Sopwith Snipe

The Sopwith Snipe, designated 7F.1, was a single-seat biplane fighter designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company as the successor to the Camel. Herbert Smith began the design in April 1917 and Sopwith built two prototypes as a private venture, the second with the more powerful Bentley BR2 rotary engine. The Snipe was no faster than its contemporaries, but its climb and manoeuvrability matched the best German fighters, and it reached squadrons only weeks before the Armistice in late 1918. It was then chosen as the standard single-seat fighter of the postwar Royal Air Force, and the last examples were not retired until 1926. Two complete original aircraft survive.