One of the classic British fighting aeroplanes of the Great War, the Pup was originally called the Sopwith Scout. However, as it was significantly smaller than its predecessor, the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, pilots almost immediately referred to it as the ‘Pup’. Entering combat service towards the end of 1916, the Pup was an excellent dogfighter, possessing incredible manoeuvrability and allowing the Allies to wrestle a period of hard-fought supremacy over the Luftstreitkräfte. Despite the single Vickers .303in machine gun being too light for modern aerial combat, almost 1800 of these diminutive fighters were built.