The Sopwith Pup is a part of the Royal Australian Air Force Museum's heritage aircraft fleet.
Developed from a personal aircraft flown by Harry Hawker in 1915, the Pup gained its nickname because it resembled a scaled-down Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter. The Pup originally served with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and a total of 170 aircraft were built for that service, beginning in late 1916.
Notwithstanding their Naval origins, the majority of Pups constructed served with the Royal Flying Corps, with a total of 1670 built initially as fighters. They were also involved in the training role from 1918. In 1919, eleven Pups were supplied to the Australian Flying Corps as part of the Imperial Gift. Upon formation of the RAAF in 1921, the aircraft were allotted to No 1 Flying Training School at Point Cook for use as an intermediate fighter trainer until 1930.
The RAAF Museum's Sopwith Pup is a replica constructed by the Transavia company in Sydney during 1979. Faithful to the original design, our aircraft has a welded steel tube fuselage instead of timber, and a Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major radial engine replaces the original rotary. Originally operating alongside the RAAF Museum from 1982, the aircraft was acquired by the Museum in 1989.