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 Snipe by The Vintage Aviator Ltd., and was subsequently purchased by Kermit Weeks for his Fantasy of Flight aviation museum in Polk City, Florida. This is a flying copy, complete with the original Bentley rotary engine. The RAF Museum in August 2012 took delivery of a static display reproduction of the Snipe. Marked "E6655", it was constructed in the Wellington workshops of The Vintage Aviator Ltd. in New Zealand. The inclusion of original, non-functioning parts precludes this aircraft from flight status. Sopwith Snipe The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was