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Are you sure you don't write for the Grauniad?
SIR THOMAS OCTAVE MURDOCH SOPWITH
(1888-1989)
T.O.M. Sopwith was born into a wealthy family and trained as a civil engineer. At university he took part in motoring and ballooning and was friends with the Hon. C.S. Rolls (of Rolls-Royce fame). In 1910 Sopwith purchased his first plane, a Howard Wright monoplane but smashed it up owing to his having omitted to learn to fly first! He tried again two weeks later with better results, and earned one of the first Royal Aero Club licences. In December 1910 he won a Daily Mail prize for a long-distance flight from Eastchurch (Isle of Sheppey) to Thirlmont in Belgium. In 1911 he demonstrated the art of flying in America, and in 1912 set up his own company to manufacture aeroplanes.
An early design success was the Sopwith Tabloid which won the 1914 Schneider Trophy for seaplanes. During the war the Sopwith company built some of the best British fighter planes such as the Sopwith 'Pup', Triplane and the famous Camel. After the war the company was re-organized via voluntary liquidation and became the Hawker Company, named after Harry Hawker its chief test pilot. The company name survived into the 1960s as Hawker-Siddely until that company became part of British Aerospace. Tom Sopwith retired from the chairmanship of the company in 1963 and lived to see his 100th birthday.
I suggest you check The Times etc for his 1989 obituary.
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9 July 2000, 10:39 AM
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