| 词条 | Sopwith Tabloid | |||||||||||||||||
| 释义 |
The Sopwith Tabloid and Sopwith Schneider were British biplanes, originally designed as sports aircraft and later adapted for military use. They were among the first types to be built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. The "Tabloid", so named because of its small size, caused a sensation when it made its first public appearance. A floatplane variant was prepared and entered for the 1914 Schneider Trophy race; piloted by Howard Pixton. This aircraft comfortably won the competition, the prizewinning variant being known as the Sopwith Schneider. Production orders for both types were placed by the military, and although a few Gnome Lambda-powered Tabloids saw limited service in the early war years some Gnome Monosoupape-powered Schneiders were still in service four years later, at the end of the Great War. Design and developmentThe original Tabloid, which was first flown by Harry Hawker on 27 November {{avyear|1913}}, was a two-seater single-bay biplane with a side-by-side seating configuration, unusual at the time. The equal-span wings were slightly staggered and used wing warping for lateral control. The rectangular-section fuselage was a conventional wire-braced wooden structure with the forward section covered in aluminium and the remainder, aft of the cockpit, covered in fabric. The control surfaces were of fabric-covered steel tubing and the undercarriage had a pair of forward-projecting skids in addition to the wheels. The most distinctive feature of the design was the engine cowling, which almost entirely enclosed the engine, cooling air being admitted through two small slots at the front. The prototype was powered by an 80 hp (60 kW) Gnome Lambda rotary engine and in a trial flown by Harry Hawker at Farnborough the Tabloid reached 92 mph (148 km/h) and took only one minute to reach 1200 ft (366 m) while carrying a passenger and enough fuel for 2½ hours. A production order from the War Office was placed early in 1914, and a total of 40 were built to this specification. However, the aircraft's speed made it an obvious candidate for entry to the Schneider Trophy competition. Accordingly, a floatplane adaptation was prepared, to be powered by a 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape, which T.O.M. Sopwith personally collected from Paris. This was initially fitted with a single central float, but on its first taxying trials with Howard Pixton at the controls the aircraft turned over as soon as the engine was run up, and remained in the water for some hours before it could be retrieved. Great effort was made to make the waterlogged machine airworthy, and, lacking the time to prepare a new set of floats, the existing float was simply sawn in half down the middle and thus converted into a pair of floats. After a satisfactory test flight on 7 April the aircraft was shipped to Monaco, where the competition was to take place. The competition, (which was a time trial rather than a race) was easily won by Pixton. So clear was the superiority of the Sopwith that the competitors who were to start after him did not even bother to take off: Pixton had completed his first circuit in around two thirds of the time taken by the fastest of aircraft which had taken off before him. After completing the twenty-eight circuits required at an average speed of 86.75 mph (139.6 km/h), he opened the throttle fully and completed two more laps at a speed of 92 mph (148 km/h), setting a new world record for seaplanes.[1] The first order, for twelve 'Schneider' aircraft, was placed in November 1914. (Like the race winner, these were powered by the 100 hp Monosoupape and differed only in minor detail from the racer.) Later production aircraft were fitted with ailerons in place of wing-warping, had an enlarged fin and were fitted with a Lewis gun firing upwards through an opening in the wing centre-section. In all 160 were built. No original Tabloids or Schneiders survive today but full-size replicas of each are displayed at the RAF Museum Hendon and Brooklands Museum and full-scale kits are produced by Airdrome Aeroplanes for homebuilders.[2] Operational historySingle-seat variants of the Tabloid went into production in {{avyear|1914}} and 36 eventually entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).