![]() This led to the realization that if students could somehow learn the Camel with an experienced instructor in the same aircraft, these deaths could be significantly reduced. Training deaths (380) almost equaled combat deaths (420) such that training, as quickly and efficiently as possible, became paramount. The Camel in the right hands was a formidable weapon to the inexperienced or uninitiated, it was unforgiving. Arthur Harris, future Marshal of the Royal Air Force (RAF) had this to say: “If you wanted to go into a left turn you put on full right rudder, and if you let go of the stick it looped!” Just like the French Nieuports, the Camel’s nose climbed in a left turn, and when you turned right it dove. Wilkins in his book British Fighter Aircraft in World War I, by grouping all the weight on the CofG up front (guns, pilot, fuel, engine) combined with the gyroscopic effect of the rotary, enabled the Camel to make a very hard and fast right turn-which could also result in a spin rather quickly if the pilot wasn’t paying attention (this could also be useful in combat by the experienced pilot). It was reputed for its hard right turn and twin rapid-firing Vickers machine guns synchronized to fire through the propeller. The most iconic of the Sopwith fighters-the Camel-appeared on Dec. Training deaths (380) almost equaled combat deaths (420) for the Sopwith Camel. ![]()
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