Sopwith Tripe & TG Tripe

[Macklroy 2]

WOW! I can't believe I hadn't flown the sopwith triplane before today. I was tooling around for a new career in the british air corps and figured i'd give the triplane a go in QC. Handles like a dream, and with the twin vickers mounted it's like childs play. Just wondered if anyone else had thoughts on this Fokker killer.

 

S!

[Olham 164]

It's the second craft I tried in Campaign, after a Camel, and it's a joy to have a craft, that can really

hurt the German fighters. I can't understand, why it wasn't standard with two guns?

But a Fokker killer she was not, as far as I know, cause she had her time before the Dr.1 - or did they

really meet at any time? Experts?

[Interlocutor 0]

Sopwith built only about 150 Tripes. It was originally ordered by both the RFC and the RNAS, but the 60 aircraft ordered for the RFC were exchanged by that service in February 1917, before delivery, for 60 Spads ordered for the RNAS. Thus the tripe was flown only by naval squadrons.

 

Naval One was the first squadron to fly the Tripe in action, in April 1917, though it began "working up" with the aircraft at rear airfields somewhat before that. According to both German and British sources, it completely outclassed the Alb D-III as a flying machine, being able to outclimb and outturn the German aircraft, and it was 15 mph faster as well!

 

Naval Eight and Naval Ten re-equipped with the Tripe in April and May of 1917, respectively.

 

Due to procurement and production issues, no further Tripes were ordered after the initial run. Spares became hard to get in the summer of 1917, and the aircraft in service began to wear out. By November 1917, the last Tripes had been replaced by Camels.

 

The first Fokker Dr-Is came into service in August and September, 1917. Werner Voss got his Dr-I on August 28, MvR got his on September 1st, so the Tripe was concurrent with the Dr-I for a brief time.

 

Interestingly, only six (6) Tripes were ever equipped with twin Vickers, all others had only one gun.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I can't understand, why it wasn't standard with two guns?

 

I've often wondered the same thing about many other Entente fighters. But the reason for this must be that the Entente powers seem to have favored turn fighters over energy fighters most of the time, and planes such as the Nieuport and the Pup would have lost some of their speed and agility if they had had more than one gun. The French at least experimented with Nupe 17s with two guns, but they found out the plane became slower and clumsier and thus lost its best characteristics because of the extra weight of the second gun and its ammunition.

 

I wonder how nimble the Dr.I would have been with only one gun...

[BirdDogICT 3]

I've often wondered the same thing about many other Entente fighters. But the reason for this must be that the Entente powers seem to have favored turn fighters over energy fighters most of the time, and planes such as the Nieuport and the Pup would have lost some of their speed and agility if they had had more than one gun. The French at least experimented with Nupe 17s with two guns, but they found out the plane became slower and clumsier and thus lost its best characteristics because of the extra weight of the second gun and its ammunition.

 

I wonder how nimble the Dr.I would have been with only one gun...

 

To quote from a similar discussion in http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/18695-post3.html:

 

"The Tripe being underpowered is a relative statement.

 

Compare it to other Sopwith a/c:

 

Pup: 80-100 hp to move 850 lbs

 

Camel: 110-150 hp to move 890 lbs

 

Tripe: 110-130 hp to move 1,100 lbs

 

However, later a/c like the Dolphin and Snipe were comparative slugs, weighing hundreds of pounds more. Even other planes of the era like the SPAD VII and Alb DIII far outweighed the Tripe.

 

So it was underpowered, but it was also relatively underweight. That's why although they built 5 of them experimentally, the twin Vickers Tripe never made it. The extra weight was just too much and the plane became sluggish. As long as you kept the weight off, it was a zippy little plane that could fill its role."

[Macklroy 2]

Thanks for the replies gents. My statement about it being a 'fokker killer' was just a term of phrase. I am quite unfamiliar with the history of wwi and it's aviation history. Most of my opponents have been flying albatross or haberstadt craft. Currently flying a campaign of RNAS 1 since they get the tripe the earliest.

 

Thanks for the history lesson Interlocutor! I have 2 pilots going atm (vitrual brothers if you will). One flies for RNAS 1 while the other for RNAS 8. Both start out with the nieuport but I'm looking forward to flying the sopwith tripe.

 

It is too bad the twin vickers tripe wasnt more common at the front.

 

S!

[Olham 164]

I wonder how nimble the Dr.I would have been with only one gun...

We'll never know, but she is definitely more than agile enough - a real turn-devil.

 

Currently flying a campaign of RNAS 1 since they get the tripe the earliest.

Hey, Mack, then we're in the same Squadron! At least, when you've done that Nupe period!

[Macklroy 2]

Hey, Mack, then we're in the same Squadron! At least, when you've done that Nupe period!

 

January of '17. Be in the tripe before the end of the month.

[Olham 164]

Hmm... - may be dead by then. If you shouldn't find a David Oldman anywhere, and

they give you a craft with a capital "M" painted on, then it's the one I used to fight in.

Then you will take revenge, I hope!