The Sopwith Camel is a remarkably important aircraft, it was first flown in 1917 when the pace of advancement in aircraft design was moving at breakneck speed and for time the Camel was the best fighter in the sky.
Its odd name was coined from the side profile appearance of the hump that was built over the twin Vickers machine guns to keep them from freezing at altitude, the twin guns fired directly through the propellers – making use of a synchronisation gear to keep them from firing when the propeller blade was directly in front of the muzzle (an important little feature).
Despite almost 100 years having passed since the Camel’s introduction, it’s still possible to build and fly one thanks to a company called Airdrome Airplanes based in Missouri. They build fully functioning, airworthy kits of a wide variety of WWI fighter planes – most of which cannot be bought elsewhere for love nor money.
If you’d like to see more from Airdrome Airplanes and acquire a new, expensive hobby that’s sure to upset the spouse you can click here.
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
