Photograph:
Sopwith Buffalo prototype H5892 at Brooklands, United Kingdom in September 1918 (Author’s collection)
Country of origin:
United Kingdom
Description:
Two-seat armoured fighting scout and reconnaissance biplane
Power Plant:
One 172 kw (230 hp) Bentley BR.2 nine-cylinder air-cooled rotary engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 10.51 m (34 ft 6 in)
- Length: 7.09 m (23 ft 3½ in)
- Height: 2.89 m (9 ft 6 in)
- Wing area: 30.28 m² (326 sq ft)
- Max speed at 305 m (1,000 ft): 183 km/h (114 mph)
- Max speed at 1,981 m (6,500 ft): 169 km/h (105 mph)
- Initial rate of climb: 229 m/min (750 ft/min)
- Climb to 914 m (3,000 ft): 4 mins 55 secs
- Climb to 1,981 m (6,500 ft): 16 mins 55 secs
- Service ceiling: 2,743 m (9,000 ft)
- Empty weight: 988 kg (2,178 lb)
- Loaded weight: 1,398 kg (3,071 lb)
Armament:
One 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine gun firing forward; and one 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine gun on a Scarff ring in the rear cockpit for the observer
History:
The Sopwith 3F.2 Buffalo was an armoured two-seat aircraft designed specifically for low-level observation where it regularly became the subject of ground fire. Many crews were in danger and suffered many casualties amongst pilots and observers. The type became available for testing in September 1918. A biplane, the Buffalo was powered by a Bentley BR.2 rotary engine. This was a nine-cylinder rotary engine which produced 172 kw (230 hp), had a total displacement of 1,522 cc, weighed 220 kg (490 lb) and was the last rotary engine used by the RAF.
The first of two prototypes (H5892) was built, the second (H5893) having some improvements including an extension to the armour to better protect the crew from small arms fire from the ground, and some re-design of the rudder. Plans were to place the type in large-scale production but the Armistice was signed before production commenced.
Be that as it may, the first prototype H5892 was sent to France and attached to No 1 Aeroplane Supply Depot at Marquise in northern France. In due course it was delivered for trials to No 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, which was at the time operating Sopwith Camels and Sopwith Snipes. It was attached to the unit at Youdale until 20 October when it returned to No 1 ASD after making a number of demonstration flights. It was not used in combat as the Armistice had been signed.
The serials H5892 and H5893 had previously been allotted to Airco DH.11 Oxfords but this allocation was cancelled and the serials re-allotted. H5892 was returned to the United Kingdom where it was flown to Brooklands, arriving there on 18 September 1918, and subsequently was used for night trials before being retired and broken up. The design was an interesting one for the time and was classed as an experimental aircraft, and as an armoured fighting scout and reconnaissance biplane. If the war had continued there is no doubt it would have been built in some numbers and operated on the Western Front.