Sopwith Camel F1 – Major Billy Barker, 139 Sqn RAF 1918 1/48

Corgi Aviation Archive 1/48 scale AA38108: Sopwith Camel F1, B6313, Major William George ‘Billy’ Barker , Commanding Officer of 139 Sqn, Italy 1918. Limited edition of 1,000 pieces.

The agile and highly manoeuvrable Sopwith Camel was without doubt one of the most successful fighter aircraft of the First World War and accounted for more enemy aircraft destroyed than any other British type. Named Camel as a result of the hump shaped fairing that housed the two 0.303 in Vickers machine guns, this supreme fighter aircraft was a real handful to operate effectively, with the torque from its powerful rotary engine constantly trying to flip the Camel into a potentially life threatening spin. If tamed, the Camel was the finest fighting aircraft yet produced and was superior to all contemporary German fighters. During the 17 months of its operational service at the end of WWI, Sopwith Camel pilots would claim an average of 76 aerial victories each month, helping the Allied air forces wrestle air supremacy from the Luftstreitkrafte.

Designed as a heavier, more powerful refinement of the Sopwith Pup, the Camel was first flown in 1917. Earning its name from the distinctive humped fairing surrounding its twin .303 Vickers machine guns, the Camel’s unforgiving flight characteristics claimed the lives of many students in flight training. In the hands of a skilled pilot though, it was an extreme dogfighter that could out-maneuver any contemporary with the possible exception of the Fokker Dr.I. Common for airplanes of that era, a fixed crankshaft configuration allowed the entire engine to spin with the propeller, creating strong gyroscopic forces that adversely affected the airplane’s handling under power. Together with the S.E.5a, the Camel helped gain superiority over the German Albatros and is credited with shooting down 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter.