History

The Sopwith Triplane was an unusual World War I fighter with three wings rather than the usual biplane design of the time. It outclassed other fighters for a short time but was soon supersceded by more advanced and powerful fighters

The Sopwith Triplane was a development of the Sopwith Pup fighter but with three wings to improve pilot visibility, climb and manoeuverability.

The prototype first flew on 28 May 1916 and they were introduced into service in December that year.

For a short time they were considered the best Allied fighter which outclasses German adversaries and led to the development of the Fokker Triplane.

However they suffered several problems including maintenance and as light armament so they were being replaced by the more powerful Sopwith Camels by mid 1917 and only 147 were built.

This model represents the Sopwith Triplane flown by Raymond Collishall of No 10 Squadron, RNAS, in France in 1917..

Kovozavody Prostejov 1/72 kit. Completed in April 2022.

Work Bench Notes

Data

MODEL: Sopwith Triplane

ROLE: Fighter

TIME PERIOD: 1916-1917

ENGINES: one Clerget 9B 9 cylinder rotary piston engine of 97kW

WING SPAN: 8.08m

LENGTH: 5.74m

GROSS WEIGHT: 699kg

MAXIMUM SPEED: 188km/h

RANGE: 517km

CREW: 1

ARMAMENT: one 7.70mm Vickers machine gun

SCALE: 1/72

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