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
Sopwith Special torpedo seaplane Type C Sopwith Special torpedo seaplane Type C The Sopwith Special torpedo seaplane Type C was the first British aircraft designed to drop torpedoes. A single-engine biplane seaplane, it flew in July 1914 but proved unable to lift the design load and was soon abandoned. The Admiralty's interest in torpedo delivery by aircraft began in November 1913, expressed by an order placed with Sopwith for a "mock-up" seaplane torpedo carrier, the Sopwith Type TT. This was intended only to taxi, not fly; its trials extended over the following May and June. In February 1914, before trials of the Type TT had begun,