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Camel - Aircraft Profile - Sopwith : Camel

Camel

Manufacturer : Sopwith
Number Built : 5714
Production Began : 1916
Retired :
Type : Fighter

SOPWITH CAMEL: was the most successful fighter of World War one. Claiming almost 3,000 air victories. The prototype of the Sopwith camel first flew in December 1916, and its first combat mission began in June 1917. joined 4 squadron RNAS based near Dunkirk. The first Royal Flying Corp squadron to receive the aircraft was no. 70 squadron. The Sopwith camel was the first designed fighter to have two forward firing machine guns. Its design gave it amazing maneuverability and aerobatic qualities. and was perfectly suited for aerial dog fighting. Squadron after squadron was re equipped with the camel and by the end of February 1918 13 squadrons were fully operational with the aircraft along the western front. Also used on the Italian Front with 3 squadrons equipped. This figure increased with a total of 19 squadrons equipped on the western front by August 1918. This included two squadrons no. 151 and 152 for night fighter duties. in June 1918. There was also a naval version of the Sopwith camel. the 2F.1s which gradually replaced the Sopwith Pup and other naval aircraft. The Naval version most memorable fete was done by Lt S D Culley who took off from a towed wood platform and destroyed the Zeppelin L.53 on the 10th August 1918. also on the 18th July six aircraft took off from the forward deck of HMS Furious to bomb the Zeppelin base at Tondern which they successfully did destroying two Zeppelins L.54 and L.60. This was the first time carrier borne aircraft had destroyed a land base installation. In total 5597 F.1s and 317 2F.1s were ordered but there may have been 200 less built. Performance. speed: 113mph at 10,000 feet. service ceiling 19,000 feet. Armament: two fixed forward firing Vickers .303 machine Guns. or one .303 forward firing and one .303 Lewis Gun

Camel


Latest Camel Artwork Releases !
19th July 1918 - the Tondern raid, the first raid in history carried out from an aircraft carrier. Captain Dickson is shown in his Sopwith Camel 2F.1 departing HMS Furious just after 3am, and along with 5 other aircraft would successfully attack the German Zeppelin sheds at Tondern in Denmark. They destroyed two airships in their hangar, and the entire base was subsequently abandoned. 7 aircraft began the raid : one turned back with engine trouble, three landed in Denmark afterwards while another failed to return to the British fleet. Only Dickson and Captain B Smart ditched in the sea near the British ships and were recovered. For this raid, Dickson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. He later moved to HMS Revenge and HMS Queen Elizabeth then flew on HMS Argus and was a test pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. In World War Two he helped to plan the Allied invasion of occupied Europe. He remained in the RAF post war, retiring in 1959 as Marshal of the Royal Air Force. He died in 1987.

Tribute to William F Dickson by Ivan Berryman.		 A Sopwith Camel of No.210 Squadron, Royal Air Force, 1918.

Homeward Bound - Sopwith Camel by David Pentland. (PC)		 On the 20th of April 1918, just one day before his death, the legendary Red Baron, Mannfred von Richthofen, claimed his final victory. His famous Flying Circus was engaged in battle by Sopwith Camels of No.3 and No.201 Squadron. Claiming his 79th victory, he had shot down Major Richard Raymond-Barker earlier in the dogfight - the British pilot being killed in the resulting crash. However, it is his 80th and final victory that is depicted here. In the centre of the painting, the Sopwith Camel of David Lewis has been brought into the firing line of von Richthofen, and is about to be sent down in flames from the sky - Lewis was fortunate to survive the encounter relatively unscathed. Meanwhile the chaos of the dogfight is all around this duel, with aircraft of both sides wheeling and diving in combat. The other pilots depicted are Weiss, Bell, Riley, Steinhauser, Mohnicke, Hamilton and Wenzl.

The Final Curtain by Ivan Berryman. (PC)		 Formidable commander of Jasta Boelcke, Karl Bolle, breaks off the attack on a 73 Sqn Sopwith Camel as its fuel tank begins to ignite - another undeniable victory in a career which saw him take an eventual 36 confirmed kills. The yellow band on the fuselage paid homage to his former unit, flanked by the black and white Prussian stripes Bolles Fokker DR.1 also sported an Oigee telescopic gunsight mounted between the guns. he survived two World Wars and died in Berlin in 1955.

Rittmeister Karl Bolle by Ivan Berryman. (PC)

Camel Artwork Collection



Last But One by Ivan Berryman.


Clipped Signature - Leonard Rochford.


Clipped Signature - Norman Macmillan.


Clipped Signature - Lord Harold Balfour of Inchyre.


Manfred Von Richthoffen (The Red Baron) by Tim Fisher.


The Sky Warriors by Anthony Saunders.


Homeward Bound - Sopwith Camel by David Pentland.


A Hand of Aces by Ivan Berryman.


Gotha G. V. by Ivan Berryman.


Rittmeister Karl Bolle by Ivan Berryman.


Leutnant d R Richard Wenzl by Ivan Berryman.


