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Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. It also built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three wins in a row in 1927, 1929 and 1931. After the war, the company produced a series of jet fighters.
The Supermarine Scimitar is a single-seat naval strike aircraft that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. Operated exclusively by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, it was the final aircraft to be entirely designed and manufactured by Supermarine.
The Supermarine Attacker is a British single-seat naval jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was the first jet fighter to enter operational service with the FAA.
The Supermarine Spiteful was a British fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, it had a radical new wing design to allow safe operations at higher speeds and incorporating inwards-retracting undercarriage. Other changes included a larger fin to improve the marginal stability of Griffon Spitfires. Development of the wing was formalised by Air Ministry specification F.1/43; as well as a new aircraft, there was an expectation the wing could be used as a replacement for the elliptical wing on Spitfire production.
The Blackburn B-20 was an experimental aircraft, first flying in 1940, that attempted to drastically increase the performance of flying boat designs. Blackburn Aircraft undertook an independent design study based on a patent filed by their chief designer, John Douglas Rennie for a retractable pontoon float that formed the planing hull.
The Hawker Tornado was a British single-seat fighter aircraft design of the Second World War for the Royal Air Force as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane. The planned production of Tornados was cancelled after the engine it was designed to use, the Rolls-Royce Vulture, proved unreliable in service. A parallel airframe that used the Napier Sabre engine continued into production as the Hawker Typhoon.
The Vickers Windsor was a Second World War British four-engine heavy bomber, intended for high altitude flight. The Windsor was designed by Barnes Wallis and Rex Pierson at the Vickers-Armstrongs factory at Brooklands.
The Supermarine Seafang was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon–engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification N.5/45 for naval use. It was based on the Spiteful, which was a development of Supermarine's Griffon-engined Spitfire aircraft. By that time the Spitfire was a 10-year-old design in a period of rapid technical development in aviation. The Seafang was outmoded by jet aircraft, and only 18 were built.
The Supermarine Seagull was a flying boat produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. It was developed by Supermarine's chief designer R.J. Mitchell from the experimental Supermarine Seal II.
The Supermarine Type 224 was a British gull-wing monoplane fighter aircraft designed by R.J. Mitchell at Supermarine in response to Air Ministry Specification F.7/30, which sought to introduce a new fighter to succeed the Gloster Gauntlet. The Type 224 was powered by a Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine, which used an experimental evaporative cooling system.
The Supermarine Type 322 was a prototype British carrier-borne torpedo, dive bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the Second World War. A single-engined monoplane, it was unsuccessful, with only two examples being built. The Fairey Barracuda, built to the same specification, would fill this role.
The Supermarine Seamew was a British twin engined amphibious aircraft built by Supermarine at their works in Woolston, Southampton. It was intended as a small, shipborne reconnaissance aircraft. It was designed in 1925–1927 by R. J. Mitchell to meet the Air Ministry's specification 29/24. It was the first aeroplane built by Supermarine to incorporate metal in the construction; two machines were built. Mitchell planned a civilian version of the aircraft, to accommodate up to six passengers.
The Supermarine Sparrow was a British two-seat light biplane designed by R.J. Mitchell and built at Supermarine's works at Woolston, Southampton. It first flew on 11 September 1924. After being rebuilt in 1926 as a parasol monoplane, it was re-designated Sparrow II.
The Supermarine Sea King was a British single-seat amphibious biplane fighter designed by Supermarine in 1919. Developed from the Supermarine Baby and the Supermarine Sea Lion I, the Sea King was a single seater biplane powered by a pusher 160 horsepower (120 kW) Beardmore engine. It first flew in early 1920 and was exhibited by Supermarine at the 1920 Olympia Show in London. The company released drawings of the aircraft's design prior to the show; what it exhibited was probably a modified Supermarine Baby.
The Supermarine Baby was a First World War fighter aircraft that was the earliest example of a single-seat flying boat fighter to be built in the United Kingdom. It was designed by Supermarine to meet a 1917 Navy Board specification which stipulated the aircraft have a speed of 95 knots, a ceiling of 20,000 feet (6,100 m), and be capable of being launched from ships at sea. When it first flew in February 1918 it was one of the smallest and fastest flying boats then in existence.
The Supermarine Air Yacht was a British luxury passenger-carrying flying boat. It was designed by Supermarine's chief designer R. J. Mitchell and built in Woolston, Southampton in 1929. It was commissioned by the brewing magnate Ernest Guinness, and was the first British flying yacht built to the order of a private owner. Only one machine was built.
The Supermarine Commercial Amphibian was a passenger-carrying flying boat. The first aircraft to be designed by Supermarine's Reginald Mitchell, it was built at the company's works at Woolston, Southampton, for an Air Ministry competition that took place during September 1920. Based on the Supermarine Channel, the Amphibian was a biplane flying boat with a single engine, a wooden hull, unequal wingspans and a 350 horsepower (260 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. The pilot sat in an open cockpit behind two passengers.
The Supermarine Seal II was a British flying boat developed by Supermarine after it secured a British Air Ministry order for a prototype three-seater fleet spotter amphibian. The prototype, which had to be capable of landing on Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft carriers, was designed by Supermarine's R.J. Mitchell, who incorporated suggestions made after the Supermarine Commercial Amphibian achieved second place after it was entered for an Air Ministry competition in 1920.
The Avro 684 was a proposed British high altitude heavy bomber of the Second World War, based on Avro's successful Lancaster.
The Rolls-Royce Griffon engine was designed in answer to Royal Navy specifications for an engine capable of generating good power at low altitudes. Concepts for adapting the Spitfire to take the new engine had begun as far back as October 1939; Joseph Smith felt that "The good big 'un will eventually beat the good little 'un." and Ernest Hives of Rolls-Royce thought that the Griffon would be "a second power string for the Spitfire". The first of the Griffon-engined Spitfires flew on 27 November 1941.
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Notes
- ↑ Pegram gives the date of the only known drawing as the next year, in July 1944
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Bibliography
- Andrews, Charles Ferdinand and Eric B. Morgan. Supermarine Aircraft Since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1981. ISBN 978-0851778006.
- Buttler, Tony. British Secret Projects: Fighters and Bombers 1935–1950. Hersham, Surrey, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-85780-179-2.
- Pegram, Ralph. Supermarine Secret Projects, Vol 2: Fighters and Bombers. Horncastle, Lincolnshire, UK: Mortons Media Group Limited, 2022. ISBN 9781911703044.