- History
- Specifications
- References Citations Bibliography
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}| name=Sopwith Bee | image= | caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=experimental aircraft | national origin=United Kingdom | manufacturer=Sopwith Aviation Company | designer= | first flight=1916 | introduced= | retired= | primary user= | number built=1 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from=
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The Sopwith Bee was a small biplane built in 1916 as a personal aircraft for Harry Hawker, Sopwith's chief test pilot. HistoryThe Bee was a single-bay biplane powered by a {{convert|50|hp|kW|abbr=on}} Gnome Omega rotary engine, intended for use by Hawker as a runabout and for aerobatics. As with contemporary Sopwith fighter aircraft, great effort was made to concentrate the heaviest components as close to the aircraft's centre of gravity in order to optimise manoeverability: this necessitated a large semi-circular cutout in the trailing edge of the upper wing to accommodate the pilot. Lateral control was achieved by wing-warping.[1] The Bee was subsequently fitted with a single synchronised Vickers .303 machine gun, possibly with a view to meeting the Admiralty's requirement for a small scout aircraft capable of operating from torpedo-boat destroyers, but this came to nothing and no further development of the type was carried out.[1] The aircraft was sometimes referred to as the Tadpole. Specifications {{Aircraft specs
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|eng1 name=Gnome Omega
|eng1 type=7-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine
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|armament=*One Vickers .303 machine gun
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References {{commons category|Sopwith Aviation Company}}Citations1. ^1 2 Mason 1992, p.110
Bibliography- Mason, Francis K. The British Fighter Since 1912. London: Putnam, 1992. {{ISBN|0 85177 852 6}}
{{Sopwith Aviation Company aircraft}} 7 : British fighter aircraft 1910–1919|British experimental aircraft 1910–1919|Biplanes|Sopwith aircraft|Single-engined tractor aircraft|Aircraft first flown in 1916|Rotary-engined aircraft |