Designed and Built in Kingston and Flown from Brooklands
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Some of Kingston’s amazing contributions to aviation progress since 1912 In 1910, 21 year old Tommy Sopwith teaches himself to fly, breaks records and wins prizes In 1912, he starts the Sopwith School of Aviation at Brooklands airfield Engineer Fred Sigrist builds them a better aircraft and the Admiralty buy it Sopwith Aviation buys the Roller Skating Rink in Kingston upon Thames as their factory Guided by test pilot Harry Hawker, a succession of world class aircraft will be designed and built in Kingston and flown from Brooklands Sopwith Bat Boat 1913 First British flying boat World’s first practical amphibian - land and water Sopwith “Circuit of Britain” floatplane 1913 Harry Hawker flies 1,000 miles around the coast Sopwith Tabloid, 1914 Schneider Trophy winner First British aircraft to win a major international air race Sopwith Tabloid 1914 First aircraft to destroy a Zeppelin airship Sopwith Schneider and Baby floatplanes 1914 to 1918 Operated from ship and shore on submarine and Zeppelin patrols 1 Sopwith 1 /2 Strutter 1916 First two-gun two-seat tractor fighter has synchronised forward firing gun Sopwith Pup 1916 World’s first fixed-gun single-seat fighter Sopwith Pup 1916 and 1917 First aircraft to land on a moving ship Sopwith Triplane 1916 First triplane fighter, dominant over France early 1917 Sopwith Camel 1917 Most successful allied fighter in the First World War Sopwith Dolphin 1918 World’s first four-gun fighter Sopwith Snipe 1918 “Best fighter in the First World War” RAF’s standard front-line fighter to 1925 Sopwith designed 60% of the single-seat aircraft built for the British Services in the First World War By 1918 Sopwith Aviation employ 3,000 people in Kingston and have built 3,000 aircraft 18,000 Sopwith designed aircraft are built in total Sopwith Atlantic 1919 Harry Hawker and co-pilot almost achieve the first trans-Atlantic flight Sopwith Cuckoo 1918 First British torpedo ’plane to operate from aircraft carriers In 1920, with very few orders, Sopwith Aviation is forced into voluntary liquidation Having paid all creditors, they re-start as the much smaller H.G.Hawker Engineering Co. Hawker Engineering sells some new designs but really expands once Sydney Camm becomes Chief Designer Hawker Cygnet 1924, Sydney Camm’s first design Very light aircraft, highly successful in competitions and races Hawker Hart light bomber 1928 Easy-to-build, light, rugged steel tube construction Faster than the RAF’s best fighters Hawker Fury fighter 1931 First 200mph aircraft in RAF service At times in the 1930s over 80% of RAF aircraft are Sydney Camm designed powerful Hawker biplanes Hawker Hurricane 1937 First 300mph aircraft in RAF service Their first 8-gun fighter and first with retractable undercarriage Hawker sheds at Brooklands are rebuilt and extended for the Hurricane By 1939, assembly & flight testing is also underway in Hawker’s new factory at Langley, Bucks. Aircraft design, prototype build and component manufacture always remains in Kingston Hawker Hurricane 1940 Most successful fighter in the Battle of Britain Over 14,000 Hawker Hurricanes are built Most widely used and successful allied fighter in WWII Hawker Typhoon 1942 First 400mph aircraft in RAF service Hawker Tempest 1944 Downs more V1 flying bombs than any other type Hawker Sea Fury 1947 Amongst the world’s fastest piston-engined aircraft Hawker Sea Hawk 1948 Royal Navy buy 420, more than any other jet aircraft type In 1948 Hawker acquire a large Factory on Richmond Road in Ham, North Kingston By 1958 an impressive design office fronts the factory Langley work moves back to Kingston with Dunsfold in Surrey for final assembly and flight testing 1951 Hawker Hunter 1951 “Super Priority” for RAF & NATO – almost 2,000 built Hawker Hunter achieves 727mph in 1953, a world record Hawker P1127 1961 & Kestrel 1964 Unique vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing aircraft Harrier 1969 World’s first operational VTOL aircraft wins air race between New York and London city centres Kingston-built Harriers are sold to the US Marine Corps First foreign military aircraft bought by the USA since 1918 Hawker Siddeley Sea Harrier 1979 Crucial to success in the Falklands conflict BAe/McDonnell Douglas Harrier II 1983 Second generation Harriers for US Marines, RAF, Spain and Italy British Forces use Harriers for 41 years Crucial in peace-keeping & most other campaigns Hawker Siddeley Hawk 1971 Last all-British aircraft into RAF service Remaining operational until at least 2015 BAe/McDonnell Douglas Goshawk 1988 Navalised Hawk trainer, operated by the US Navy BAe Hawks continue to operate around the world Nearly 1,000 built so far, including some single seaters 45,000 Kingston designed aircraft have been built From 1912 to 1992, thousands of people work with determination and skill to design, build and sell world-class aircraft As a legacy, aeronautical engineers are still being trained at Kingston College and Kingston University The RAF have always had Kingston aircraft in service Compiled by members of the Hawker Association for the Kingston Aviation Centenary Project Photographs courtesy of BAe Systems, from private collections and via the Brooklands Museum .