First flight 1914 | Manufacturer Sopwith Aviation Company | |
The Sopwith Admiralty Type C was an early British seaplane designed and built by Sopwith Aviation to drop torpedoes. A single engined tractor biplane seaplane, three were delivered to the Royal Navy in November 1914 but proved unable to lift a torpedo.
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Design and development
The Admiralty had ordered a special torpedo carrying biplane (the Sopwith Special torpedo seaplane Type C, serial number 170) in February 1914 and followed it with an order in July 1914 for three similar Type C seaplanes (serial numbers 157, 158 and 159). The specification called for folding wings, bomb gear, a gun and radio. Work started at the Sopwith factory at Kingston-upon-Thames on 5 April 1914 and the three Type Cs, powered by a 200 hp Salmson (Canton-Uneé) piston engine, were completed by October. They went to RNAS Calshot for evaluation in November 1914. The Special, tested that July, had failed to lift a torpedo and the new Type Cs were little better, failing to take off under load: 157 could not get airborne with a 14" Whitehead torpedo and the other two had similar poor performance. 158 was accepted by the service on 4 February 1915 but it sank following a forced landing a few days later on 8 February. The two survivors, 157 and 159, were withdrawn from service at the end of 1915.