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Sopwith Pup (Windsock Datafile Special) By Raymond Laurence Rimell

Abroad outline of the Sopwith Pup's early history, including its derivation from the diminutive single-seat Runabout of late 1915, was given in the original WINDSOCK DATAFILE No.2. What has not previously been recognised is how relatively slow the Admiralty appeared to be in reacting to the Pup prototype's potential. Although the aircraft was approved by the Sopwith experimental department on February 9 1916, it was not until the week ending March 24 that 'Y' Section of the Admiralty Air Department put forward a submission that 'one Sopwith Single-Seater 80-hp Aeroplane' should be purchased, and that the firm should be invited to tender for the supply of two further examples.

Again, it was mid-April until 'Y' Section recorded that the Sopwith company's tender for the sale of the prototype and the construction of two more had been received. Perhaps the bureaucracy was lagging behind events: the prototype had in fact been officially tested both by the Admiralty and subsequently by the RFC. The latter Service's CFS trials had been flown in late March 1916, and the prototype's official acquisition by the RNAS had become little more than a formality. The allocation of the serial number 3691 followed. Moreover, the two additional aircraft of the type were recorded as being on order as early as April 3 1916. (Vital though chronology is, trying to establish it accurately from official documents can be a frustrating exercise.)

The two additional prototypes were numbered 9496 and 9497, and at that time it was intended to fit them with the 100-hp Gnome Monosoupape engine. An official document of mid-June 1916 associates the 80-hp Clerget 7Z engine with them, and also quotes that engine as the power unit of the entire initial batch of 50 (9901-9950). By mid-July responsibility for building these production Pups was transferred to William Beardmore & Co., Ltd., of Dalmuir, Dunbartonshire; but in the event, relatively few of the batch had the Clerget engine. In mid-August 1916, three more Pups, 9898-9900, were added to the contract, but in September their construction was apparently transferred to the parent Sopwith company.

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