SIR Thomas Sopwith, the aviation pioneer with a real-life resemblance
to the fictional flying ace Biggles, died yesterday aged 101.
Sir Thomas, who designed and built some of the most famous craft in
the early days of aviation, including the Camel, the Pup and the Snipe,
died at his home Compton Manor, in King's Somborne, Hampshire.
His son, Brighton businessman Mr Thomas Sopwith, said: ''Really he
died of old age, but he had a marvellous innings.''
Sir Thomas celebrated his 101st birthday on January 18. On his 100th
birthday there was a special flypast over his home of aircraft he helped
to create.
His achievements included the co-founding of Hawker Siddeley, the
company which developed the Hurricane that played a crucial role in the
Second World War and the vertical take-off Harrier.
''Tommy'' Sopwith may have had no intention of emulating Biggles, but
he had much in common with W. E. Johns's dashing character.
His exploits were not confined to aircraft -- he was a keen
balloonist, drove fast cars, raced motorboats and went close to winning
the America's Cup for yachting in 1934.
Born the son of a distinguished engineer, he was christened Thomas
Octave Murdoch Sopwith, the first son after seven daughters.
Sir Thomas's first major achievement was winning a #4000 prize offered
by Baron de Forest for the longest flight from England to the Continent.
After travelling to the United States with a friend, Claude Graham
White, he won many prizes in air competitions and became the first pilot
to drop mail on to the deck of a ship.
With his winnings from the US, he set up the Sopwith Aviation Company
in 1913, producing the Tabloid, the Sopwith Pup, the Snipe and the
Sopwith Camel.
The Camel had the record of 1294 kills for an allied fighter in the
First World War, and it was a Camel, piloted by Roy Brown, which shot
down Baron Von Richtofen -- the Red Baron.
At the end of the war, Sir Thomas liquidated his firm and founded the
Hawker Aircraft Company with his friend, Fred Sigrist and Australian
mechanic Harry Hawker. It was the beginning of the Hawker Siddeley
group.
He was knighted in 1953 and regularly aired his views on British
policy in the aircraft industry. In 1959 he called on the Government to
enter the space race by saying Britain had never been a second class
nation.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Harding, Chief of Air Staff, said: ''His
contribution to the British aircraft industry, both military and civil,
was immeasurable.''
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