Sopwith Salamander

Sopwith TF.2 Salamander
Role	Ground attack
Manufacturer	Sopwith
First flight	27 April 1918
Introduction	1918
Primary user	Royal Air Force
Produced	1918-1919
Number built	497
Unit cost	£1,138 (airframe) £880 (engine)
Developed from	Sopwith Snipe

The Sopwith TF.2 Salamander was a British ground-attack aircraft of the First World War designed by the Sopwith Aviation Company which first flew in April 1918. It was a single-engined, single-seat biplane based on the Sopwith Snipe fighter but with an armoured forward fuselage to protect the pilot and fuel system from ground fire during low level operations.

It was ordered in large numbers for the Royal Air Force, but the war ended before the type could enter squadron service, although two were in France in October 1918.

In August 1917, the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) introduced the coordinated large-scale use of single-seat fighter aircraft for low-level ground-attack operations in support of the offensive at Ypres, with Airco DH.5s, which were unsuitable for high-altitude combat, specialising in this role. The tactic proved effective, and was repeated at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917 by both DH.5s and Sopwith Camels being used in strafing attacks. While the tactic proved successful, losses of the unarmoured fighters proved to be extremely high, reaching up to 30% per day when aircraft were deployed in such attacks. Most losses were due to ground fire, although low-flying aircraft also proved vulnerable to attacks from above by enemy fighters. On the German side, two-seat fighters such as Halberstadt CL.II, originally designed as escort fighters, were also deployed in a similar ground-attack mission, playing an important role in the German counter-offensive at Cambrai. While the CL-type fighters were not armoured, the Germans also introduced more specialised heavily armoured two-seat aircraft such as the Junkers J.I for contact patrol and ground-attack work.

As a result of the high losses sustained during strafing and after seeing the success of the new German types, the RFC instructed the Sopwith Aviation Company to modify a Camel for the close air support mission by fitting downward-firing guns and armour. The modified Camel, known as the "TF.1" (for "trench fighter"), flew on 15 February 1918. Two Lewis guns were fixed to fire downwards and forwards at an angle of 45 degrees and a third gun was mounted on the upper wing. The downward-firing guns proved to be of little use, being almost impossible to aim. The TF.1 did not go into production, but information gained in testing it was used for the Salamander design.