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 it could not lift its design load, it went back to Sopwith's for wing modifications. It returned to Calshot but was found still unfit for the torpedo dropping role. In November it was modified to carry bombs, but by January it was being broken up. In the meantime, a modified Short Admiralty Type 81 (S.84, RNAS serial 121) had become the first British aircraft to drop a torpedo, on 27 July 1914. 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