 In 1914, the White and Thompson Company Limited, of Bognor Regis, England, who had become exclusive licence holders for Curtiss flying boats for Great Britain the previous year, decided to build two different flying boats, designed by Norman Thompson, co-owner and the driving force behind White & Thompson, to compete in the "Daily Mail" £5,000 Circuit of Britain race for seaplanes, scheduled to start on 10 August that year.Thompson's designs were a single-engined flying boat, similar to the Curtiss Model F flying boat which Thompson had a licence for, and a larger twin-engined aircraft.The twin-engined aircraft, the White & Thompson No.