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 Hippo for the gunner's Lewis guns was replaced by a more conventional Scarff ring mounting a single Lewis gun. The rebuilt prototype flew in April 1918, with a second prototype following in June. No further production followed. Some sources suggest that, rather than a rebuilt first prototype, that the Hippo with reduced stagger was a new aircraft. Sopwith Hippo The Sopwith 3F.2 Hippo was a prototype British two-seat fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was a single-engined biplane with considerable negative stagger. It was not successful, the Bristol F.2 Fighter (already in production) being preferred by the Royal Flying