Sopwith Pup

Built by the Sopwith Aviation Company Ltd., of Kingston-upon-Thames, the Pup entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service in Autumn 1916. It was, by all accounts, a delightful machine to fly with pleasant characteristics and highly manoeuvreable; its only drawback being poorly-armed with just the one synchronised machine gun. Sopwith Pups were eventually outclassed on the Western Front by 1917, but they continued to serve in training units until the Armistice. Naval Pups were used for historic deck-landing trials, launched from lighters and gun turret platforms, as well as being pressed into home-defence service by the RFC against raiding German Gotha bombers. The Sopwith Pup lived on in many ex-pilots’ memories with supreme affection.