There’s a lot of fascinating discussion on this and other forums about “Luftwaffe 46”, etc, but what if fighting in the Great War had dragged on for another year? Would the Sopwith Snipe (sometimes claimed to be little better than the Camel) have been able to cut the mustard against the newer Fokker & Pfalz fighters? Would the RAF have needed the Martinsyde Buzzard to partner it, or was there something in the pipeline from the Royal Aircraft Factory, ie an S.E.6? And what about the burgeoning American presence on the Western front; would we have seen a continuing reliance on European aircraft designs, or would Curtiss, Thomas Morse, etc have risen to the challenge and developed competetive fighters?
By: BarracudaFAA - 27th August 2008 at 15:39
Engineering and Technology in WW1
William Barker, as I’m sure you know, took on and defeated several Fokker DVII’s in his final combat when flying a snipe, I’ve also read that the Martinsyde Buzzard in it’s final form was superior to the DVII. I’m sure that the technological and engineering race which began with the Maurice Farman and ended with the Sopwith Snipe would have continued, but with the added industrial muscle of the U.S.A.
I’m not aware of any competitive American designs however. Although Wilbur and Orville showed the way with powered flight I would have thought the U.S designers would have faced a steep learning curve to catch up with the likes of Folland and T.O.M Sopwith.
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August 27, 2008 at 3:27 pm