Sopwith Salamander - Service History

Service History

Production was intended to be on a very large scale – an initial order for 500 aircraft was placed with Sopwith on 18 June, followed by additional orders with Wolseley Motors, the Air Navigation Co., Glendower Aircraft, Palladium Motors and the National Aircraft Factory No. 1. A total of 1,400 Salamanders were ordered. Production was slowed, however, by problems producing the armour plate, this being prone to distortion during the hardening process, and shortages of the BR.2 engine. By the end of October 1918 only 37 Salamanders were on RAF charge, and just two of these were in France. The first Salamander equipped squadron, 157 Squadron, was due to fly out to France with 24 aircraft on 21 November, with more squadrons in the process of forming in the United Kingdom.

With the Armistice, the immediate need for a specialist close support aircraft evaporated, and 157 Squadron was quickly disbanded. Production continued for several months following the Armistice, with at least 497 completed. It was discovered postwar that 70 Salamanders had been fitted with Sopwith Snipe wings instead of the stronger wings of the Salamander, rendering the aircraft unsafe, while the armoured section was subject to spontaneous distortion, misaligning the airframe and again making the aircraft dangerous. The Salamander was used in trials of various patterns of disruptive camouflage in 1919, while some Salamanders were still in use at Heliopolis, Egypt in 1922. One example went to America, and was still in existence at McCook Field in 1926.