Characters of WW1 - Sir Thomas Sopwith

Sopwith was a pioneer of aviation and his designs had a massive impact on the nascent Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In June 1912, he established the Sopwith Aviation Company at Brooklands. His Chief Test Pilot was Harry Hawker.

Whilst the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was constrained to purchasing their aircraft from the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, felt that the RNAS had unique requirements. As a result, whereas the RFC became stuck with the BE2, an ideal stable platform for reconnaissance, but totally unsuitable as a fighter or bomber, the RNAS was free to purchase its aircraft from private manufacturers. Sopwith was able to supply the Navy not just with the Sopwith ‘Bat Boat’, a flying boat, but the Sopwith ‘1½ Strutter’ and the Sopwith ‘Pup’ (shown in the photograph). Both aircraft were capable of being carried onboard ships and were excellent fighters for their day. Indeed, such was the superiority of the Sopwith fighters, in late 1916, the RNAS’s 8 Squadron with its Sopwith 1½ Strutters, Triplanes and Pups, was lent to the RFC on the Western Front and helped achieve Allied air supremacy. Following their success, four other RNAS squadrons were despatched to the Front. Sopwith went on to design the ‘Camel’ and ‘Snipe’ fighter-bombers and by 1918, the RFC was flying both aircraft, too. The Camel is widely regarded as the best of the WW1 fighter aircraft. I describe such events and introduce Sopwith in my novel about the early days of naval aviation, ‘The Wings of the Wind’, and in its coming sequel.

Sopwith’s company was to produce more than 18,000 aircraft for the RNAS, RFC and RAF during WW1 and Sopwith was awarded the CBE in 1918. However, postwar, his company was crippled by anti-profiteering taxes and went bankrupt. He then founded Hawker Aircraft with Harry Hawker. In 1935, Hawker merged with another aviation company to form Hawker Siddeley, famous for its WW2 aircraft, including the Hawker Hurricane. Sopwith was knighted in 1953.

Sopwith Pup