Thomas Sopwith

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For other persons named Thomas Sopwith, see Thomas Sopwith (disambiguation).
T.O.M. Sopwith, circa 1910
T.O.M. Sopwith, circa 1910
Medal record
Competitor for Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Men's ice hockey
European Championships
Gold 1910 Great Britain

Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (January 18, 1888–January 27, 1989) was an English aviation pioneer as well as a celebrated yachtsman.

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[edit] Early life

Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith was born in Kensington, London. He was the eighth child and only son of a civil engineer. He was educated at Cottesmore School in Hove and at Seafield Park engineering college in Hill Head.

In his youth, he was an expert ice skater and played in goal during Princes Ice Hockey Club's 1908 match with C. P. P. Paris and during the 1909–10 season.[1] He also represented the Great Britain national ice hockey team which won the gold medal at the first ever European Championships in 1910.[2]

[edit] Career in aviation

Sopwith became interested in flying after seeing John Moisant flying the first cross-Channel passenger flight. His first flight was with Gustave Blondeau in a Farman at Brooklands. He soon taught himself to fly on a British Avis monoplane and took to the air on his own for the first time on October 22, 1910. Unfortunately he crashed after travelling about 300 yards (275 metres). He soon improved and on November 22 was awarded Royal Aero Club Aviation Certificate No. 31.

On December 18, 1910, Sopwith won a £4,000 prize for the longest flight from England to the Continent in a British built aeroplane. He flew 169 miles (272 km) in 3 hours 40 minutes. He used the winnings to set up the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands.

In June 1912 Sopwith with Fred Sigrist and others set up The Sopwith Aviation Company. The company produced key British World War I aircraft, most famously the Sopwith Camel. Sopwith was awarded the CBE in 1918.

Bankrupted after the war by the punitive anti-profiteering taxes, he re-entered the business a few years later with a new firm named after his chief engineer and test pilot, Harry Hawker. Sopwith was chairman of the new firm, Hawker Aircraft.

In 1927 Sopwith commissioned yacht builders Camper and Nicholsons to build a luxury motor yacht he named Vita. She was sold in 1929 to Sir John Shelley-Rolls who re-named her Alastor.[3]During WWII the Royal Navy commandeered her to ferry provisions to Navy vessels moored at the entrance to Strangford Lough. In 1946 a fire gutted her and she sank in Ringhaddy Sound at the back of Strangford Lough.[4]

In 1934 and 1937, Sopwith led challenges for the America's Cup in his yachts Endeavour (designed by Charles E. Nicholson) and Endeavour II. Both yachts featured advanced technology. In addition to owning the yachts and organising the challenges, Sopwith was also helmsman during the races.

He became a Knight Bachelor in 1953.

After the nationalization of what was by then Hawker Siddeley, he continued to work as a consultant as late as 1980. His 100th birthday was marked by a flypast of military aircraft over his home. He died in Hampshire on January 27, 1989, aged 101.

His authorized biography is Pure Luck by Alan Bramson, with a foreword by the Prince of Wales (ISBN 1-85260-263-5).

Sir Thomas was interviewed on 8 November 1978 by the art historian Anna Malinovska. The interview is reproduced in Voices in Flight (Pen & Sword Books, 2006)

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Thomas Sopwith - player profile and career stats. European Hockey.Net. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
  2. ^ Great Britain Roster 1910. Ice Hockey Journalists UK. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
  3. ^ http://www.irishwrecksonline.net/details/Alastor93.htm
  4. ^ http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?id=1294&sc=&ac=d

[edit] External links

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