Captain Roy Brown engages the Red Baron, 21st April 1918 by Ivan Berryman.


Leutnant Wolfram von Richthofen by Ivan Berryman.


Sopwith Camel by Anthony Saunders.


Donald MacLaren by Ivan Berryman.


Gefreiter Jakob Tischner - Roland D.VIa by Ivan Berryman.


Captain Arthur Henry Cobby by Ivan Berryman.


The Final Curtain by Ivan Berryman.


Richthofens Flying Circus by Nicolas Trudgian.


Patrolling the Line by Gerald Coulson.


Knights of the Sky by Nicolas Trudgian

The Big Push - Passchendaele 1917 by Anthony Saunders.


Tribute to the RFC and RNAS by Ivan Berryman.


Tribute to William F Dickson by Ivan Berryman.

Sopwith Camel Aces of World War One.


High Patrol by Robert Taylor.


Balloon Buster by Robert Taylor.


Fast and Furious by Stan Stokes.


The Ringmaster by Stan Stokes.

Top Aces for : Camel
A list of all Aces from our database who are known to have flown this aircraft. A profile page is available by clicking the pilots name.
NameVictoriesInfo
John Inglis Gilmour39.00
Walter MacFarlane Carlaw12.00
Ernest James Salter9.00
George Henry Hackwill9.00
Francis Mansel Kitto9.00
Reginald Stuart Maxwell9.00
Henry Hollingdrake Maddocks7.00
Oliver Manners Sutton7.00
Michael Edward Gonne5.00
Camel
Squadron details


No.208 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Known Codes : , GA, RG,

No.208 Sqn RAF

Vigilant


No.54 Sqn RAF
Country : UK
Known Codes : , KL, DL, HF,

No.54 Sqn RAF

Audax omnia perpeti - Boldness to endure anything

No. 54 Squadron was formed on the 5th of May 1916 at Castle Bromwich. The squadron was equipped with BE2C's and Avro 504's and was part of the home defence force. Shortly after 54 squadron changed to day fighter duties and moved to France then equipped with Sopwith Pups. Their role was to escort bombers and attack observation balloons. Near the end of the great war 54 squadron was re -quipped with Sopwith Camels and tasked with ground attack as well as fighter sorties. In February 1919, the squadron returned to RAF Yatesbury and on 2nd October 1919 54 squadron was disbanded. On the 15th of January 1930, 54 squadron was reformed at RAF Hornchurch as a fighter squadron equipped initially with Siskin aircraft. The Siskins were subsequently replaced with Bulldog fighters and in September 1936 54 squadron was re-equipped with Gloster Gauntlets and in April 1937, they recieved Gloster Gladiators. In March 1939 the squadron recieved the new Supermarine Spitfire. After the outbreak of world war two, 54 Squadron was given the duties of patrolling the Kent coast, until having to support and give air cover to the evacuation of Dunkirk in May and June 1940. The squadron was heavily involved during the Battle of Britain until November 1940 and after the Battle of Britain had ceased the squadron moved in November 1940 to RAF Castletown where its duties were coastal patrols. In June 1942 the squadron moved to RAF Wellingore to prepare for the squadron moving to Australia. In January 1943 54 squadron joined No.1 Wing of the Royal Australian Air Force. The Spitfires of the squadron were given the role of air defence duties against Japanese air attacks in the Darwin area. After the war had ended 54 squadron was disbanded in Melbourne on the 31st of October 1945, although the squadron name continued when on the 15th of November 1945 No.183 Squadron was renumbered 54 Squadron and flew initially Hawker Tempests. Taking up jet aircraft, the squadron subsequently used Vampires, Meteors, Hunters, Phantom and Jaguars before disbanding on 11th March 2005. 54 Squadron reformed on 5th September 2005 as an ISTAR (Intelligence Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance ) unit equipped with Sentry, Nimrod and Sentinel aircraft.

Camel
Pilot and aircrew signature details



Flight Lieutenant Henry Botterell
Our estimated value of this signature : £80
Died : 2003
Flight Lieutenant Henry Botterell

First World War fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps. Born in 1896, Henry Botterell joined the Royal Naval Air Service in Canada, and in 1916 sailed for England where he trained as a pilot to fly fighters. In 1917 he was posted to France, joining an operational squadron on the Western Front, butan engine failure on his second take off brought his flying to an abrupt conclusion, forcing him to spend several months in hospital and convalescing back in England, where he was demobilised. After a chance meeting with pilots on leave in England with whom he had trained, Henry applied to rejoin the service and was accepted. Re-qualifying as a fighter pilot, in early 1918 he returned to operational combat flying in France with 208 Squadron Royal Flying Corps. Flying Sopwith Camels he saw active service with 209 Squadron for the remainder of the war until the Armistice in November. Staying in France as part of the continuing Force he eventually returned to Canada in 1919 - bringing back with him a fence post which the wing of his Camel had collected on one of his many low level sorties. The post now resides in the War Museum in Ottawa. Henry died in 2003.

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