Page 79 - Aviation News - September 2017

Norman A Thompson was educated at
Cambridge. He went on to be an electrical
engineer, but became interested in aviation
after reading F W Lanchester’s Aerodynamics,
published in 1907. The appearance of a
second volume by Lanchester, Aerodonetics,
during 1908, persuaded Thompson of the
sound future of aeroplanes and he left his job
with Clyde Valley Electrical Power to pursue
this new technology. Thompson formed a
partnership with Dr Douglas White, a friend
who agreed to fund their enterprise, and in
1909 he met Lanchester, securing his co-
operation as designer and adviser. No.1 Flying-Boat was due to be ‘Circuit of Britain’ competitor No.9, and is seen during August
1914. Though allotted service serial 883, it was never delivered.
The venture’s first aeroplane began as
a single-engined, single-seat design, but During early 1914, Porte somersaulted the Thompson then took a daring decision;
developed into a two-seater employing aircraft among the rocks on the beach, but he’d produce two different flying boats, and
two 50hp coupled Gnôme pusher engines. by then Thompson’s enthusiasm had shifted enter them in the forthcoming Daily Mail
Construction was started by Daimler at to waterborne aircraft and his damaged No.2 Circuit of Britain race for waterborne aircraft to
Coventry, but over the summer of 1910 work was discarded. secure publicity for his small company. In the
moved to the team’s new Middleton premises. event the race was cancelled, but the growing
Their shoreline workshop abutted a stretch of FLYING BOATS threat of war ensured successful aircraft
firm sand, used for testing the aircraft. At first The previous autumn an American Curtiss designs would find a market.
the aeroplane was referred to simply as the flying boat had appeared at the nearby The first of Norman Thompson’s new
No.1, but was later named Grey Angel. Brighton seaplane base run by inventor flying boats to emerge was the simpler; a

White and Thompson-built ‘Circuit of Britain’ aircraft No.6, the No. 2 Flying Boat, which was later taken on charge by the Royal Naval Air Service
as 882. Norman Thompson stands proudly by the new machine.
The No.1’s biplane wings were of all-metal Herman Volk, for use by Capt Ernest C single-engined, side-by-side pusher biplane
construction and covered with aluminium, Bass. White and Thompson was engaged to powered by a 120hp Beardmore-built Austro-
most unusual for the time. Four fixed fins and maintain the aircraft, and Porte made several Daimler engine, its hull constructed by S E
biplane tailplanes were adopted, while the flights. Porte was critical but Thompson was Saunders. A two-bay wingform was adopted,
fuselage was ash skinned with steel and a impressed and so the company acquired the upper of greater span and fitted with
four-wheel ‘perambulator’ undercarriage was British rights to build flying boats to the ailerons as well as a prominent central fin.
fitted. Unfortunately, tests by Thompson and Curtiss design. Porte left to work with Known as the No.2 Flying Boat, it was given
Captain Wilmot Nicholson RN revealed the Curtiss in America, and was replaced by Eric racing Number 6 and first flew on August 1,
No.1 couldn’t take off; modifications followed, Gordon England. 1914. However, as war was breaking out
including larger, four-bladed propellers. The
No.1 finally hopped, but was damaged after it
ran into the sea, its undercarriage gave out and
it overturned. Despite that setback, during June
1912 the White and Thompson Company was
registered for the manufacture of aeroplanes.
By January 1913, a second aircraft had
appeared, designed by Thompson alone. A
pusher biplane, the No.2 used a 120hp ABC
engine driving a large, three-bladed airscrew
through an extension shaft. It featured a
two-seat side-by-side layout and spidery
undercarriage. The No.2 was successful and
flew early in 1913. Over its life it was piloted, This example, 3808, was the last of the No.3 Flying Boats, delivered to Calshot during October
among others, by Thompson himself and 1915 and used for training until the spring of 1917. It employed a prominent set of kingposts
by the company’s pilot Lt John C Porte RN. between its engine mountings and the upper forward hull.

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