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89-544: The Supermarine S.6B is a British racing seaplane developed by R.J. Mitchell for the Supermarine company to take part in the Schneider Trophy competition of 1931. The S.6B marked the culmination of Mitchell's quest to "perfect the design of the racing seaplane" and represented the cutting edge of aerodynamic technology for the era. The S.6B was last in a line of racing seaplanes to be developed by Supermarine, following

178-610: A British victory in a third race would secure the trophy outright. As ever active in aviation affairs, Lord Rothermere's Daily Mail group of newspapers launched a public appeal for money to support a British race entrant; in response, several thousand pounds were raised. Lady Houston publicly pledged £100,000. The British government also changed its position and announced its support for an entry in January 1931; however, by this point, there were less than nine months left to design, produce and prepare any race entrant. The RAF High Speed Flight

267-600: 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 . Upon election as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1916, Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager and longtime associate Hubert Scott-Paine who renamed

356-513: A fixed size. Usually cylindrical in shape, they can be used either in a ship's internal spaces, or externally. In addition to raising sunken vessels, they are also commonly used for long tows, for providing buoyancy to cables and so on. A pontoon bridge (also known as a ponton bridge or floating bridge ) uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. Most, but not all, pontoon bridges are temporary, used in wartime and civil emergencies. Seattle in

445-456: A good relationship with the Air Department and gain any further orders it was necessary for the company to distance itself from Billing. As a result, Billing sold his shares in the company for about £12,500 to Hubert Scott-Paine and the other directors who renamed the company Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd and officially registered it under that name on 27 June 1916. As well as Scott-Paine,

534-425: A lack of orders, 80 per cent of the staff were fired, leaving only 14 employees. On 14 November 1914 Broughton used his resources to pay off the company's debits which allowed the company to continue in business. Some work was obtained repairing aircraft subcontracting from Sopwith. Broughton then enlisted which left Scott-Paine in charge. At some point in 1914 Carol Vasilesco died suddenly of a heart attack, which left

623-508: A larger role, the new Spitfire caught the popular imagination and became the aircraft associated with the battle. It went on to play a major part in the remainder of the war, in a number of variants and marks, and it was the only Allied fighter aircraft to be in production through the entirety of the Second World War . Other company planes from the period include the Seafire (a naval version of

712-592: A major improvement in British fighter aircraft. The Ministry specifically invited Supermarine to participate. Accordingly, Mitchell's next endeavour after the S.6B was the design of the company's submission to meet this specification, designated the Type 224 . While the Type 224 was a disappointment and was not selected for production, Supermarine's next project led to the development of the legendary Spitfire. The outstanding performance of

801-725: A metallurgy department headed by Arthur Black (who joined the company at the end of 1925) and established metal production facilities at their Woolston works. The resulting metal hulled version of the Southampton entered service as the Mk II. The Southampton series was very successful with a total of 83 of all types being built. As a result of the success of the Seagull and Southampton between 1923 and 1927 sales rose from £137,683 to £403,868 and profits from £58,002 to £111,935. While it had been Scott-Paine' love of speed and competitive nature that had been

890-456: A monoplane seaplane called the S.4 which was used to set a new world air speed record over Southampton Water of 226.75 mph (364.9 kmh). However the sole example crashed during testing prior to the event, forcing the company to withdraw from the event. With sponsorship from the Air Ministry, Mitchell began to design a new streamlined monoplane aircraft designated the S.5 . Compared with

979-619: A number of possible acquisitions. Blackburn Aircraft was in poor condition, Saunders was potentially too costly as a consortium headed by A.V. Roe was proposing to purchase them, while Short was too big and diverse. That left Supermarine. Aware that Supermarine's ability to modernise and expand was limited by a lack of financial resources, Bird and the other directors agreed to sell to Vickers in 1928. Vickers paid £390,000 and renamed it as Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd . Subsequently, in December 1938, following both Air Ministry's and

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1068-599: A part of the British Aircraft Corporation and the individual manufacturing heritage names were lost. In 1909 Noel Pemberton-Billing purchased a number of engineering workshops on 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of land at South in Sussex which he intended to develop as an airfield . At the same time, he built a number of unsuccessful aircraft of his own design. To promote the venture, he founded his own magazine Aerocraft . Despite attracting some aircraft constructors,

1157-442: A platform or ramp supported by nautical floats. It is sometimes joined to the shore with a gangway but can be laid out the whole way from the shore to the end. This type of pier maintains a fixed vertical relationship to watercraft secured to it. A salvage pontoon , sometimes known as a lift bag , is a pontoon used to raise a sunken watercraft, or provide additional buoyancy. Salvage pontoons can be either flexible and inflatable, or

