WWI Single Seat Fighter Kit

The Sopwith Pup Kit contains period correct wood, metal fittings, cables, and hardware, all ready-to-assemble. Based on the original factory drawings, this full-size Pup is a sporting single-seater aeroplane.

What’s Included in Sopwith Pup Kit:

The Sopwith Pup is available as a complete kit, packed as a series of sub-kits.

Complete Kit: all of the sub-kits listed below priced together along with instructions, a set of original drawings, and unlimited toll-free support from our customer service department.

Fuselage Kit: Wooden longerons and cross-members, wire & cable, and painted, stainless steel metal fittings.

Wing Kit: Spruce spars and ribs, riblets, painted metal fittings, wire and cable.

Tail Kit: Wooden structure, stabilizers, rudder, elevators, wire and cable.

Undercarriage Kit: Left and right undercarriage struts, axle fairing, wheels, axle, tail skid, and bungees.

Strut Kit: Cabane and interplane struts with socket assemblies.

Cowl & Panel Kit: Engine cowling, fuselage metal panels and access doors

Flight Controls Kit: Pulleys, cables, joy stick, rudder bar, airbrake controls, elevator controls with armored pilot seat.

Fuel & Oil Tank Kit: A partitioned tank with straps and installation hardware.

Windscreen Kit: pilots’ windscreen.

What You Need:

The vintage aviation enthusiast supplies the following according to their preferences:

• Engine (we recommend the Gnome 100hp rotary engine from CAMS)
• Instrumentation
• Flying wires
• Fabric covering

Time Frame for Easy Build:

We estimate approximately 1,500 man hours to build the Sopwith Pup.  No welding is required, only varnishing wood components and assembly. Just think of it as a giant erector set.

Assemble by yourself or with our assistance, or have the experts at KipAero assemble one for you. Please inquire.

Time Frame to Receive Kit:

Although we inventory many of the metal fittings for these kits, most wood and other components will not be fabricated until receipt of your order. Please allow 6-8 months depending on our production back-log and availability of raw materials.

Questions? Please give us a call at (888) 243-0440 or use our contact page.

Sopwith Pup Specifications

The Standard Motor Company built more Pups than any other firm – 850, including Sopwith Aviation, which only built 97. In all, 1,847 Pups were produced by Sopwith and other contractors.

Sopwith Pup Historical Summary

The most delightful flying machine of the Great War

As a lineal descendant of the original Sopwith Tabloid of early 1914, the Sopwith Pup was used by the RNAS from early 1916.  By the end of that year it had entered service with the Royal Flying Corps, becoming its’ predominant single-seater throughout 1917. During its existence it maintained the reputation of being one of the most delightful flying machines ever built. The performance attained with low-powered an engine as the 80 Le Rhone, is astonishing.

As a flying machine, it was able to be force-landed on the smallest of fields, making it a good deal safer than the average light aeroplane of the time. As a military machine its most useful feature was that it could hold its height better than any other Allied or German aeroplane of the period. With sensitive controls and powerful elevators, the machine was fully aerobatic up to 15,000 ft.  Selected for trials aboard HMS Furious due to their excellent flying qualities, Pups and Strutters pioneered the operation of landplanes from the decks of early aircraft carriers and in the development of arrester gear.

It is extremely likely that, as a sporting single-seater for the pilot owner, this type will maintain its popularity for some time to come.