The pioneer who influenced decades of aviation

A man who taught himself to fly a fragile monoplane, flying it from Surrey, has been credited with shaping British aviation for six decades.

Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith taught himself to fly the plane aged 22, taking flight from Brooklands, before later helping to found Hawker which went on to produce the Hurricane and the jet powered Hunter.

David Hassard, from the Sopwith Archives, told Secret Surrey: "Sailing was his thing, but he soon got involved in everything else, including aviation, and wanted to give it a go.

"He got a flight and loved it so much, so he bought himself an aircraft and learnt to fly himself."

Sopwith helped to form the Sopwith Aviation Company in 1912 and within two years his designs were at the heart of Britain's World War One air effort.

Hassard said: "He crashed his first plane but bought himself a second one.

"Within three of four weeks, he was the 31st person in Britain to have a flying certificate."

Sopwith went to the US for competitions, winning "a lot of money", Hassard said.

It was these winnings, along with funds he already had, which enabled him to set up the company.

Hassard said his engineer at the time was "very good" and had experience in building boats, but went on to help make a plane.

The navy then heard about it and sent a pilot down for a test flight, who recommended it for usage, Hassard said.

When World War One began, an order was placed for 70 planes, which was "more than he had made" by that point, Hassard said.

"This led to him making smaller, more agile planes which nobody else really did," he added.

"Progressively, they made the Sopwith Camel plane, which had two guns firing through the propeller and that became the most successful aircraft during the war.

However, orders stopped after the war, Hassard said.

Sopwith and his designer, Harry Hawker, formed a new company, H.G. Hawker Engineering.

Sopwith stayed in the background, but his influence shaped the company's culture.

Over the next decades, Hawker produced some of Britain's most important aircraft – the Fury biplane, the Hurricane which helped win the Battle of Britain and the jet powered Hunter.

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