Editing Sopwith Camel (section)

===Western front===
[[File:148th American Aero Squadron field. Making preparations for a daylight raid on German trenches and cities. The... - NARA - 530739.tif|thumb|Camels being prepared for a sortie.]]
In June 1917, the Sopwith Camel entered service with No. 4 Squadron of the [[Royal Naval Air Service]], which was stationed near [[Dunkirk]], France; this was the first squadron to operate the type.<ref name = "Jackson 2007 3">Jackson 2007, p. 3.</ref> Its first combat flight and reportedly its first victory claim were both made on 4 July 1917.<ref name = "bruce 5"/> By the end of July, the Camel also equipped No. 3 and No. 9 Naval Squadrons; and it had become operational with No. 70 Squadron of the [[Royal Flying Corps]].<ref name = "bruce 6"/> By February 1918, 13 squadrons had Camels as their primary equipment.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Camel File|last1=Sturtevant|first1=Ray|last2=Page|first2=Gordon|publisher=Air-Britain, Ltd.|year=1993|isbn=0-85130-212-2|location=UK|pages=6}}</ref> The Camel proved in service to have better manoeuvrability than the [[Albatros D.III]] and [[Albatros D.V|D.V]] and offered heavier armament and better performance than the Pup and Triplane. Together with the [[Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5|S.E.5a]] and the [[SPAD S.XIII]], it helped to re-establish the Allied aerial superiority for a time. While flying a Sopwith Camel with the serial number B6313, the Canadian ace [[William George Barker|Billy Barker]] was credited with shooting down 46 aircraft. The total aircraft credited to Barker while flying B6313 is the highest attributed to a single aircraft during World War I.<ref name="Franks1">Franks 2018, p. 89.</ref>