Sopwith Gnu

The Sopwith Gnu was a touring biplane designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation and Engineering Company of Kingston-upon-Thames for the postwar civil market, and one of the first cabin aircraft designed for civil use. It was a conventional equal-span biplane with an open cockpit for the pilot and seats for two passengers under a hinged, glazed roof, and most were powered by a 110 hp Le Rhone rotary engine. The cramped enclosed cabin proved unpopular, so most production aircraft had an open rear cockpit. One prototype and twelve production aircraft were built. A postwar slump ended production, most unsold aircraft were dismantled, and the surviving examples gave joyrides in Britain and flew mail between Adelaide and Sydney.