Tripehound V's Dr.1

[Pips]

I've often wondered which of the two triplanes would have been the superior. The Sopwith Triplane had been withdrawn from front line service by the time the Dr.1 was entering the fray, so the two never met.

I gather that the Sopwith was the faster of the two at all altitudes, both had excellent climb and turn (not sure which won out here) but the Sopwith was rather lazy in the roll. Little and Dallas, both skilled exponents of the Sopwith, tended to fight in the vertical rather than the horizontal. Whereas the Dr.1, like the Camel, tended to whizz around all over the place - buty probably was a function of it's opponents, more than anythng else.

Actually given the performance edge the Sopwith held over most German fighters of 1917 I'm surprised it wasn't continued with. If the one gun was such a drawback (and the addition of the second one impacted so heavily on performance), why wasn't it up-engined? Or couldn't the design handle it?

[YavorD]

Triplanes had his moments of glory and captured peoples imagination then and, obviosly, now. Both Sopwith Triplane and Fokker Dr.I enjoyed short production run. Both were overshadowed by large-scale production biplane designs, Sopwith Camel and Fokker D.VII.
Fokker D.VI and E.V/D.VIII can be considered as Fokker Dr.I successors too.
In my opinion, Fokker Dr.I was better from the point of view of technology and performance in comparison with the Sopwith Triplane. Fokker's main advantage was design of its wing.
Regards,
Yavor

[Breguet]

Not to mention two guns vs one. But here is a link to one of many threads we have had oiver the years on this topic.

Sopwith Triplane vs. Fokker Dr1

Go to search and type in Fokker triplane vs sopwith triplane and you'll find a lot more.

[Richard A.]

My two cents worth -

After checking out the other, older thread, I think it's important to remember that by the summer of 1917 the Sopwith was being phased out and the Fokker prototypes just making an appearance. I think the Sopwith Triplane was being replaced by the Camel - a whole other design concept of intentionally designed instability.

They both had three wings and rotary engines. That's about all they had in common. It's like comparing a Macintosh apple and a Granny Smith.

Personally I am intrigued by this early period of aviation where engineers were still trying to sort out the science of flight. Intuition and sudden insight played roles as much as applied engineering principles.

Oh, yes, they both looked pretty cool.

Cheers

[Gitter]

bennett in "gunning for the ..."writes that the sopwith lacked the necessary maneuverability,speed and firepower to be longer in service.and:it was a "reluctant diver".the dr.I lacked the speed too,but i think it was "zealous"for action.the reason:balanced ailerons and rudders.for the comparison of the rate of climb i have one source that stated:sopwith to 1500m in 4.35min,DrI to 2000m in 4.2min.i think the sopwith could outdive the DrI because the DrI has thick wings(good for climbing,bad for diving).

[Albatros_Ace]

I think the Dr.1 would have one its thicker wings gave it an aerodynamic advantage that gave it amazing agility ,but these aerodynamicly thick wings also caused it greatest flaw.....

its incredibly low speed.....

-Chris

[Tim West]

I'd say the Dr.I as it's more menacing in appearance

[FliegerJG1]

Pips, you read my mind! I was just thinking of this question myself. Interesting discussion. I recall a TV program on the Fokker Dr 1 that compared it with the Sopwith Triplane but cannot recall the particular details. I think they made the point that MvR thought that the 3 wings would give him a superior plane but that was not the case. ???

FliegerJG1

[Albatros_Ace]

Originally Posted by FliegerJG1

Pips, you read my mind! I was just thinking of this question myself. Interesting discussion. I recall a TV program on the Fokker Dr 1 that compared it with the Sopwith Triplane but cannot recall the particular details. I think they made the point that MvR thought that the 3 wings would give him a superior plane but that was not the case. ???

FliegerJG1

Would that show have been comparing it to a Camel though?

[FliegerJG1]

Originally Posted by Albatros_Ace

Would that show have been comparing it to a Camel though?

Hmmm...yes, I believe that the show was Fokker Dr I triplane vs Sopwith Camel yet somewhere in there they introduced the Sopwith triplane to explain the the Fokker design.

FliegerJG1