Harley Melanson, the protagonist of my novel, The Millennium Man, racked up his score as a fighter pilot in a Sopwith Camel. The Camel entered World War I during a time when the badly-outclassed Allied aircraft were being butchered by the jastas of German aces.
In 1916, the Germans controlled the skies over the battlefield. The resourceful British engineers came to the rescue with three fighters they hoped would regain control of the air war. The most famous of these was the Sopwith Camel whose pilots shot down 1,294 enemy aircraft during World War I, more than any other Allied fighter. The down side was that it was difficult to fly and more than a few pilots died in accidents.
The Camel evolved from the Sopwith Pup and Triplane and was identifiable by its ‘hump” which housed the twin Vickers machine guns and by the cantilevered wings. In fact the pilot, guns and engine were crammed into a mere seven-foot section of the plane which gave the Camel its incredible performance. However, the torque from the Clerget and Rhone rotary engines caused the plane always want to turn against the prop causing many stalls. In the proper hands though this effect could be used to great advantage.
Major W.G. “Bill” Barker, Melanson’s friend in the novel but a real Canadian pilot and Victoria Cross winner, shot down 41 enemy aircraft while flying Camels. His Camel, Number N8156, is now in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa.
Stumble it!