SPECIAL REPORT: SIR THOMAS SOPWITH ONE OF THE EARLIEST AVIATORS, AND THE MAN WHO MADE THE CAMEL AND THE HAWKER HURRICANE, IS 100 YEARS OLD.

Record ID: 645833

  • Title: SPECIAL REPORT: SIR THOMAS SOPWITH ONE OF THE EARLIEST AVIATORS, AND THE MAN WHO MADE THE CAMEL AND THE HAWKER HURRICANE, IS 100 YEARS OLD.
  • Date: 15th January 1988
  • Summary: DORCHESTER HOTEL, LONDON, UK. (MONO) 1955: GVs, SVs & SCU Shareholders at annual general meeting. SCU Sopwith speaking. (SOT) SOUND CONTINUES OVER GV PAN Hawker Hunter aircraft being manufactured. TRAVELLING SHOT ALONG Assembly lines. Wing sections being made. Sections of plane being made. SCU Sopwith speaking. (10 SHOTS) 1.39 SOPWITH: "You can't turn the clock back. The hydrogen bomb and the horrors of atomic warfare are from now on an ever present menace. Only one thing is sure -- if war does come it will come with supersonic speed and probably with an opening sneak attack. At least the West is beginning to get those wings which it so desperately wants. There was a time, no so long ago, when our defences were so stripped and so meagre that we were an easy prey for any aggressor. That danger is passing. The picture is at last beginning to clear." GOSPORT, HAMPSHIRE, 1934: GVs & SVs Boatyard. SV Sopwith speaking. (SOT) Lady Sopwith launches Endeavour. Boat down slipway and into Solent. Crowd cheer. INTERIOR SHOT Boat in Solent. (7 SHOTS) 2.13 SOPWITH: "We are greatly looking forward to going to America if Endeavour proved good enough to go." RHODE ISLAND, UNITED STATES, 1934: AVs, GVs & SVs Flotilla from bi-plane. Race in progress. Sopwith and wife on Endeavour. Spectator with binoculars. Endeavour goes ahead of Rainbow. Crosses line. Crew wave and cheer. (9 SHOTS) 2.55 RHODE ISLAND, USA, 1937: SVs Endeavour II and Ranger in race. (2 SHOTS) 3.04 RHODE ISLAND, USA, 1937: Sopwith and wife being interviewed. Sopwith speaking. (SOT) 3.27 SOPWITH: "Well, we've had a good hiding but we've been beaten by a better boat and I would like to congratulate Mr. Vanderbilt and his organisation and the designers of Ranger for having produced what is undoubtedly the fastest J-class yacht that has ever been built."
  • Embargoed: 30th January 1988 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA6S18XPHVYVJ8NUK4DSMEH864C
  • Story Text: VARIOUS LOCATIONS Sir Thomas Sopwith, the man who made the warplanes that turned the tide in two world wars and was an accomplished sportsman, racing driver, yachtsman, engineer, industrialist and airman, celebrates his 100th birthday on January 18. His career virtually follows the history of aviation from his contemporaries Bleriot, Grahame-White and Gustav Hamel who flew the earliest bi-planes on a wing and a prayer to the wonders of Concorde and supersonic travel. In both world wars Sopwith provided d planes for the key air battles which turned the tide. He was responsible for 21,000 aircraft in the First World War and during the second he turned the balance of the Battle of Britain with the production of the Hurricane which outnumbered the more glamorous Spitfires by five to one. After the war Sopwith as Chairman of Hawker Siddeley saw into production the plane which would eventually become the Harrier -- one of the most successful planes of the post-war era. As if this wasn't enough, in the 1930s he made two unsuccessful challenges for the America's Cup in the great J-class boats Endeavour and Endeavour II.
    SYNOPSIS: In an interview at his Hampshire home, recorded in 1970 he described the early days of flying...
    Sopwith's first machine was a 40 horse power Avis which he flew at Brooklands aerodrome on November 22, 1910 after teaching himself of fly. He brought a more powerful Howard Wright bi-plane for the test and he flew this on numerous occasions for races and pleasure. Sopwith founded his aviation company with prize founded his aviation company with prize money from races. It was to prove a seed-bed of innovative design from the Camel to the Harrier...
    He was always looking to the future and as chairman of Hawker Siddeley he warned, in 1955, of the dangers of inadequate defence on a nuclear age.
    Apart from being the premier aviator of his day Thomas Sopwith was also the man who came closest to bringing the yachting blue riband -- the America's Cup -- to Britain. In 1934 Endeavour was launched from a Gosport shipyard on the Solent.
    Mrs Sopwith christened the yacht. It was a beautiful boat which had cost millions and followed the unsuccessful efforts of Sir Thomas Lipton who made five challenges - all of which ended in failure.
    Sopwith rocked the Americans off Rhode Island in 1934 when Endeavour won the first two races against the US boat Rainbow. Sir Thomas, with Lady Sopwith at his side keeping time, looked set to cause the biggest upset since the Americans first won the cup in 1851. But eventually Rainbow won the series 4-2 and Thomas Sopwith returned to the UK to mount another challenge.
    But this time, in 1937, Endeavour II came up against the greatest J-Class yacht of them all Ranger and received a 4-0 whitewash. It was typical of the man that he was generous in defeat...
    For the man who's seen it all, from bi-planes to Concorde it looks like being a happy 100th birthday on January 18.
    <strong>Source: REUTERS LIBRARY</strong>
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