Sopwith Dolphin

The Sopwith Dolphin was a break with the traditional Sopwith style of design in many ways. The Dolphin used the powerful inline engine, the Hispano-Suiza. The same engine that was used in the SE5a and the French Spad. The Dolphin also had slightly back staggered wings and the pilot sat with his head through a gap between the top wings. This caused some fear on the pilots neck being broken in a crash but also gave excellent all round and unrestricted view. The aircraft maintained high performance at high altitude, such as heights above 18,000 feet and was often used in the high altitude interceptor role by the four operational RAF Squadrons equipped with the type.

It had a crew of one and was powerful enough to carry four 25lb Cooper bombs. It was also the first multi-gun fighter in history with twin fixed vickers machine guns mounted above the engine and twin lewis guns mounted on the top wing.