0007192924 |page= 44}}

|prime units?=imp

|crew=1

|length ft=23|length in=0

|span ft=25|span in=8

|height ft=10|height in=0

|wing area sqft=240

|airfoil=

|empty weight lb=1226

|gross weight lb=1715

|eng1 number=1|eng1 name=Clerget 9Z|eng1 type=9-cylinder air-cooled rotary piston engine|eng1 hp=110

|prop blade number=2|prop name=fixed-pitch propeller|prop dia ft=|prop dia in=

|max speed mph=100|max speed note=at sea level

|range miles=

|range note=

|endurance=2 hours 15 minutes

|ceiling ft=10000

|climb rate ftmin=285

|time to altitude=

|guns= 1 × {{cvt|.303|in|1}} Lewis gun

|bombs= 2 × {{cvt|65|lb}} bombs

}}

References

=Notes=

=Footnotes=

=Bibliography=

{{cite book|last=Alegi|first=Gregory|title=Ansaldo Baby|series=Windsock Mini Datafile 15|publisher=Albatros Publications|location=Hertfordshire, UK|year=2001|isbn=978-1902207308}}
{{cite book|last=Bruce|first=J.M.|title=Sopwith Baby|series=Windsock Datafile 60|publisher=Albatros Publications|location=Hertfordshire, UK|year=1996|isbn=978-0948414794}}
{{cite book |last=Ellis|first=Ken|title=British Museum Aircraft|publisher=Merseyside Aviation Society|location=Liverpool|year=1977|isbn=0-902420-15-1}}
{{cite magazine|last=Huertas|first=Salvador Mafé|title=The Chilean Air Force...an air arm with a problem|magazine=Air International|date=February 1984|volume= 26|issue= 2|pages=69–74, 91, 98–101|issn=0306-5634}}
{{cite journal |last1=Klaauw|first1=Bart van der|title=Unexpected Windfalls: Accidentally or Deliberately, More than 100 Aircraft 'arrived' in Dutch Territory During the Great War |journal=Air Enthusiast |date=March–April 1999 |issue=80 |pages=54–59 |issn=0143-5450}}
{{cite book |last= Lamberton |first= W.M. |title=Fighter Aircraft of the 1914–1918 War |year=1960 |publisher=Harleyford Publications|location=Herts, UK}}
{{cite book |last=Thetford|first=Owen|title=British Naval Aircraft since 1912|year=1978|publisher=Putnam and Company Limited|isbn=0-370-30021-1}}
{{cite book |last=Woodman|first=Harry|title=Early Aircraft Armament|year=1989|publisher=Arms and Armour|location=London|isbn= 0-85368-990-3}}