Poppy appeal T-Shirts
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About this design
This design admires the English pioneer aviator Sir Thomas Sopwith. Sir Thomas had a long and interesting life (he died at the age of 101 years old) - although early on in his life, tragedy struck. At the age of ten, his family was on a hunting trip and Thomas was sitting with a gun resting on his lap when it unexpectedly went off, killing his father.
This terrible accident remained with him for the rest of his life but nonetheless, Thomas went on to complete a long and successful life, excelling in almost everything he did. Early on, he was a member of the Great Britain national ice hockey team and actually won a gold medal at the first ever European championships in 1910!
Soon afterwards he became interested in flying, so he taught himself to fly(!).
He recieved a £4000 prize in Deember 1910 for the longest flight from England to the continent after flying 272 km in 3 hours 40 minutes. He used the £4000 to set up the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands.
Two years later, he founded the Sopwith Aviation Company which ended up producing over 18,000 aircraft for use in World War 1, with over 5,500 of them being the famous Sopwith Camel (used in my design).
He remained in the aviation industry for another 70 years and continued to work as a consultant as late as 1980.
Also worth a mention is Thomas Sopwith's love of yachting and in 1934 & 1937, he enterend into the America's Cup. He nearly won the cup on his first attempt in 1934 in his yacht Endeavour, and consequently was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1995.
An interesting and talented character, Sir Thomas Sopwith deserves to be remembered and admired, I hope my design does him some justice!
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