1246-596: A radio broadcast, he later referred to the S.6B as a "flying radiator". Mitchell decided to use the aircraft's floats as an additional radiator area; these were longer than those of the S.6, their design being supported by a series of wind tunnel tests performed at the National Physical Laboratory , which was also an area in which government support was helpful to the project. The floats were extended forward by some three feet (0.9 m); while longer than their predecessors, they were streamlined and had

1335-399: A result, he left in 1933. Trevor Westbrook, a 28-year-old and relatively inexperienced protégé of Robert McLean, was installed as Works Manager with a brief to improve the factory. His direct and forthright manner was not met with universal approval by the staff, but under his direction the factory was rebuilt, rationalised and extended, while the production methods were improved. In 1937 he

1424-629: A result, his return led to the company concentrating on designing the quadruplane P.B.29, which was designed to shoot down zeppelins . In May 1916 the company was awarded by the Air Department of the Admiralty a contract to build the flying surfaces for the AD flying boat and to undertake the detailed design and construction of the AD Navyplane . The AD Flying Boat was initially found to have poor performance in

1513-617: A row it confirmed Britain as the outright and final winner of the Schneider trophy. Float (nautical) During World War II the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps developed a modular steel box (pontoon) for the Seabees to use. It was a system of pre-drilled pre-cut angle iron and steel plate that could be assembled anywhere for which they became famous. They used them to facilitate amphibious landings. With

1602-784: A smaller frontal area. Other modifications to the airframe design were mostly limited to minor improvements and some strengthening in order to cope with the increased weight of the aircraft. Although the British team faced no competitors, due to misfortunes and delays suffered by other intending participants, the RAF High Speed Flight brought a total of six Supermarine Schneider racers to Calshot Spit on Southampton Water for training and practice. These aircraft were: S.5 serial number N219 , second at Venice in 1927, S.5 N220 , winner at Venice in 1927, two S.6s with new engines and redesignated as S.6As ( N247 that won at Calshot in 1929 and S.6A N248 , disqualified at Calshot in 1929), and

1691-631: A twin-engined biplane commercial amphibian to specification 21/22. Capable of carrying 12 passengers it was first flown in March 1924 and tested by the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE). The Air Ministry was so impressed with the results that they ordered a military derivative to specification 18/24. Six were ordered, subsequently entering service in 1925 as the Southampton . A further orders soon followed. To manufacture

1780-517: Is displayed in an unrestored state. For a short period of time, S1596 was tested at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE) at Felixstowe . but was unfortunately written off after a non-fatal crash in 1931. Having been repainted in WW2 to represent S1596 in the film First of the Few , S.6A N248 remained in this guise postwar and was displayed as S1596 at various events and locations including

1869-587: The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that powered it. Neither Mitchell nor Supermarine would produce further racing aircraft for successive competitions as work on the development of a new fighter aircraft at the British government's behest had taken precedence. Only 18 days after the S.6B's Schneider triumph the British Air Ministry issued Specification F7/30 , which called for an all-metal land-based fighter aircraft and sought innovative solutions aiming at

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1958-616: The Royal Aero Club , responsible for organising the 1931 race, and which included representatives from both the aircraft and aero engine industries, was formed to discuss the feasibility of a privately funded entry, but concluded that not only would this be beyond their financial reach, but that the lack of the highly skilled RAF pilots of the High-Speed Flight would pose a severe problem. The withdrawal of backing resulted in enormous public disappointment: having won two successive races,

2047-596: The Royal Navy 's first jet fighter, the Attacker , developed from the final Spitfire type. It served front line squadrons aboard aircraft carriers and RNVR squadrons at shore bases. The Attacker was followed by the more advanced Swift , which served in the fighter and photo-reconnaissance roles. The last of the Supermarine aircraft was the Scimitar . In the shakeup of British aircraft manufacturing, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) became

2136-522: The S.4 , S.5 and the S.6 . Despite these predecessors having previously won the Schneider Trophy competition twice, the development of the S.6B was hampered by wavering government support, which was first promised then withdrawn, and then given once more after a high-profile public campaign encouraged by Lord Rothermere and backed by a substantial donation by Lady Houston . Once government backing had been secured, there were only nine months before

2225-542: The Southampton Royal Pier as a visitor attraction. Its true identity was finally revealed by the Southampton Hall of Aviation in the early 1980s and it was then repainted as N248 . Data from Supermarine Aircraft since 1914. General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Supermarine Supermarine

2314-668: The AD Flying boats to produce the commercial "Type C" Channel flying boats. The reconfigured aircraft provided accommodation for a pilot and three passengers in three open cockpits. Once the ban on civilian flying was lifted in May 1919 the ten aircraft were registered in June 1919, with three being granted civil certificates of airworthiness at the end of July of that same year. Services commenced in August from Southampton with typically three in service. To pilot

