Sopwith Scooter

The Sopwith Scooter, also called the Sopwith Monoplane No. 1, was an unarmed parasol monoplane that the Sopwith Aviation Company flew in June 1918 as a derivative of the Camel. It used a normal Camel fuselage with the wing mounted just above it, leaving a very small gap, and the wing was braced with streamlined RAF wire to a pyramid-shaped cabane above. A single 130 hp Clerget 9B rotary engine powered it. Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker used it as a runabout and an aerobatic mount, and it showed excellent manoeuvrability. That success became the basis for a fighter derivative, first called Monoplane No. 2 and later the Sopwith Swallow, which was built as a single example and never entered production.