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A detailed examination of the various official notices and Press reports relating to the Mortimer Singer Competition points to considerable doubt having existed among those not actually on the spot as to the exact type of Sopwith machine employed. While it is true that in one case the inadvertence in announcing that the engine was a Gnome instead of a Green was officially acknowledged, in other cases such expressions as “Sopwith Tractor biplane” were misleading, in that they gave no indication as to the machine being a flying-boat, and not fitted with a tractor air-screw at that. While these points were of no material consequence, they do show the probability of a wide confusion having existed owing to the great variety of successful Sopwith machines; and, although it was before the war, the industry was reaching a state when the various machines could no longer be counted on the finger-tips. Seeing that Mr. Sopwith himself attributed the success of his enterprise in no small measure to Harry’s genius, references to the progress of the Sopwith concern, such as the foregoing, are not out of place here.

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