Puppy love
Relevant offers
Classic Fighters
Air show scores V for victory
If a new arrival at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre gets off the ground at this year's airshow those in attendance will witness something very special - three different Sopwith aircraft flying at the same time.
The Sopwith Pup arrived in a container from California last Saturday along with a Nieuport 16 that will feature at the show in Restoration Row.
The Sopwith Pup will join a Sopwith Camel, which made its flying debut at the Classic Fighters Airshow in 2001, and a Sopwith Triplane which will make its Omaka debut at this year's event.
Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre trustee Graham Orphan says that if all three Sopwith aircraft fly at the show it will be a sight never seen south of the equator before.
The replica Sopwith Pup was built in 1961, but it has many of the original parts from the aircraft which first flew in 1915.
"Even as a replica it's very rare," Graham says.
The plane is owned by Mark Moore, a Zambian-based Kiwi aircraft enthusiast, who has chosen Omaka to house his aircraft. The Sopwith Pup was originally flown by Allied forces in World War 1 as a fighting scout, but as the war progressed its 80 horse power engine was superseded by more powerful aircraft and used more for training purposes.
"It was almost the first pure fighter aircraft flown by the Commonwealth participants who flew with the Royal Flying Corps."
By the end of the war, fighter aircraft engines were approaching 300 horsepower, and bombers were nearing 400 horsepower, Graham says. "The advancements made over the war were pretty amazing."
One of the interesting aspects of the aircraft is its rotary engine and, if flown, it will also become the only Sopwith Pup with such an engine flying in the southern hemisphere.
"The difference with the rotary is that the whole engine rotates around the crank shaft."
"It has a completely different sound and I'm not sure how to describe it."
Graham says the engine runs in bursts controlled by a blip switch on the plane's joystick, which interrupts the engine and slows it down.
"If you could imagine having to turn off your car engine to slow it down."
The fuel and air mix is controlled with one hand and the ignition with the other, he explains.
"It seems arcane to try and conduct a war with technology like that."
Even if the Sopwith Pup doesn't get off the ground, Graham says the three different Sopwith aircraft will be placed together for people to get a closer look at.
"Having planes like this on display allows people the chance to get their heads around technology which would otherwise be forgotten."
- The Marlborough Express
