During a long life, British aviation industrialist, Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith (1888-1989) was a race car driver, yachtsman, speed record holder, balloonist, pioneer pilot, and engineer.

Thomas Sopwith was born January 18, 1888, into a family distinguished for several generations in engineering and business. As the eighth child, and first boy, he was named Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith. What he began in 1913 would grow to become half of the British aerospace industry in the post-World War II era. However, he avoided public prominence throughout his life.

Sopwith did not distinguish himself academically in the private schools he attended as the son of a reasonably well-off family. While still young he lost his father in a hunting accident. He went on to study engineering and his elder sisters began to make good marriages for themselves. Though not rich, he inherited an income and the unshakable support of his sisters. With...