Sopwith Baby

Baby
Sopwith Baby in use with Norway's Marinens flyvåpen
Role	Single-seat scout and bomber biplane seaplane
Manufacturer	Sopwith Aviation Company
First flight	September 1915
Primary user	Royal Naval Air Service
Number built	286
Developed from	Sopwith Schneider
Variants	Fairey Hamble Baby

The Sopwith Baby was a British single-seat tractor seaplane used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) from 1915.

Development and design

The Baby (also known as the Admiralty 8200 Type) was a development of the two-seat Sopwith Schneider. Although the Schneider had won the Schneider trophy in 1914, the RNAS did not place a formal order until January 1915. The initial, Sopwith built production version of the Baby differed little from the Schneider Trophy winner.

Further modified aircraft, designed to met the more demanding conditions of 1916-18, were later built by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds, United Kingdom. In Italy, licensed manufacture was undertaken by SA Aeronautica Gio Ansaldo of Turin. A modified variant of the Baby, the Fairey Hamble Baby was built by Fairey and Parnall. Altogether, 286 Babies were built for the Royal Naval Air Service, 100 by Sopwith at Kingston and 186 by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds with others for export.

Operational history

The Baby was used as a shipborne scout and bomber aircraft operating from larger ships such as seaplane carriers and cruisers, and smaller vessels such as naval trawlers and minelayers. It was even considered for operation from submarines. The main role of the Baby was to intercept German Zeppelin raids as far from Britain as possible. Babys saw service with Canada, the United States, France, Chile, Greece and Norway. In Norway Babys were built occasionally as replacements, with a few seeing service until 1930. Two of the 10 Sopwith Baby floatplanes that were acquired by the Norwegian Navy were brought to Svalbard in midsummer 1928 to participate in the search for the disappeared Norwegian Polar explorer Roald Amundsen, but were not used as intended.

Operators

Australia

• One Sopwith Baby seaplane was used by the Royal Australian Navy in 1917. It was operated from the cruiser HMAS Brisbane.

Canada

• Canadian Air Force
• Royal Canadian Naval Air Service

Chile

• Chilean Air Force^{[citation needed]}
• Chilean Navy

France

• French Air Force

Greece

• Hellenic Navy

Kingdom of Italy

Japan

Netherlands

• Dutch Naval Aviation Service

Norway

• Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service

United Kingdom

• Royal Naval Air Service
• Royal Air Force
  • No. 219 Squadron RAF
  • No. 229 Squadron RAF
  • No. 246 Squadron RAF
  • No. 248 Squadron RAF
  • No. 249 Squadron RAF
  • No. 263 Squadron RAF
  • No. 269 Squadron RAF
  • No. 270 Squadron RAF

United States

• United States Navy

Specifications

Data from Holmes, 2005. p 44.

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Length: 23 ft 0 in (7.01 m)
• Wingspan: 25 ft 8 in (7.82 m)
• Height: 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)
• Wing area: 240 ft² (22.30 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,226 lb (557 kg)
• Loaded weight: 1,715 lb (779 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Clerget rotary engine, driving a two blade wooden propeller, 110 hp (82 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 87 knots (100 mph, 162 km/h) at sea level
• Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
• Rate of climb: 285 ft/min (1.45 m/s)
  
• Endurance: 2.25 hrs

Armament

1 × Lewis gun

2 × 65 lb (28 kg) bombs

See also

• Sopwith Tabloid
• Fairey Hamble Baby
• Port Victoria P.V.1
• List of aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service

References

Bibliography

• Holmes, Tony (2005). Jane's Vintage Aircraft Recognition Guide. London: Harper Collins. p. 44. ISBN 0-00-719292-4. 
• Huertas, Salvador Mafé (February 1984). "The Chilean Air Force...an air arm with a problem". pp. pp. 69–74, 91, 98–101. ISSN 0306-5634. 
• Lamberton, W.M. (1960). Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War. Herts: Harleyford Publications Ltd..