Sopwith Snail Sopwith Snail The Sopwith 8F.1 Snail was a prototype British Fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was unsuccessful, being abandoned due to an unreliable engine. The Sopwith 8F.1 Snail was designed by Herbert Smith of Sopwith Aviation Company to meet the Air Board Specification A.1A for a light fighter with superior performance to the Sopwith Camel. Herbert Smith designed a small single-bay biplane, powered by the 170 hp (127 kW) ABC Wasp radial engine. An initial order was placed on 31 October 1917 for six prototypes with a conventional wood and fabric framework structure, but this was revised
Armstrong Siddeley Ltd, which later became Self-Changing Gears – the gearbox that should be credited with enabling the marketing tagline "Cars for the daughters of gentlemen". Armstrong Siddeley manufactured luxury cars, aircraft engines, and later, aircraft. In 1935, J. D. Siddeley's interests were purchased for £2 million by Tommy Sopwith owner of Hawker Aircraft to form – along with the Gloster Aircraft Company and Air Training Services – Hawker Siddeley, a famous name in British aircraft production. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft became a subsidiary of Hawker. The aviation pioneer Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith – Tommy, later Sir Thomas, Sopwith – became chairman of