Sopwith Pup C242, No. 7 Training Squadron, Netheravon 1918

No. 7 Squadron was declared operational on July 28, 1915 at Netheravon, an aerodrome located on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The aerodrome had been in use by the Royal Flying Corps since 1913, and it was part of the formative phase of the RFC. Several squadrons trained at what was referred to as the "Netheravon Concentration Camp" before being sent abroad. Netheravon was used for the disbanding of squadrons following the armistice. Some of the original buildings are still standing at the site of the aerodrome.

In 1918, training had improved quite a bit with the Gosport System developed by Robert Smith-Barry. The RFC (RAF after April 1, 1918) was capable of graduating 500 pilots per month in five different training areas reporting to a Directorate of Training (DOT). The DOT had 1,203 aircraft in June of 1918, out of which 368 were Avro trainers. A so-called "all-through" system was implemented, which meant that a pilot would remain at one location throughout his training, with the exception of gunnery school. Gone were the Days when a RFC pilots would have three hours solo flying under his belt to qualify as a "good pilot", and the number of training-related accidents had decreased. In the Days of the old Training Division, trainees wrecked a stunning 9.75 percent of the Aircraft on any given day. By the turn of 1917-18, the number was down to 3.11 percent.

A film about training pilots of the United States Air Service in 1918 can be found here.

The Airfix Pup remains a fun build, and it also features a decent cockpit, including a dashboard with instruments and some detailing of the insides of the fuselage halves. I added a seatbelt, a joystick and the floor planks. My previous summary of building a Sopwith Pup can be found here. The cadet is a modified Preiser figure with an added swagger stick.

The Blue Rider decals were bought on eBay, and this was my first real attempt to use decals that actually cover most of an aircraft. The decals were of excellent quality, and they worked well with setting solution, although it remains difficult to join decals over, for example, the wing edges. I did add some weathering to make this Pup actually look like an aircraft that is handled by inexperienced pilots on a daily basis as well as being subjected to inclement weather and rough landings. Matte varnish took away most of the gloss of the decals, making the Pup look less toy-like. By the way, C242 seems to have ended up in civilian use, being registered as G-EBFJ after the war.

Netheravon just before the outbreak of war.

Sopwith Pup C242.

The Sopwith Pup

The Sopwith Pup was a viceless aircraft to fly. It was very popular amongst pilots, and it was in service between the fall of 1916 and late 1917, both with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. By then it was outclassed by German scout aircraft, but it remained in service as a trainer. It was also used as a ship-borne fighter. British ace James McCudden claimed that "When it came to manoeuvring [sic], the Sopwith [Pup] would turn twice to an Albatros' once ... it was a remarkably fine machine for general all-round flying. It was so extremely light and well surfaced that after a little practice one could almost land it on a tennis court."

The kit is the Airfix 1/72 model that was initially released in 1973, and it remains the only 1/72 model of the Pup available. It consists of 24 crisp parts, and the kit dimensions are quite correct. The fabric effects on the wings and the tail are a bit overdone, but paint conceals these effects quite well. The decals are from the spares box, and this particular Pup is painted in the colors representative of No. 46 Squadron, which was based at La Gorgue in June of 1917. It had exchanged its Nieuport two-seaters for Sopwith Pups in May , and it was heavily engaged in the Battle of Messines, scoring several victories against German aircraft. The squadron returned to England for home defense duties in July, but it returned to France in August. The Pups were eventually exchanged for Sopwith Camels in November 1917.

The two figures were added to a base made out of an old gift card. The officer enjoys a stein of beer, while the erk (aircraftman) might be trying to persuade him to add a Lewis gun to the top wing. This was occasionally done, but many pilots found this to add too much weight to the Pup.