2403-615: The Baby and the contemporary Sea Lion racing aircraft. While the prototype of which was exhibited at the Olympia air show but obtained no sales. This was subsequently fitted with new wings and tail surfaces and fitted with a more powerful engine, which Supermarine designating it as the Sea King II. No sales were however forthcoming. For the 1922 Schneider Trophy contest, which was being held in Naples, Italy,

2492-405: The S.4 which was completely fabricated from wood, the new design had metal floats and fuselage. This was a major risk as at the time Supermarine had no prior experience in metal construction and had still to commission their new metalworking department. Unfortunately as neither the S.5 nor any other design from a British company was ready in time Britain did not enter the 1926 contest. Once the design

2581-567: The S.6B had drawn the attention of not only British military officials and aircraft designers, but internationally as well, influencing new fighter projects in, amongst other nations, both Nazi Germany and the United States . After the completion of the record-breaking flights, both S.6Bs were retired. The Schneider Trophy winning S.6B S1595 was donated to the Science Museum in London, where it

2670-488: The Seagull were subsequently purchased by the Air Ministry in 1922. Once these were completed faced with no further orders the company considered closing down part of the factory and laying off staff. Bird approached the Air Ministry for assistance and while he received no orders they were encouraging. At the same time Scott-Paine was close to forming the British Marine Air Navigation Company, which it

2759-508: The Solent area for the RNAS. In the summer of 1919 William Hargreaves left to work for Vospers and later in the year Mitchell at the age of 24 was promoted to succeed him as chief designer. In 1920, Mitchell's role was expanded to include that of chief engineer. In 1927, he was offered and accepted a position on the board as Technical Director. Other than the income from operating commercial flights,

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2848-512: The Solent from the Woolston works. While the Southampton Mk I had wooden hulls, the Air Ministry indicated that they wanted future flying boats to be metal hulled and paid for the construction of a prototype. Compared with wooden hulls, metal hulls were stronger, lighter and didn't become heavier over time as the wood soaked up water. To enable them to construct metal hulls Supermarine established

2937-459: The Southampton, which was much larger than their previous designs a new fabrication workshop were built in 1924 and an erection hangar in 1926. Still short of room, in early 1927 the company took out a lease on the Air Ministry's large wartime flying boat assembly and testing facilities at Hythe. Final erection and testing of the Southamptons was then moved to Hythe, which was on the opposite side of

3026-655: The Spitfire). Supermarine also developed the Spiteful and Seafang , the successors of the Spitfire and Seafire, respectively, and the Walrus flying boat. The Supermarine main works was heavily bombed in 1940. This curtailed work on their first heavy bomber design, the Supermarine B.12/36 which was replaced by the Short Stirling . After the end of the war, the Supermarine division built

3115-929: The US and Kelowna in British Columbia, Canada are two places with permanent pontoon bridges, see William R. Bennett Bridge in British Columbia and these in Seattle: Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge , Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge . A floatplane ( float plane or pontoon plane ) is a type of seaplane with one or more floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. Pontoons for marine industrial uses are usually fabricated from steel. Pontoons as parts of watercraft and aircraft are more typically molded in glass-reinforced plastic . Other techniques include those of traditional wooden boatbuilding as well as plywood over wooden ribs or metal sheets over metal ribs (aluminium or steel), reflecting

3204-483: The Vickers board's concerns over delays to the Spitfire and Wellington manufacturing programmes, all Vickers-Armstrongs aviation interests were reorganised to become Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd , with both Vickers and Supermarine now under a single management team. Both subsidiaries were then formally wound up, although Supermarine continued to design, build and trade under its own name. The phrase Vickers Supermarine

3293-447: The aircraft made a short hop but other sources state that the PB.1 never flew. The sole P.B.1 was subsequently dismantled and no other examples were constructed. Another early design was the P.B.7, a flying lifeboat with detachable wings. The next significant design was the P.B.9 that used a set of wings which had been obtained from Radley-England. One example was built and while it flew it

3382-707: The airfield venture failed within a year and about the same time he sold Aerocraft . In 1911, Pemberton-Billing purchased facilities to provide a base for a motor launch and yacht trading business at White's Yard off Elm Road (later renamed Hazel Road) on the River Itchen , upstream of Woolston, Southampton . To manage the business, Pemberton-Billing hired his friend Hubert Scott-Paine , whom he had first met while involved in property speculation in Shoreham, Kent . Pemberton-Billing, his wife and Scott-Paine lived on Pemberton-Billing's yacht Utopia . Under Scott-Paine's management

