One of those early pioneers at Brooklands is a young man named Tommy Sopwith. The enthusiasm each shares for manned flight would eventually bring Sydney Camm and Sopwith together; with momentous consequences for both men and, thankfully, for our free world also.

For our second glimpse I would ask you to 'fast forward' 30 years. It is now 1936 and the scene is the Boardroom of Hawker Aircraft, presided over by Tommy Sopwith. Camm himself has come a long way. He had been taken on by Sopwith as a draughtsman and his latest series of biplane designs, starting with the Hart, are so advanced that they now equip over 80% of the Royal Air Force. He is justly Hawkers' Chief Designer and has been rewarded by a seat on the Board. In the Boardroom they consider Camm's latest leap into the future. A fast, manoeuvrable and robust monoplane, it is the RAF's first eight-gun interceptor, designed for our defence as war clouds gather - but no Government order the production of this, the Hurricane, has been forthcoming.

At that momentous meeting the Hawker Board decide to back Camm's masterpiece at their own risk and go ahead without the financial cover for which they would have to wait another three months. War did follow and by the fateful summer of 1940 Hawker Hurricanes were being turned out at about 130 a month; so those crucial three months gained the RAF some 400 Hurricanes. Histirically there was no other fighter available in sufficient numbers to bear the brunt of this Battle of Britain. Fighter Command's pilots flying Camm's Hurricanes shot down more of the enemy than all other RAF aircraft and ground defences put together.
The Battle of Britain was a long time ago and if Camm had stopped designing after the Hawker Hart and Hurricane his reputation would already have been secure, with that of Mitchell and his Spitfire alongside - but Camm was only half done!

For our third glimpse let us move on to 1953. Camm's output has been prolific - the Brunel of 20th century aero-engineers - and his designs have repeatedly come to our defence. By the end of World War 2 his Hawker Tempest was the only piston engined fighter fast enough to intercept the incoming V1 flying bombs. When in 1950 South Korea was invaded, the Royal Navy, equipped with Camm's Sea Furies, held out against the early Communist jets. Now, in 1953, when our threat is from totalitarian communism, it is Camm's favourite and most beautiful design,

But the cheerful scene I choose in 1953 is that of Buckingham Palace where the Nation's debt to Camm and his patron Sopwith is now recognised by the honour of knighthoods for both men. 27,000 examples of their high performance military aircraft were built altogether which seems likely to remain an all-time British record. The nation, and in particular the Royal Borough of Windsor, can take just pride in Camm's memory - but what sort of man was he? To us who remember working for him as young men he was a revered and rigorous autocrat - and yet even now we still relish the exchange of smiling anecdotes which recall his own dry wit and instinctive judgements. Dedicated and quite unpretentious, I suspect that part of Sir Sydney remained the earnest soul from Alma Road.

For our last glimpse let us go to St Clement Dane's church in the Strand. It is 1966 and the scene is Sir Sydney's Memorial Service. Sir Thomas Sopwith is concluding his tribute in fulsome manner; I quote: "Undoubetdly he was the greatest designer of fighter aircraft the world has ever known. He had a wonderful character - forceful to a degree when he believed he was right but always ready to listen to another point of view on the rare occasions he was wrong. Outside his profession he was modest and self effacing, enjoying the simplest of pleasures and never asking more of life than the warmth of his family, his friends and an occasional round of golf."

We are not assembled her to glorify war but rather to celebrate our freedom. Freedom to worship here, freedom from domination whether Fascist, Communist or in the South Atlantic. As his legacy Camm's team at Kingston delivered the Hawker Harrier 'jump-jet'. When the time came no other aircraft was capable of providing the crucial air cover that made the Falklands expedition possible. Cometh our hour of need and in answer came the vision of this man, again and again.

In his tribute Sopwith ended by recalling Churchill's wartime slogan "Give us the tools and we'll finish the job", and affirmed that Camm's genius had brought such tools into existence, finishing with "On behalf of us all I say 'Thank-you, Sydney.'" I think that today, 40 years on, we all can and should still echo that recognition and that gratitude."