Sopwith Snipe Herbert Smith, the chief designer of the Sopwith Company, began to design a fighter intended to be the replacement for Sopwith's most famous aeroplane, the successful Sopwith Camel. The resultant design, called Snipe by Sopwith, was in its initial form a single-bay biplane, slightly smaller than the Camel, and intended to be powered by similar engines. The pilot sat higher than in the Camel while the centre-section of the upper wing was uncovered, giving a better view from the cockpit. Armament was to be two Vickers machine guns. In the absence of an official order, Sopwith began construction of two
Howard Wright 1910 Biplane Howard Wright 1910 Biplane The Howard Wright 1910 Biplane was an early British aircraft built by Howard T. Wright to a design by W.O. Manning. One was used by Thomas Sopwith for his early record-breaking flights. Another made the first powered flight in New Zealand. The Howard Wright 1910 biplane was a two-bay pusher biplane of what was then referred to as the "Farman type", two pairs of booms in front of the wings bearing a single elevator and four wire-braced wooden booms behind the wings carrying a single rudder half above and half below a fixed horizontal surface bearing