This led to another Gunbus form emerging, stemming from a July 1914 RNAS commitment that produced the official "Admiralty Type 806" designation. The aircraft was now powered by a Sunbeam 8-cylinder liquid-cooled engine of 110 horsepower (still in pusher configuration) and carried the nose-mounted 7.7mm machine gun. Additionally, the seaplane functionality was dropped altogether as this Gunbus was completed to a revised land-based biplane fighter standard which caused a reforming of the fuselage and addition of a wheeled undercarriage. A first-flight in prototype form was recorded on October 6th, 1914 and the RNAS had six on order. At least two seaplanes were modified into the landplane form.
In testing, the Type 806 proved underpowered with its current Sunbeam engine so another model (the Sunbeam Crusader) outputting at 150 horsepower was used as a substitute. Another key change was flipping the pilot and gunner positions so the pilot now managed the aircraft from the nose and the gunner held a more rear-based field-of-fire - protecting the aircraft's crucial "six". Another key quality was the addition of a bombing capability which added a bombing panel to the floor of the fuselage and four bombs could be carried on racks set under the lower wing assembly. From this design came an order for thirty like-aircraft in early-1915.
With its Sunbeam of 150 horsepower output, the land-based Gunbus could manage a maximum speed of 80 miles per hour, a service ceiling of 4,000 feet and an initial rate-of-climb of 230 feet-per-minute. The crew remained two and structural dimensions included an overall length of 32.5 feet, a wingspan of 50 feet and a height of 11.3 feet.
It was in this form that the definitive Sopwith Gunbus finally made it into the air war of World War 1. Their operational service began in February of 1915 but, in time, only seventeen of the thirty aircraft were ultimately delivered - the remaining stock withheld for spares. In service, the Gunbuses were not particularly well-received for their tough controlling and awkward flight characteristics. This forced the fleet to be relegated to the training role for the RNAS and these were operated as such until the beginning of 1916.
The Vickers FB.5 (detailed elsewhere on this site), another gunbus design of The Great War, managed a slightly healthier existence with some 224 built and operated by both the British and the French. These were introduced in February of 1915 and were similarly withdrawn in 1916.
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.