Sopwith Dolphin

[BobE]

Neophyte/Bill,
* *First of all, congratulations. If you are interested in WWI aviation, this is the place! I have been interested for over forty years but I am a little fish in THIS pond so I am always happy to be able to contribute something to the discussion.
* *Albatroid made reference to Squadron/Signal Pub.110,Sopwith Fighters. This has a dozen different photos of the Dolphin plus a color profile and three view plan.The write up is pretty sketchy (the book covers several other aircraft) but is certainly worth the price. I got mine for $10.
* *The Dolphin write up mentions Maj.A.D.Carter of No 19 Squadron who "achieved a total of thirty-one victories in a little over three months while flying the Dolphin". I never heard of him before so I guess not only the Dolphin is under publicized but it's pilots as well. I checked him out on this site under "Aces" and he is listed as a Canadian with 29 victories.
* * *Hope you find this of interest. Enjoy the site!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bob *

Michael, you mentioned No.87 Sqdn wing mounted their Lewises. I'm very curious as to how they were mounted and what the convergence might have been. I was aware that at least one a/c had done so but have never found a picture of a 87sqdn plane. Most all pictures are of F.W. Gilettes squadron No.72.

VBR
Rod

Here is a bit of the text from the page I linked to previously:

"Special mountings for six Home Defense Dolphins were apparently the responsibility of the Royal Aircraft Factory; but to Lieut 'Guns' Knight of No.87 Squadron credit is evidently due for the design of the fixed installation of two Lewis guns on the bottom wings-each gun about 18 in (460 mm) inboard of the inner pair of interplane struts, though with the lines of fire outboard of the propeller arc, so that synchronizing gear was not required. "

Not very many details, but it does give the mounting location, at least.

[EdStevens]

The Lewis guns were removed in part to save weight, in part because they cramped the cockpit, but also in part because of what they would do to your face in the event of even a simple groundloop...

Greetings to all,

Albatroid brings up a point about the guns being fixed to the wings giving them more forward firepower than other scouts, that leads me to an observation.

While being able to spit more lead in a dogfight, or in a strafing run, it seems there would be an advantage in a balloon attack. One could load all incendiary rounds in the Lewis guns for a balloon attack, yet still have the more accurate standard rounds in the Vickers for use against scouts.

Any information as to balloon kills in the 87 squadron while they were using the Dolphins with the lower mount configuration?

Thank you for the warm greeting BobE!

Best to All,

Neophyte (Bill)

One could load all incendiary rounds in the Lewis guns for a balloon attack, yet still have the more accurate standard rounds in the Vickers for use against scouts.

That wouldn't work very well. You'd have to fly under the balloon to shoot at it, dodge the winch rope, then, if you are successful, dodge the flaming balloon that is coming down on top of you!

Hi Rex,

That would be true if the guns were fixed in the cockpit for firing upward, but if they were on the wings, as the 87 squadron had them, it would seem to be advantageous.

Thanks,

Neophyte (Bill)

I should add that not all of 87's Dolphins had their Lewises mounted on the wings. And I'll confirm that while the official reason the Lewises were removed in the field concerned weight savings, most pilots were concerned about the proximity of the guns to their faces.

The fitting of roll-over pylons (or roll-bars, as someone here called them) was done at the factory and not in the field, and seems to have been tested on only a few machines. It's interesting that squadron ack-emmas weren't asked to fit anything like this to operational Dolphins; I can only conclude that once in use the Dolphins were found to be satisfactorily stable on the ground.

A fair number of Dolphins were built (over 500 if I remember correctly) but only a handful of squadrons used them (four? five?). They were tried but rejected as Home Defence fighters (very bad night-flying characteristics). The French ordered a 300-hp version (Dolphin II) but this project was cancelled when the war ended. The Dolphin disappeared very rapidly after the Armistice. Pity; I always liked the beast myself.

You were speaking of the wing mounted Lewis guns, I had not considered that.

Sorry neo!

*:-[

[Graeme]

There were four Dolphin squadrons, 19, 23, 79 and 87. Between them, they claimed at least 342 victories using the type - no balloons as far as I can establish.

Graeme

Methinks perhaps the main reason RFC/RAF pilots looked askance at the Dolphin was its superficial resemblance to a predecessor that nobody seemed to like - the DH5. Back-staggered wings, y'see . . .

Best publication on Sopwith's best fighter of the war IMO is 'Sopwith Dolphin' by J.M. Bruce; 1995, Albatros Productions Ltd, Berkhamsted, UK, IPMS 0-948414-71-5. It's Windsock Datafile No. 54 in that publisher's splendid series.

Cheers!

(8:¬)}

Simba.