Fighter aircraft use "C" (Nieuport 17 C.1). Although the term "fighter" specifies aircraft designed to shoot down other aircraft, such designs are often also useful as multirole fighter-bombers, strike fighters, and sometimes lighter, fighter-sized tactical ground-attack aircraft. This has always been the case, for instance the Sopwith Camel and other "fighting scouts" of World War I performed a great deal of ground-attack work. In World War II, the USAAF and RAF often favored fighters over dedicated light bombers or dive bombers, and types such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and Hawker Hurricane that were no longer competitive as aerial combat fighters were
Thomas Sopwith & Space Museum. His authorised biography is "Pure Luck" (2005) by Alan Bramson, with a foreword by the Prince of Wales (). Sir Thomas was interviewed on 8 November 1978 by the art historian Anna Malinovska. The interview is reproduced in "Voices in Flight", 2006. He was a member of the Air Squadron flying club. Sopwith challenged the America's Cup with his J-class yachts, "Endeavour", in 1934, and with "Endeavour II" in 1937. Both yachts were designed by Charles E. Nicholson. Sopwith funded, organised and helmed the yachts. He did not win the Cup but he became a Cup legend