Herbert Smith was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

  aircraft designer

Aircraft design process

The term Aircraft design can have many different meanings:*An aircraft design as defined by type definition documentation, such as a type certificate for certified aircraft and as legally defined by the appropriate Airworthiness certificate, including a Standard Airworthiness Certificate for...

.

Smith started his career with the Yorkshire engineering company of Dean, Smith & Grace

Dean, Smith & Grace

Dean, Smith & Grace is a British manufacturer of lathes and milling machines, based in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Their products have been described as "the Rolls Royce of lathes".- History :...

. He joined the Sopwith Aviation Company

Sopwith Aviation Company

The Sopwith Aviation Company was a British aircraft company that designed and manufactured aeroplanes mainly for the British Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Flying Corps and later Royal Air Force in the First World War, most famously the Sopwith Camel...

 as a draughtsman in March 1914 and became Sopwith's chief engineer later that year. Smith designed the Pup

Sopwith Pup

The Sopwith Pup was a British single seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good maneuverability, the aircraft proved very...

, Triplane

Sopwith Triplane

The Sopwith Triplane was a British single seat fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War. Pilots nicknamed it the Tripehound or simply the Tripe. The Triplane became operational with the Royal Naval Air Service in early 1917 and was...

, Camel

Sopwith Camel

The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...

, and Snipe

Sopwith Snipe

The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force . It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of that conflict, in late 1918.The Snipe was not a fast aircraft...

. He worked for the Sopwith firm until it dissolved in October 1920.

In February 1921, the Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy...

 Internal Combustion Engine Manufacturing Company in Nagoya invited Smith, along with several other former Sopwith engineers, to assist Mitsubishi in creating an aircraft manufacturing division. Smith and his team moved to Japan, where they designed the B1M

Mitsubishi B1M

-See also:-External links:**http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/gustin_military/db/index.html...

, 1MF

Mitsubishi 1MF

|-See also:-External links:...

, and 2MR

Mitsubishi 2MR

|-See also:-External links:...

. Smith returned to England in 1924 and retired from the aviation industry.