British fighter plane with a wooden structure, a Sopwith Camel biplane from the First World War. The camel owes its nickname to the "hump" in front of the pilot's cabin, which housed machine guns. The Camel was the successor to the successful Sopwith Pup fighter. The first flight of the prototype took place in December 1916, and deliveries to the front units began in the summer of 1917. The first serial batches required great abilities from the pilots and showed asymmetry of flight characteristics, unheard of in other Allied machines. With time, however, the Camel gained a reputation among pilots of a very maneuverable, solid machine with a decent rate of climb. He was a worthy rival to the German machines from the Albatros or Fokker factories. During the course of the war, several versions of the Camel were created. The most important of them are: F.1 - fighter, F.1.3 - night fighter, TF1 - trench fighter, 2F.1 - deck fighter. Thanks to the commencement of serial production by eight different aviation factories, it was possible to produce as many as 5,490 machines during the war. Technical data: Top speed: 185 km / h; climb speed 5.5 m / s, maximum ceiling 6400 m, armament: two 7.7mm Vickers machine guns, firing through a propeller. In the assault version, 7.7mm Lewis machine guns.