KITS 06/2023

N6602, HMS Furious, April 1918

This 150hp Bentley BR.1 powered 2F.1 Camel

was one of the 50 aircraft delivered by the

Sopwith Aviation Company under production

order contract Nos. A.S.762 and C.P.103733/17. It

was delivered to AAP Brooklands on November

22, 1917 and initially served on HMS Nairana

seaplane carrier from December 21 and HMS Lion

battlecruiser from January 11, 1918. The aircraft

was then put into service with HMS Furious from

April 6, 1918, but only for a brief period, as it

was sent to HMS Glorious two weeks later. RAF

Turnhouse and Donibristle were other places of

service of this unusually marked “Ship’s Camel”.

The reason for the white cross striping on the

fuselage is not known, the fuselage roundel was

overpainted by color which might be just fresh of

the same shade or slightly different one. As in the

most cases it is not clear, whether the aircraft

was finished in PC10 or PC12. Noteworthy is the

dark staining on the bottom side of the fuselage

in the area covered by linen. We believe it was

made by the same color which was applied on

upper sides.

and June 1918 and N6764 was photographed on

board of HMS Lion in this appearance. The new

cover was left in doped linen color, only the

horizontal stabilizer kept its original camouflage

and the tricolor on the elevator, which was the

typical feature of the aircraft manufactured by

Sir William Beardmore & Co LTD company. The

aircraft served also on the Donibristle and Rosyth

air bases.

N6764, HMS Lion, April–June 1918

This Camel was manufactured by Sir William

Beardmore & Co LTD in January 1917 and was

finished in the standard colors. For whatever

reason the fuselage and wings needed recovering sometime in the period between April

40

INFO Eduard

June 2023