what is it?
The Beardmore WB.III was a British carrier-based fighter biplane of World War I. It was a development of the Sopwith Pup that Beardmore was then building under licence, but was specially adapted for shipboard use.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 7.6 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 109 years ago, in 1917.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1917
- number built
- 100
- role
- carrier-based fighter
- makers
- William Beardmore and Company
- engines
- 1× Le Rhône 9C / Clerget 9B
- length
- 6.2 m
- wingspan
- 7.6 m
- height
- 2.5 m
- max take-off weight
- 585 kg
- top speed
- 166 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 3,780 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q2000458, Wikipedia: Beardmore W.B.III (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.