| Year introduced | 1915 |
| Nation of origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Airdrome Aeroplanes Co. |
| Scale | full size |
| Serial/tail # | R8184 |
| Floor/suspended | floor |
| Wingspan | 25.5 feet |
| Length | — |
| Donated by | Wayne Whitaker |
The Sopwith Baby was a British single-seat tractor seaplane used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) from 1915.
Development and design
The Baby (also known as the Admiralty 8200 Type) was a development of the two-seat Sopwith Schneider. Although the Schneider had won the Schneider Trophy in 1914, the RNAS did not place a formal order until January 1915. Sopwith’s initial production version of the Baby differed little from the Schneider Trophy winner.
The Baby utilized a wooden structure with fabric covering. A Lewis Gun was fitted, either above the fuselage firing through the propeller without the benefit of synchronization, or over the top wing, firing above it. To meet the more demanding conditions of 1916–18, Further modifications were made on aircraft built by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds, United Kingdom. A modified variant of the Baby, the Fairey Hamble Baby, was built by Fairey and Parnall. The Royal Naval Air Service ordered 286 Sopwith Babies, of which 100 were built by Sopwith at Kingston and 186 by Blackburn Aircraft at Leeds, with others for export. License manufacture was also undertaken in Italy by SA Aeronautica Gio Ansaldo of Turin, who built 100 examples for the Italian Aviazione della Regia Marina.
Operational history
The Baby was used as a ship borne reconnaissance and bomber aircraft operating from seaplane carriers and cruisers, as well as naval trawlers and mine layers. Many Babies were attached to RNAS coastal air stations located in England and Scotland and RNAS stations in Egypt, Greece and Italy.
A major role of the Baby was to intercept German Zeppelin raids as far from Britain as possible, along with tracking German naval movements.
Babies saw service with the United States, France, Chile, Greece, and Norway. In Norway, additional Babies were built as replacements, with some seeing service until 1930.
Our Sopwith Baby is a full-scale replica built from a modern aircraft kit that is produced right here in the USA by the Airdrome Aeroplanes Company, which is located in Holden, MO.
The aircraft was donated to the museum by Mr. Walter Whitaker in November of 2015. The museum staff elected to disassemble and trailer the plane from its home in Snellville, Georgia, back to the museum instead of flying it back due to weather and other considerations. The Baby has been reassembled and is now proudly on display on the museum floor for all to see.