A Sanke postcard of a captured British Sopwith Triplane being wheeled along.
Erbeuteter Englische Sopwith Dreidecker1036Postkartenvertrieb W. SankeBerlin N.27Nachdruck wird gerichtlich verfolgt.Captured British Sopwith Triplane1036Postcard Distributor W. SankeBerlin N.27Reproduction will be prosecuted.Reverse:Postmarked March 2, 1918
"By the time the first [Sopwith] Pups arrived at No. 1 Wing RNAS at Dunkerque in July 1916, the prototype of another variant was joining them for front-line evaluation. Completed on May 30, 1916, Sopwith Triplane N500 combined the Pub's fuselage with a 130-hp Clerget engine and three sets of narrow-chord, high aspect ratio wings that gave the pilot a better view from the cockpit, a faster climb rate and superior maneuverability, even than the Pup's. Flying the new Triplane on July 1 was Flight Lieutenant Roderic Stanley Dallas of No. 1 Wing's 'A' Squadron, an Australian who already had three victories in Nieuports. To these he added a fourth in N500, when he drove down a German two-seater out of control southwest of St. Marie Capelle."
Thomas Sopwith was an aviator and founder of the Sopwith Aviation Company that produced some of the most successful aircraft of the war, including the Sopwith Snipe, Sopwith Pup, Sopwith Camel, and Sopwith Triplane. Germany's Fokker Eindekker (monoplane), designed by the Dutch Anton Fokker, had dominated the skies until the introduction of the French Nieuport planes. Many of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) planes were seaplanes with pontoons rather than wheels.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, pp. 86-87, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
Sopwith Triplane, Sopwith, Triplane, 1916, July, 1916-07-01
