Sopwith Snark

The Sopwith Snark was a prototype single-engined triplane fighter designed at the end of the First World War to replace the Snipe. It was Sopwith's triplane answer to the Air Ministry's RAF Type I requirement for a high-altitude fighter powered by the ABC Dragonfly radial engine, a requirement Sopwith also met with the biplane Snapper. It had a wooden monocoque fuselage, unequally spaced wings and an unusually heavy armament for a single-seater, with four Lewis guns under the lower wings in addition to two synchronised Vickers guns. The first airframe was ready in October 1918 but engines were not, so it first flew in July 1919. By then the Dragonfly had proved unreliable, production plans were dropped, and the three Snarks built were used for trials until 1921.