   the sopwith aviation company was a british aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the british royal naval air service, royal flying corps and later royal air force in the first world war, most famously the sopwith camel. sopwith aircraft were also used in varying numbers by the french, belgian, and american air services during the war. ==history== thumb|right|thomas sopwith, circa 1910 the sopwith aviation company (based at brooklands) was created in june 1912 by thomas octave murdoch (tommy, later sir thomas) sopwith, a well-to-do gentleman sportsman interested in aviation, yachting and motor-racing, when sopwith was only 24 years old. following their first military aircraft sale in november 1912, they moved to the company's first factory premises opened that december in a recently closed roller skating rink in canbury park road near kingston railway station in south west london.robertson, bruce sopwith â the man and his aircraft, letchworth, herts. air review ltd, 1970 â p.32bruce aeroplane monthly august 1991, p. 486. an early collaboration with the s. e. saunders boatyard of east cowes on the isle of wight, in 1913, produced the sopwith "bat boat", an early flying boat with a consuta laminated hull which could operate on sea or land.flying boats of the solent, norman hull. isbn 1-85794-161-6 a small factory subsequently opened in woolston, hampshire in 1914. during the first world war, the company made more than 16,000 aircraft and employed 5,000 people. many more of the company's aircraft were made by subcontractors rather than by sopwiths themselves. these included fairey, clayton and shuttleworth, william beardmore and company and ruston proctor. towards the end of the war, sopwith took out a lease on national aircraft factory no.2, constructed in 26 weeks during the winter of 1917 a mile to the north of the canbury works in ham. the company were able to greatly increase production of snipe, dolphin and salamander fighter planes as a result.{{cite web |url=http://www.kingstonaviation.org/js/plugins/filemanager/files/brief_history_banner__14b_layout_1.pdf |format=pdf |title=sopwith and hawker at the ham factory, north kingston |publisher=kingston aviation centenary proj
Aircraft_industry_in_London Companies_established_in_1912 Defunct_aircraft_manufacturers_of_the_United_Kingdom