Sopwith Camel T.F. 1 (armoured trench fighter) MOD

[greg3]

I'm not normally interested in larger scale models, but made an exception for the Sopwith Camel (10226) - and just in time too as it went out of stock the very next day!! I have to say it's definitely one of my favourite Lego models of recent times. It looks amazing and is even swoosh-able!! After getting it, I decided to find out more about the original aircraft and it's variants and here's the first (and easiest to make!) the TF-1 (armoured trench fighter).

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

In early 1918, Sopwith were looking into developing an aircraft for attacking ground targets. The normal Camel and other aircraft designed for air combat tendered to suffer heavy casualties when used in this role so Sopworth began by modifying a standard Camel to improve its effectiveness and survivability.

First, it's armament was changed from 2 forward firing Vickers guns to 3 Lewis guns. 2 of which were mounted inside the cockpit pointing down through the floor at a 45 degree angle (the idea being that the plane could fly low and fast over the target strafing it as it went). The 3rd gun was fitted on top of the wing using an Admiralty mount (which had been developed by the Navy for use on ship launched Camels). This allowed the weapon to be tilted to fire upward if needed and also allowed it to be reloaded as it could be tipped back through the wing cutout and then reached from the cockpit.

The aircraft was also given armour plating along its underside to cover the engine, cockpit and fuel tank.

The downward pointing guns and armour.

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

Top mounted Lewis gun and Admiralty mount - might try and improve the mount design at a later date as the gun only just barely fits through the wing cutout.

Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr

At least 2 TF1s were made and sent to France for testing in Feb/March 1918 but it quickly became apparent that they had serious flaws. The armour severely reduced performance and the downward facing guns were impossible to aim with any accuracy (despite experiments with periscope and mirror arrangements) The TF-1 never went into operational use but the lessons learnt were used in the design of a dedicated ground attack aircraft - the Sopwith Salamander.

Thanks for looking - comments are always welcome.