Thomas Sopwith Flying at Brooklands. In June 1912 Sopwith, along with Fred Sigrist and others, set up the Sopwith Aviation Company, initially at Brooklands. On 24 October 1912 using a Wright Model B completely rebuilt by Sopwith and fitted with an ABC 40 hp engine, Harry Hawker took the British Michelin Endurance prize with a flight of 8h 23m. Sopwith Aviation got its first military aircraft order in November 1912, and in December moved to larger premises in Kingston upon Thames. The company produced more than 18,000 World War I aircraft for the allied forces, including 5747 of the Sopwith Camel single-seat
Blackburn Turcock Blackburn Turcock The Blackburn F.1 Turcock was a British single-seat single-engine biplane fighter built in 1927. Designed to be produced in several variants, only one was completed. In 1926 Blackburn partially deviated from their practice of building Naval aircraft to design an interceptor fighter, intended to meet Air Ministry specifications F.9/26 (day and night fighter) and N.21/26 (fleet fighter). The first fighter from Blackburn under their new numbering system, it became the F.1; the name Blackcock was applied to the design, but it was intended that each variant, powered by a different engine, should have its own name. Blackburn intended