5 Pounds - Elizabeth II The Sopwith Camel, Gold Proof

The Sopwith Camel destroyed more enemy aircraft than any other Allied fighter of the First World War — over 1,294 confirmed kills — but it killed a remarkable number of its own pilots in the process. Its rotary engine produced gyroscopic torque so pronounced that left turns required a counter-intuitive right-rudder input, and trainees at home stations died in accidents at a rate that alarmed RFC command. The 2017 Royal Mint centenary program for WWI aviation drew on this complicated record deliberately.

This issue is part of a five-coin series covering British WWI aircraft, struck at the Tower Hill facility in 22-carat gold to proof standard.