Is this a Sopwith aeroplane?

Thanks a lot chaps; it likes like we can definately say it’s a Camel. As for the story behind it, I wish I knew. All I have is the photograph.

The engine bulkhead seems to agree with Camel drawings. What looks like the centre-line rib in the middle of the cabane, plus the wide splay of the centre-section struts, points towards a typical F1.

I’d agree with the Camel conclusion, although I’m no expert…

I’ve just grabbed ‘Great Fighter Aircraft’ off the shelf, and it’s got cutaways of the Pup and Camel; of the two it has to be Camel because the cabine bracing wired don’t make a perfect ‘X’ but cross higher up, making a taller ^ at the bottom and a shorter V at the top, with a teardrop fairing there to join them. More conclusive is that the Pup’s cabine struts meet the tip of the centre section spar, while the Camel’s centre section spar overhangs the struts by some distance as in this picture.

It’s certainly a Sopwith, probably a Camel. My only reservation is I don’t have data to hand it’s not a Snipe or Salamander, both of which are much less likely from use and numbers built anyway.

A photo of a Camel engine-mounting bulkhead would, I suspect, be conclusive; at a glance most Sopwith parts from different aircraft look very similar / the same, but aren’t.

As to the picture, it’s quite interesting; it’s not a crash (despite the hole) as there’s no obvious crush / break damage, and the fuel tank and guns aren’t present, which would be easy to remove from a complete aircraft, but the ammo tanks and fuel tank would be almost impossible to extract from within a crash.

What’s the story?

HTH.

Many thanks Malcolm. I had almost come to the same conclusion, so it is very nice to get a second opinion.

I suspect it is a Camel. The clue is the bracing wires at the front of the cabane struts. This is a quite distinctive feature of the Camel.