Randy’s Warbird’s Profiles: Sopwith Scout “Pup”

Editor’s notes: This aircraft was constructed by Larry Howard, a retired dentist from Spokane, Washington, who turned to restoring and flying vintage airplanes. After restoring a rare Laird LC1B-300 biplane, he turned his sights on building a reproduction of a Sopwith “Pup” from scratch. In the process of building this reproduction, Howard acquired two original Le Rhone 80 hp rotary engines, with parts from the two engines being used to make a single operational engine by Chuck Wentworth’s Antique Aero restoration shop in Paso Robles, California. After several years of work, Larry Howard’s Sopwith Pup was completed in 2016, 100 years after the original aircraft’s first flight. Issued with the registration N6475 (which incidentally was the identity of a Sopwith Pup flown by Canadian WWI ace Sidney Emerson Ellis), this aircraft made its first flight on October 16, 2016, with local pilot and aircraft restorer Jay Pemberton of Pemberton & Sons Aviation at the controls. Afterwards, Howard kept the airplane housed at Felts Field, Spokane.

In July 2018, Larry Howard donated the aircraft to the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) of Hood River, Oregon. It was the first rotary-engined aircraft to be acquired by the WAAAM. Today, Sopwith Pup N6475 is maintained in airworthy condition by the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum.

About the author: Randy Malmstrom grew up in a family steeped in aviation culture. His father, Bob, was still a cadet in training with the USAAF at the end of WWII, but did serve in Germany during the U.S. occupation in the immediate post-war period, where he had the opportunity to fly in a wide variety of types that flew in WWII. After returning to the States, Bob became a multi-engine aircraft sales manager and, as such, flew a wide variety of aircraft; Randy frequently accompanied him on these flights. Furthermore, Randy’s cousin, Einar Axel Malmstrom, flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 356th FG from RAF Martlesham Heath. He was commanding this unit at the time he was shot down over France on April 24th, 1944, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. Following his repatriation at war’s end, Einar continued his military service, attaining the rank of Colonel. He was serving as Deputy Wing Commander of the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing at Great Falls AFB, MT, at the time of his death in a T-33 training accident on August 21, 1954. The base was renamed in his honor in October 1955 and continues to serve in the present USAF as home to the 341st Missile Wing. Randy’s innate interest in history in general, and aviation history in particular, plus his educational background and passion for WWII warbirds, led him down his current path of capturing detailed aircraft walk-around photos and in-depth airframe histories, recording a precise description of a particular aircraft in all aspects.