Sopwith Dragon

The sixth and last prototype of the Snipe was fitted with the 320hp A.B.C. Dragonfly nine-cylinder radial engine as the Snipe Mk II. Despite the shortcomings of this engine, it endowed the Snipe with an outstanding performance when it could be persuaded to function efficiently, and, with the Dragonfly's faults still to be recognised as incurable, 30 Snipes were ordered with the A.B.C. engine on 3 May 1918. Assigned the name Dragon, these were delivered in June and July 1919, the production prototype having appeared in the previous January. The Dragonfly-engined Snipes were produced in parallel with aircraft built from the ground up as Dragons, these having horn-balanced upper ailerons and the 360hp Dragonfly la engine, armament comprising the standard pair of synchronised 7.7mm guns. About 200 of a 300-aircraft contract were completed and efforts to cure the engine's troubles continued until the autumn of 1921, the Dragon, officially adopted at that time as a standard RAF single-seat fighter, never being issued to a squadron and being officially declared obsolete in April 1923.

3-View

A three-view drawing (1278 x 956)