A Rare Bird

retread · 6 October 2007, 06:35 PM

It would seem the story of Flight-Lieutenant John Alcock having a personalized fighter constructed from the miscellaneous parts of a Sopwith Camel and/or Sopwith Pup and/or Sopwith Tripe and powered with a captured although unspecified type of Benz engine are not entirely a rumour. This while flying out of the Port of Mudros with the RNAS in a do all Squadron ( 2 Wing ,"D" Squadron?) composed of fighters, observation aircraft and bombers ( including a Handley Page). The aerial Frankenstein was dubbed Sopwith Mouse or an Alcock Scout.
I have to wonder how much truth there is in the use of a Benz engine in Alcock's contraption. All the Sopwith craft were sporting rotaries, the heaviest probably being a Clerget 130 h.p. which was under 400 lbs. From that to a inline six the lightest of which ( 180 h.p. Benz) was over 600 lbs., with the 230 h.p. Benz being almost 850 lbs seems like quite a leap in weight. With all that extra beef up front it would have had to been an extensive rebuild. Are there any extant photographs, drawings, or even detailed descriptions of Alcock's design?The claim was made it could achieve a speed at 10,000' 20 mph greater than any other aircraft in the squadron.
Yes, Alcock went on to a Knighthood and fleeting fame as the first to pilot an aircraft across the Atlantic nonstop in June , 1919 only to die that December in a flying accident.

Colin A Owers · 7 October 2007, 10:40 PM

Alcock designed an aircraft around the Benz engine and this probably accounts for the fact that the "War inthe Air" tells this story. The aircraft was built from Sopwith Triplane and Pup parts and was a rotary powered machine.

Colin A Owers

Breguet · 8 October 2007, 04:28 AM

Here's a picture of said triplane (N5431) at either Mudros or Mitylene. Whether it is taken before or after J Alcock got hold of it I couldn't say but I suspect before as it looks pretty standard. FSL Melling flew it at some stage.

retread · 12 October 2007, 08:05 AM

At least one source claims that N5431 was the one Tripe to serve in the Dardenelles Theater. Alcock severely damaged it while overshooting a landing at an airfield at Salonika as the aircraft was enroute to Hadzi Junas March 26, 1917. What was salvageable was returned to Mudros and used in the Mouse.
As Brugeut stated Flt. Lt. A.J. Melling flew it at some point and either he or Alcock (depending on the reference) brought down an EA (single seater seaplane) September 30, 1917 while flying it. This is also the day Alcock himself was forced down on a bombing run in a Handley-Page and spent the duration a Turkish guest.
I suppose Alcock's design around the Benz was either never built or at least was not known to have been?