Norman Thompson
| Aircraft manufacturer | |
| Industry | Aviation |
| Fate | Voluntary liquidation – factories and stock purchased by Handley Page |
| Predecessor | White and Thompson Company |
| Successor | Handley Page Ltd |
| Founded | 8 June 1912 (White and Thompson) |
| Defunct | 12 July 1919 |
| Headquarters | Bognor Regis |
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Key people
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Norman Arthur Thompson Dr. Douglas White Glen Curtiss Eric Gordon England John Cyril Porte Francis Percy Beadle |
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.
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 aerodynamacist Frederick W. Lanchester. Thompson, after securing finance from Dr Douglas White, a wealthy friend, approached Lanchester and persuaded him to collaborate on designing an aircraft. Lanchester designed a two-seat pusher configuration biplane powered by two 50 hp (37 kW) 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.
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. 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 100 hp (75 kW) water-cooled ABC engine, which successfully flew. 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.
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