Sopwith Gunbus

The Story of Sopwith Gunbus

"Gun Buses" was the first notable attempt to produce a dedicated armed fighter. Companies such as British Vickers began experimenting in 1912, and another British company, Sopwith Air, also looked into the category, eventually giving it the aptly named Sopwith "Gunbus" (also known as "Gunbus").

Gun Bus") for war service.

Sopwith Gunbus began with a contract in 1913 to supply the Greek state with six two-seater biplanes. Sopwith developed a design that had his two crew members sit in tandem on the open-air cockpit (with dual controls for training). The fuselage has a boat-like hull for the desired take-off and landing on water, the single engine is placed in a "propeller" configuration, i.e. at the rear of the fuselage and facing the stern - propelling the aircraft through the sky and bringing the hull forward There are no obstacles. The engine of choice became a 100-horsepower air-cooled Anzani radial piston engine. The design features a four-cabin biplane wing arrangement.

The top speed attainable is approximately 55 miles per hour.

In early August 1914, when Britain declared war on Germany and RNAS confiscated five of the six seaplanes bound for Greece for its own use, command of Greece was inevitably interrupted. These worked with the Royal Navy until July 1915, but were again found to lack the qualities required for combat service.

This led to another form of Gunbus, originating from the RNAS commitment of July 1914, resulting in the official name "Admiralty Type 806". The aircraft is now powered by a 110-horsepower Sunbeam 8-cylinder liquid-cooled engine (still in thrust configuration) and carries a nose-mounted 7.7mm machine gun. In addition, the seaplane function was completely discontinued, as the artillery had completed the revised land-based biplane standard, requiring a modification to the fuselage and the addition of a wheeled landing gear. The first flight in prototype form was recorded on October 6, 1914, and RNAS ordered six.

At least two seaplanes were converted into land planes.

Tests proved the Model 806 to be underpowered compared to the current Sunbeam engine, so another model rated at 150 hp (Sunbeam Crusader) was used as a replacement. Another big change is reversing the positions of the pilot and gunner so that the pilot can now control the plane from the nose, while the gunner maintains a more rearward arc of fire - to protect the plane's key "six". Another key quality is the addition of bomb-dropping capability, with the addition of a bomb-dropping panel at the bottom of the fuselage and the ability to carry four bombs on a rack under the lower wing assembly.

This design led to an order for 30 similar aircraft in early 1915.

With its 150-horsepower Sunbeam, the land-based Gunbus can handle a top speed of 80 mph, a service ceiling of 4,000 feet and an initial rate of climb of 230 feet per minute. The crew maintains two and the structural dimensions include an overall length of 32.5 feet, a wingspan of 50 feet and a height of 11.3 feet.

It was in this form that the final Sopwith Gunbus ended up in the air combat of World War I. Their service began in February 1915, but by that time only 17 of the 30 aircraft had been finally delivered - the remaining stock was kept as spares. In service, Gunbusses weren't particularly popular due to their harsh controls and awkward flight characteristics.

This forced the fleet to be relegated to training missions for RNAS, which continued until early 1916.

Wix FB. The 5 (detailed elsewhere on this page) was another World War I gun carriage design with a slightly healthier existence, with around 224 built and operated by Britain and France. They were introduced in February 1915 and withdrawn in 1916.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes