The Norman Thompson Flight Company was a British aircraft manufacturer specialising in the construction of flying boats. It was formed as the White and Thompson Company in 1912, and designed and built the Norman Thompson NT.4 patrol aircraft and the N.T.2B flying boat trainer for the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, but production problems led to the company entering receivership in 1918, being liquidated in 1919.
The Norman Thompson N.T.2B was a British single-engined Flying boat trainer of the First World War. A single-engined biplane, the N.T.2B was adopted as a standard flying boat trainer by the Royal Naval Air Service, training pilots for larger patrol flying boats such as the Felixstowe F.2.
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air force.
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in cases where a company cannot meet financial obligations or enters bankruptcy. The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in the English chancery courts, where receivers were appointed to protect real property. Receiverships are also a remedy of last resort in litigation involving the conduct of executive agencies that fail to comply with constitutional or statutory obligations to populations that rely on those agencies for their basic human rights.
In 1909, Norman Arthur Thompson, an Electrical Engineer born in 1874 at Streatham, London, became interested in the science and practice of Aeronautics after reading two books by the pioneer aerodynamacistFrederick W. Lanchester. Thompson, after securing finance from Dr Douglas White, a wealthy friend, approached Lanchester and persuaded him to collaborate on designing an aircraft.[2][3] Lanchester designed a two-seat pusher configurationbiplane powered by two 50hp (37kW) rotary engines, the Thompson-Lanchester No. 1 Biplane or Gray Angel. This was completed during 1910, but proved incapable of any more than brief hops, and was eventually scrapped.[3][4]
Streatham is a district in south London, England, mostly in the London Borough of Lambeth but with some areas to the west stretching out into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth, and some areas to the south stretching out into the neighbouring London Borough of Croydon. It is centred 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies the aspects of "aeronautical Art, Science and Engineering" and "the profession of Aeronautics ."
Aerodynamics, from Greek ἀήρ aer (air) + δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of motion of air, particularly as interaction with a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It is a sub-field of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, and many aspects of aerodynamics theory are common to these fields. The term aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, the difference being that "gas dynamics" applies to the study of the motion of all gases, and is not limited to air. The formal study of aerodynamics began in the modern sense in the eighteenth century, although observations of fundamental concepts such as aerodynamic drag were recorded much earlier. Most of the early efforts in aerodynamics were directed toward achieving heavier-than-air flight, which was first demonstrated by Otto Lilienthal in 1891. Since then, the use of aerodynamics through mathematical analysis, empirical approximations, wind tunnel experimentation, and computer simulations has formed a rational basis for the development of heavier-than-air flight and a number of other technologies. Recent work in aerodynamics has focused on issues related to compressible flow, turbulence, and boundary layers and has become increasingly computational in nature.
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Despite these setbacks, which used up most of White's initial capital, Thompson and White set up a limited company, "White and Thompson" on 8 June 1912 to continue their aviation business.[5] In early 1913 Thompson, working on his own without the involvement of Lanchester designed a second aircraft, the Norman Thompson No. 1 Biplane, another pusher, this time powered by a single 100hp (75kW) water-cooled ABC engine, which successfully flew.[6] This was not progressed further, however, as White and Thompson was hired to maintain a Curtiss Model F flying boat, and was appointed the exclusive European agents for Curtiss in February 1914.
ABC Motors Limited of Hersham, Surrey, England was a manufacturer of cars, aircraft, motor scooters, and engines for road and air. Established by Ronald Charteris in Hersham, Surrey in 1912, its chief designer was the young and talented Granville Bradshaw. It was absorbed into Vickers in 1951 and the factory finally closed in the 1970s. Some of the premises survive today as part of the Hersham Trading Estate and are occupied by Ian Allan Publishing.
The Curtiss Models F made up a family of early flying boats developed in the United States in the years leading up to World War I. Widely produced, Model Fs saw service with the United States Navy under the designations C-2 through C-5, later reclassified to AB-2 through AB-5. Several examples were exported to Russia, and the type was built under license in Italy.
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1916 by Glenn Hammond Curtiss. After significant commercial success in the 'teens and 20s, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical in 1929 to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
In the summer of 1914, White and Thompson designed and built two flying boats to compete in the Daily Mail £5,000 Circuit of Britain race for seaplanes, a single-engined flying boat, and a larger twin-engined aircraft. Although the race was cancelled owing to the outbreak of the First World War, the single-engined aircraft was successful, and a further eight were built for the RNAS as the White and Thompson No. 3, being delivered in 1915, as were 10 examples of the "Bognor Bloater", a single-engined landplane.[7]
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market newspaper published in London in a tabloid format. Founded in 1896, it is the United Kingdom's second-biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, while Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. Content from the paper appears on the MailOnline website, although the website is managed separately and has its own editor.
The White and Thompson No. 3 was a British flying boat of the First World War. While the prototype was originally designed to compete in an air-race around the UK, eight more similar aircraft were built for the Royal Naval Air Service.
The White & Thompson Bognor Bloater was a British First World War two-seat reconnaissance biplane. It was designed and built by White & Thompson Limited of Middleton-on-Sea, near Bognor Regis, Sussex for the Admiralty as a competitor to the Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2. Designated N.T.3 by White & Thompson, it is not known if there was an official designation for the aircraft, which was known in service with the nickname Bognor Bloater.
White left White and Thompson in 1915 to join the Royal Army Medical Corps, the company being re-organised as the Norman Thompson Flight Company, and expanding its factories to cope with increased demand for its aircraft, orders being placed for the N.T.4, a twin-engined patrol flying boat of similar size to the Curtiss H-4Small America, and the N.T.2B, a single-engined flying boat trainer.[8] A change in RNAS requirements lead to the sudden cancellation of orders for the N.T.4. however,[9] while engine problems caused delays to the delivery of N.T.2Bs.[10]
The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. Together with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, the RAMC forms the Army Medical Services.
The Norman Thompson N.T.4 was a twin-engined British flying boat of the First World War. Although less well known than similar Curtiss and Felixstowe flying boats, 50 were ordered for Britain's Royal Naval Air Service.
These problems caused Norman Thompson to go into receivership on 19 April 1918, an attempt to sue Curtiss over breaking the 1914 agreement for White and Thompson to have exclusive sales rights in Europe getting nowhere. The Norman Thompson Flight Company went into Voluntary liquidation on 12 July 1919, the company's factory and stock being purchased by Handley Page.[11]
Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and United States. The assets and property of the company are redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation. The process of liquidation also arises when customs, an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties, determines the final computation or ascertainment of the duties or drawback accruing on an entry.
Handley Page Limited was founded by Frederick Handley Page in 1909 as the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation and ceased to exist in 1970. The company, based at Radlett Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, was noted for its pioneering role in aviation history and for producing heavy bombers and large airliners.
Blackburn Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that concentrated mainly on naval and maritime aircraft during the first part of the 20th century.
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water, that usually has no type of landing gear to allow operation on land. It differs from a floatplane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 20th century, exceeded in size only by bombers developed during World War II. Their advantage lay in using water instead of expensive land-based runways, making them the basis for international airlines in the interwar period. They were also commonly used for maritime patrol and air-sea rescue.
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are in a subclass called amphibious aircraft. Seaplanes and amphibians are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteristics: floatplanes and flying boats; the latter are generally far larger and can carry far more. These aircraft were sometimes called hydroplanes, but currently this term applies instead to motor-powered watercraft that use the technique of hydrodynamic lift to skim the surface of water when running at speed.
The Burgess Company was a U.S. airplane manufacturer between 1910 and 1918.
The Curtiss Model E was an early aircraft developed by Glenn Curtiss in the United States in 1911.
The General Aeroplane Company was Detroit's first commercial airplane builder. GAC built three types of aircraft during the First World War and operated a flying school. The aircraft were the Verville Flying Boat, the Gamma S biplane with floats (floatplane), and the Gamma L biplane with wheels. All had engine installations driving pusher propellers.
The Norman Thompson N.1B was a prototype British flying boat fighter aircraft of the First World War. A two-seat single-engined pusher biplane, a single example was built in 1917, but no production followed.
The White & Thompson No. 1 Seaplane was the first British built twin-engined biplane flying boat, assembled just prior to the outbreak of the First World War to compete in an air-race around the UK. It was unsuccessful, only the single prototype being built.
The Wanamaker Triplane or Curtiss Model T, retroactively renamed Curtiss Model 3 was a large experimental four-engined triplane patrol flying boat of World War I. It was the first four-engined aircraft built in the United States. Only a single example (No.3073) was completed. At the time, the Triplane was the largest seaplane in the world.
The Curtiss Model K, also known as the Model 4, was an American single-engined flying boat of World War I. It was an enlarged derivative of Curtiss's Model F and about 50 were built for export to the Imperial Russian Navy.
The Sage Type 4 was a prototype British floatplane of the First World War. It was a designed as a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft for the Royal Naval Air Service, but was chosen for service as a floatplane trainer, although the end of the war resulted in production being cancelled.
The Gosport Aircraft Company was a short-lived British aircraft manufacturer based at Gosport, Hampshire formed at the start of the First World War by Sir Charles Allom of White, Allom & Company and Charles Ernest Nicholson of Camper and Nicholsons boat-builders. The company built a number of flying-boats for the British government including the hull for the Fairey Atalanta which at the time was the largest flying-boat hull built in the world.
Goodall, Michael H. The Norman Thompson File. Tunbridge Wells, UK: Air-Britain, 1995. ISBN0-85130-233-5.
London, Peter. "Bognor's Boats: The Aircraft of Norman Thompson". Air Enthusiast, No. 66, November–December 1996. Stamford, UK:Key Publishing. ISSN0143-5450. pp.70–75.
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