Legendary Aviator Sopwith Dies at 101

Aviation pioneer Sir Thomas Sopwith, the adventure-loving creator of the World War I Sopwith Camel and Pup airplanes, died today. He was 101.

Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, born in 1888 into a wealthy engineering family, was 16 when the Wright brothers flew under power for the first time in the United States. He taught himself to fly in 1910 and began designing airplanes at age 26. Sopwith, who was an accomplished race car driver and yachtsman before he discovered his passion for airplanes, set several early flying records.

“We had a lot of crashes in those days but, bless you, it was fun,” he recalled on his 100th birthday last year. “This new experience of flying was one of the most exhilarating things that had ever happened to me.”

More than 16,000 Sopwith airplanes were built for action in World War I, including 6,000 Camels, which shot down more enemy aircraft than any other allied plane. A Camel flown by Roy Brown shot down the German Baron Von Richthofen, the infamous “Red Baron.”