Westland Wagtail Westland Wagtail The Westland Wagtail was a prototype British fighter aircraft of the First World War. A single-engined tractor biplane, the Wagtail was a failure owing to the unreliability of its engine, only five being built. The Westland Wagtail was designed by Westland Aircraft of Yeovil in 1917 to meet the Royal Air Force Specification IA for a light fighter with superior performance to the Sopwith Camel. Westland's design team, led by Robert Bruce, the Company's manager and Arthur Davenport, Chief Draughtsman, came up with a design for a small single bay biplane, powered (like the other competitors for the
Sopwith Gunbus as trainers, being used by the RNAS at Hendon, and remaining in service until the winter of 1915-16. The name "Gunbus" came from the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) pilot's slang term for an aeroplane - a "bus" - and was also used in the name of the Vickers Gunbus. Sopwith Gunbus The Sopwith Gunbus was a British fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was a single-engined pusher biplane based on a floatplane built by Sopwith before the war for Greece. Small numbers were built and used by the British Royal Naval Air Service, mainly as a trainer. In