Sopwith Baby in Norwegian Service

by Bob Pearson

During 1917 the Norwegian governement purchased ten Sopwith Baby floatplanes. The first was delivered on October 15, while the last four were assembled by August 1918. All of these aircraft are believed to have been manufactured by the Leeds firm of Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co. Ltd. Sadly the original serials are lost to time. In Norwegian service they were given consecutive even numbers from F.100 to F.118

Despite having no license to produce the Baby themselves, the Norwegians 'rebuilt' six of the aircraft, with two of them being reconstructed a second time. These aircraft were designated with a (II) or (III) added to their serials. The last Baby in Norwegian service was retired in December 1931.

Sopwith Baby F.104 (II)
Norwegian Air Service
Horton
1922

As can be seen, the Norwegians used their Babies on skis, as well as floats and wheels. There is a photograph in the NFF-Profil Nr.4: Sopwith Baby booklet showing threee Babies, one on each of the aforementioned undercarriages.

Colour scheme is overall khaki green (PC10?), with red/whit/blue/white/red stripes on the rudder and wings. On the wings the red and white were each the width of one rib bay, with the blue centred on the white.

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Sopwith Baby F.108 (II)
Norwegian Air Service
Horton
1922

Another Baby in the photograph was F.108, equipped with wheels. Note that the tail skid is attached to the former tailfloat struts.

Sopwith Baby F.114 (III)
Norwegian Air Service
1924

F.114 shows the basic appearance of a float-equipped Baby. There is a synchronized Lewis gun beside the cockpit. The Blackburn logo is on the floats.

Sopwith Baby
Norwegian Air Service
1926-7

This is an interesting Baby as there is no serial visible, while the national markings are carried on teh fuselage and not the rudder.

Sopwith Baby F.110 (II)
Norwegian Air Service
Horton
July 1928

F.110 is seen in overall light grey with a red/white pennant on the fuselage representing its being based at Horton.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Knut-Erik Hagen for sending me a copy of the Norwegian profile booklet on the Baby, as well as some of his personal photographs of the type. The book is "NFF-PROFIL Nr.4: Sopwith Baby. My other source was the Sopwith Baby Datafile.