[3] Deployed to France at the outbreak of the First World War, Tabloids were used as fast scouts. Some naval aircraft were armed with a Lewis gun on the top wing, firing over the propeller arc. One other aircraft used a Lewis gun firing through the propeller arc with deflector wedges mounted on the propeller blades, but the Tabloid was also used as a bomber: on 22 September 1914 Tabloids mounted the first raid by British aircraft on German soil; and in their most famous mission two RNAS Tabloids flying from Antwerp on 8 October 1914 attacked the German Zeppelin sheds at Cologne and Düsseldorf. The Cologne target was not located, the railway station being bombed instead, but the Zeppelin shed at Düsseldorf was struck by two 20 lb bombs dropped from 600 ft and Zeppelin Z IX destroyed.[4] During 1915 attempts were made to use Schneiders to intercept Zeppelins over the North Sea, launching them from seaplane carriers including {{HMS|Ben-my-Chree}} and {{HMS|Engadine|1911|2}}, but these efforts were largely unsuccessful due to heavy seas either making takeoff impossible or damaging the floats. On 6 August {{avyear|1915}} a Schneider took off from the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Campania|1914|6}} using a jettisonable dolly.[5] A single Sopwith Schneider fighter seaplane was acquired by Captain Shiro Yamauchi, during an inspection tour of England, during 1915. While in Imperial Japanese Navy service it was designated Yokosuka Navy Ha-go Small Seaplane.[6] Variants
Original wheeled version
Tabloid equipped with floats
Float equipped, production version of Schneider Racer
Variant with the fuselage partially faired to a circular section, a smaller fin and rudder, conventional engine cowling and V strut undercarriage without skids. Maximum speed {{convert|105|mph|kph|abbr=on}} Taken into service by the Admiralty on the outbreak of war as Nos. 1214 and 1215.[7]
Unlicensed copy of the design built by Lebed in Russia as a military reconnaissance aircraft
As Lebed VII but with revised undercarriage
A single Sopwith Schneider fighter seaplane operated by the IJN[6] Operators
Specifications (Production Schneider){{aircraft specifications|plane or copter?= plane |jet or prop?= prop |ref=Sopwith – The Man and His Aircraft[8] |crew= one |capacity= |length main= 22 ft 10 in |length alt= 6.96 m |span main= 25 ft 8 in |span alt= 7.83 m |height main= 10 ft 0 in |height alt=3.05 m |area main= 240 sq ft[9] |area alt= 22.3 m² |airfoil= |empty weight main= 1,220 lb |empty weight alt= 555 kg |loaded weight main= 1,700 lb |loaded weight alt= 773 kg |useful load main= |useful load alt= |max takeoff weight main= |max takeoff weight alt= |more general= |engine (prop)=Gnome Monosoupape |type of prop=9-cylinder rotary engine |number of props=1 |power main= 100 hp |power alt= 75 kW |power original= |max speed main= 87 mph |max speed alt=76 knots, 140 km/h |cruise speed main= |cruise speed alt= |never exceed speed main= |never exceed speed alt= |stall speed main= |stall speed alt= |range main= 510 km |range alt= 315 miles, 275 nm |ceiling main= 7,000 ft |ceiling alt= 2,100 m |climb rate main= |climb rate alt= |loading main= |loading alt= |thrust/weight= |power/mass main= |power/mass alt= |more performance=*Climb to 6,500 ft (1,980 m): 15 minutes |guns=1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun occasionally fitted[10] |bombs=1× 65 lb (30 kg) or up to 5× 20 lb (9 kg) bombs[10] |avionics= }} See also{{aircontent||related=
|similar aircraft=
|sequence= |lists=
|see also= }} Notes1. ^Bruce Flight 8 November 1957, pp. 734–735. 2. ^http://www.airdromeaeroplanes.com/ 3. ^Donald, 1997. p 849. 4. ^Bruce Flight 8 November 1957, p. 736. 5. ^Lamberton, 1960. p 58. 6. ^1 Mikesh, Robert and Shorzoe Abe. Japanese Aircraft 1910–1941. London: Putnam, 1990. {{ISBN|0-85177-840-2}} 7. ^Lewis 1962, p.492. 8. ^Robertson 1970, pp. 234–235, 238–239. 9. ^Bruce Flight 29 November 1958, p. 848. 10. ^1 2 Bruce Flight 29 November 1957, p. 847. References{{commons category|Sopwith Tabloid}}{{refbegin}}
9 : British sport aircraft 1910–1919|Military aircraft of World War I|Biplanes|Sopwith aircraft|Schneider Trophy|Floatplanes|Single-engined tractor aircraft|Aircraft first flown in 1913|Rotary-engined aircraft |
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