Sopwith Tabloid - Operational History

Operational History

Single-seat variants of the Tabloid went into production in 1914 and 36 eventually entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Deployed to France at the outbreak of the First World War, Tabloids were used as fast scouts. Some naval aircraft were armed with a Lewis gun on the top wing, firing over the propeller arc. One other aircraft used a Lewis gun firing through the propeller arc with deflector wedges mounted on the propeller blades.

The Tabloid also operated as a bomber. On 22 September 1914, Tabloids mounted the first raid by British aircraft on German soil. In their most famous mission, two RNAS Tabloids flying from Antwerp on 8 October 1914, raided the German Zeppelin sheds at Cologne and Düsseldorf. The Cologne target was not located, the railway station being bombed instead, but the shed at Düsseldorf was struck by two 20 lb bombs dropped from 600 ft and the Zeppelin Z.IX was destroyed.

The Tabloid was withdrawn from front-line service in early 1915.

A single Sopwith Schneider fighter seaplane was acquired by Captain Shiro Yamauchi, during an inspection tour of England, during 1915. While in Imperial Japanese Navy service it was designated Yokosuka Navy Ha-go Small Seaplane.