SUPERMARINE

'Supermarine' was a British aircraft manufacturer that become famous for producing a range of sea planes and the legendary Supermarine Spitfire fighter.

Contents

History

Supermarine Aircraft

References

External links

History

Noel Pemberton-Billing set up a company, 'Pemberton-Billing, Ltd', in 1913 to produce sea-going aircraft. It also produced a couple of prototypes using quadruplane designs to shoot down zeppelins; the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk. The aircraft were fitted with the recoilless Davis gun and the Nighthawk had a separate powerplant to power a searchlight.The World's Worst Aircraft James Gilbert ISBN 0-340-21824-X
Upon election as an MP in 1916 Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager and long time associate Hubert Scott-Paine who renamed the company 'Supermarine Aviation Works, Ltd'. The company became famous for its successes in the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes, especially the three wins in a row of 1927, 1929 and 1931.
In 1928 Vickers-Armstrongs took over Supermarine as 'Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers), Ltd' and in 1938 all Vickers-Armstrongs aviation interests were reorganised to become 'Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd', although Supermarine continued to design, build and trade under its own name.
The first Supermarine landplane design to go into production was the famous and successful Spitfire. The earlier Hawker Hurricane and the Spitfire were the mainstay of RAF Fighter Command fighter aircraft which fought off the ''Luftwaffe'' bombing raids with fighter escorts during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. While the Hurricane was available in larger numbers and consequently played a larger role, the new Spitfire caught the popular imagination and became the aircraft associated with the battle.
Other well-known planes from World War II were the Seafire (a naval version of the Spitfire). Supermarine also developed the Spiteful and Seafang, the successors of the Spitfire and Seafire, resp., and the Walrus flying boat.
The Supermarine main works was in Woolston, Southampton which led to the city being heavily bombed in 1940.
The last of the Supermarine aircraft was the Supermarine Scimitar. After that, in the shakeup of British aircraft manufacturing, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) became a part of the British Aircraft Corporation and the individual manufacturing heritage names were lost. Northshore Marine builds a range of motorboats under the Supermarine name in Chichester.

Supermarine Aircraft

★ Supermarine Nighthawk - Anti-Zepplin fighter aircraft

★ Supermarine Baby (1917) - single seat fighter flying boat

★ Supermarine Sea Lion (1919) - Schneider race flying boat

★ Supermarine Sea King - single seat fighter flying boat

★ Supermarine Channel (1919) - civil version of the AD Boat

★ Supermarine Seagull (1921) - amphibian Fleet Spotter

★ Supermarine Sea Eagle (1923) - civil amphibian flying boat

★ Supermarine Scarab (1924) - military version of Sea Eagle

★ Supermarine Swan (1924) - experimental amphibian

★ Supermarine Sparrow (1924) - two-seat ultralight

★ Supermarine Southampton (1925) - Flying boat

★ Supermarine S.4 (1925) - Schneider Trophy race seaplane

★ Supermarine S.5 (1927) - Schneider Trophy race seaplane

★ Supermarine Air Yacht (1931) - six-passenger flying boat

★ Supermarine Scapa (1932) - Flying boat

★ Supermarine Stranraer (1932) - General-purpose flying boat

★ Supermarine Seamew (1928) - Twin-engined flying boat

★ Supermarine Walrus (1933) - Reconnaissance amphibian

★ Supermarine S.6B - Racing seaplane (first aircraft over 400 mph)

★ Supermarine Spitfire (1936) - single seat fighter

★ Supermarine Sea Otter (1938) - flying boat

★ Supermarine 322 also S.24/37 or "Dumbo" (1939)

★ Supermarine Spiteful (1944) - replacement for the Spitfire

★ Supermarine Seafang (1946) - development of Spiteful

★ Supermarine Attacker (1946) - jet fighter

★ Supermarine Seagull ASR-1 (1948) - air-sea rescue and reconnaissance

★ Supermarine Swift (1948) - post World War Two jet fighter

★ Supermarine 508 - V-tailed prototype of the Scimitar

★ Supermarine Scimitar (1956) - Naval ground attack aircraft
Designs and submissions only

★ Supermarine Type 224 - failed design for a fighter aircraft in 1934

★ Supermarine Type 545 - supersonic version of Swift

★ Supermarine Type 553 (1953) - supersonic fighter project

★ Supermarine Type 559 (1955) - submission for Operational Requirement F.155 for a high altitude supersonic fighter

References

External links

★ British Aircraft Directory

★ Spitfire Society article