The W.B.Ill single-seat shipboard fighter was an extensively modified variant of the Sopwith Pup with manually-folding mainplanes and folding main undercarriage members. The prototype (a modified Pup) was officially accepted on 7 February 1917, and 100 production W.B.Ills were ordered under the official designation S.B.3. Armament comprised a single 7.7mm Lewis gun which fired upwards through a cut-out in the upper wing centre section, and the W.B.Ill could be fitted with either the seven-cylinder Clerget or ninecylinder Le Rhone 9C rotary, both of 80hp. The first 13 production W.B.Ills had folding undercarriages similar to the prototype and were known as S.B.3Fs, but subsequent W.B.Ills had jettisonable undercarriages (S.B.3D) and flotation equipment. The S.B.3D version saw some service aboard British carriers, one was used in an unsuccessful attempt to fly from the forecastle of the battle cruiser HMS Renown and several were supplied to Japan.

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A three-view drawing (1278 x 956)