16 / 44
A Sopwith Camel F1 fighter, of which 100 were built by British
Caudron at Alloa. There was a huge demand for new aircraft
to replace those lost in combat and the many more written off
through accidents and technical failure. This example (E4374)
was made in Lincoln but paid for by people in the parish
of Dunning, Perthshire, in response to the National Savings
Campaign in April 1918. In August, about three months after
being delivered to No. 203 Squadron RAF, E4374 was hit by
ground fire and crashed. The pilot survived.
N EW SK I L L S
and
DE S I GN S
What were these early aircraft like to fly? What is striking about
them is their apparent fragility: a light wooden framework held
together by linen fabric and a system of wire ropes in tension.Getting
the tension right was the responsibility of the rigger, a new skilled
trade created by aviation. Pilots could ask for their aircraft to be
rigged to their preference. The aero-mechanic, also a new trade, had
the difficult task of maintaining the temperamental engines
available at the time.
Louis North, who trained as an aero-mechanic at Montrose in 1915,
was skilled in the maintenance of all kinds of engine including
the French designed rotary engine in which the cylinders rotated
round the crankshaft. The gyroscopic effect of the rotating engine
enabled the Sopwith Camel to turn sharply to the right.This was an
advantage in evading the German Fokkers but made for problems at
take off and landing.
14 materials of war