In spring 1918, although the
Sopwith Snipe had not yet entered service with the
Royal Air Force, the British
Air Ministry drew up a specification (RAF Type I) for its replacement. The specification asked for a fighter capable of operations at high altitude and powered by the
ABC Dragonfly engine, which was an air-cooled
radial engine which had been ordered in large numbers based on promises of high performance and ease of production. Sopwith produced two designs to meet this requirement, a
biplane, the
Snapper, and a
triplane, the Snark. Sopwith received orders for three prototypes each of the Snapper and Snark, as well as orders for 300 of a Dragonfly powered version of the Snipe, the
Sopwith Dragon. The Snark had a wooden
monocoque fuselage like that of the
Sopwith Snail lightweight fighter, and had equal span
single-bay wings with
ailerons on each wing. The wings had unequal spacing and
stagger, with the gap between the mid and upper wings less than that between the lower and mid wings to minimise the height of the aircraft. The Snark was fitted with what was, for the time, a very heavy armament for a single-seat fighter. In addition to the normal two
synchronised Vickers guns inside the fuselage, it had four
Lewis guns mounted under the lower wings, firing outside the propeller disc. These guns were inaccessible to the pilot, and so could not be reloaded or unjammed in flight. The first prototype was complete by October 1918, but flight-ready engines were not available until March 1919, and the Snark did not make its first flight until July 1919. The three Snarks continued in use for trials purposes until 1921. ==Specifications==