Though Harry Hawker made such a brilliant and gallant attempt to win the
L5000 prize, we must not forget that great credit is due to Mr. Sopwith,
who designed the water-plane, and to Mr. Green, the inventor of the
engine which made such a flight possible, and enabled the pilot to
achieve a feat never before approached in any part of the world.
The life-story of Mr. "Tommy" Sopwith is almost a romance. As a lad
he was intensely interested in mechanics, and we can imagine him
constructing all manner of models, and enquiring the why and the
wherefore of every mechanical toy with which he came into contact.
At the early age of twenty-one he commenced a motor business, but about
this time engineers and mechanics all over the country were becoming
greatly interested in the practical possibilities of aviation. Mr.
Sopwith decided to learn to fly, and in 1910, after continued practice
in a Howard Wright biplane, he had become a proficient pilot. So rapid
was his progress that by the end of the year he had won the magnificent
prize of L4000 generously offered by Baron de Forest for the longest
flight made by an all-British machine from England to the Continent. In
this flight he covered 177 miles, from Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppey, to
the Belgian frontier, in three and a half hours.
If Mr. Sopwith had been in any doubt as to the wisdom of changing his
business this remarkable achievement alone must have assured him that
his future career lay in aviation. In 1911 he was graciously received by
King George V at Windsor Castle, after having flown from Brooklands and
alighted on the East Terrace of the famous castle.
In the same year he visited America, and astonished even that
go-ahead country with some skilful flying feats. To show the practical
possibilities of the aeroplane he overtook the liner Olympic, after she
had left New York harbour on her homeward voyage, and dropped aboard a
parcel addressed to a passenger. On his return to England he competed
in the first Aerial Derby, the course being a circuit of London,
representing a distance of 81 miles. In this race he made a magnificent
flight in a 70-horse-power Bleriot monoplane, and came in some fifteen
minutes before Mr. Hamel, the second pilot home. So popular was his
victory that Mr. Grahame-White and several other officials of the London
Aerodrome carried him shoulder high from his machine.
From this time we hear little of Mr. Sopwith as a pilot, for, like
other famous airmen, such as Louis Bleriot, Henri Farman, and Claude
Grahame-White, who jumped into fame by success in competition flying,
he has retired with his laurels, and now devotes his efforts to the
construction of machines. He bids fair to be equally successful as
a constructor of air-craft as he formerly was as a pilot of flying
machines. The Sopwith machines are noted for their careful design and
excellent workmanship. They are made by the Sopwith Aviation Company,
Ltd., whose works are at Kingston-on-Thames. Several water-planes
have been built there for the Admiralty, and land machines for the
War Office. Late in 1913 Mr. Hawker left Britain for Australia to give
demonstrations in the Sopwith machine to the Government of his native
country.
A fine list of records has for long stood to the credit of the Sopwith
biplane. Among these are:
British Height Record (Pilot only) 11,450 feet
" " " (Pilot and 1 Passenger) 12,900 "
" " " (Pilot and 2 Passengers) 10,600 "
World's " " (Pilot and 3 Passengers) 8,400 "
Many of the Sopwith machines used in the European War were built
specially to withstand rough climate and heavy winds, and thus they were
able to work in almost every kind of weather. It was this fact, coupled
with the indomitable spirit of adventure inherent in men of British
race, that made British airmen more than hold their own with both friend
and foe in the war.