3471-411: The board of Vickers-Armstrongs. Faced with Mitchell's threat to resign if Wallis remained, they backed down and Wallis was recalled back to Weybridge . Shortly after Wallis's departure Major Harold Payn, an engineer from Vickers design department was appointed by Vickers as Mitchell's deputy. A former pilot with experience from World War I, as well as testing aircraft despite little design experience it

3560-485: The business the original company was wound up with all creditors paid in full and a new public limited company with the same name was established and listed on the Stock Exchange with a capitalisation rising from £13,500 to £250,000. In 1926 existing Chief Draughtsman Frank Holroyd was promoted to become Assistant Chief Engineer, while Joseph "Joe" Smith was designated as Chief Draughtsman. Looking to expand away from

3649-839: The business was soon profitable, which allowed Billing (with the assistance of Scott-Paine) to design a series of flying boats with detachable propeller and wings so that with them removed it could be used as a motor launch. Pemberton-Billing submitted a patent application for his design in October 1913. After obtaining his aviator's certificate on 17 September 1913 following a £500 bet with Frederick Handley-Page that he could obtain it within 24 hour of commencing flight training, he decided to build his own aircraft. In partnership with Alfred Delves de Broughton, Billing established Pemberton-Billing Ltd on 27 June 1914 with capital of £20,000. Billing had 6,800 shares, Broughton 3,700 and works engineer Lorenz Hans Herkomer (1889–1922), 500. Herkomer's background

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3738-516: The commercial services Scott-Paine employed ex-RNAS pilots Henri Biard , Francis Bailey, Philip Brend. John Hoare, Basil Hobbs and Herbert Horsey. Following the completion of his duties for the Royal Naval Air Service NZAS James Bird (1883–1946) was invited in 1919 by Scott-Paine to join Supermarine as a director. A qualified marine architect he had previously been supervising contracts being undertaken by various companies in

3827-491: The company Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. The company became famous for its successes in the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes, especially its run of wins in 1927–1931. 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 phrase Vickers Supermarine

3916-457: The company modified the Sea King II by increasing the size of the rudder and fin and fitting a more powerful engine which gave a 50 percent increase in power. Designated Sea Lion II the aircraft won the contest and thus stopped the Italians from winning the trophy outright. With it looking likely that no British company would be entering an aircraft in the 1923 Schneider Trophy contest Scott-Paine

4005-452: The company without a designer. In early 1915 the company obtained work building 12 Short S.38 seaplanes under licence. Work continued on the company's own designs with the next to see the light of day being the P.B.23. The prototype was delivered in September 1915 with tests conducted at Heldon indicating that the design had some promise. As a result, a revised version designated the P.B.25

4094-487: The company's technical capability Scott-Paine advertised for a personal assistant. The successful applicant was R. J. Mitchell , who so impressed Scott-Paine he was hired on the spot and given a range of roles within the company to expose him to every aspect of the business including within a year acted for a period as assistant works manager. In 1917 the company was contracted to build Short Type 184 torpedo bombers and Norman Thompson N.T.2B trainers. In response to

4183-494: The company, was; Supermarine, Southampton . The first aircraft built by the new company was the Pemberton-Billing P.B.1 a single-seat open cockpit biplane flying boat. Following modifications, the P.B.1 entered testing, but failed to achieve flight. Billing, who had designed the aircraft, claimed he "wanted a boat which would fly rather than an aircraft that would float". Though no proof can be found, Billing claimed that

4272-509: The contract was cancelled. For the next contest Mitchell created the all-metal S.6 which featured the smallest possible airframe that he could design around a Rolls-Royce engine instead of the Napier engines used in the S.4 and S.5. This design won the 1929 contest. For the 1931 contest Mitchell created the S.6a, a derivative of the S6. This won the contest and as Britain had won the trophy three times in

4361-405: The driving force behind the company's entry's in the early Schneider Trophy contests, Bird was happy to continue Supermarine's involvement as he wanted to use it to enhance the company profile. After the failure of their 1924 entry, and realizing that other countries designs were far superior, Mitchell reached the conclusion that racing flying boats were no longer competitive. As a result, he designed

4450-460: The end of the war Supermarine was the only British aircraft constructor dedicated to building flying boats and Scott-Paine still wished the company to continue in this specialist field. To this end Supermarine joined the Society of British Aircraft Constructors in late 1919 and purchased from the government about 16 surplus AD Flying boats and the two completed Supermarine Babys. Supermarine modified 10 of

4539-489: The existing Vickers aircraft manufacturing division which was restructured as a semi-independent subsidiary called Vickers (Aviation) Ltd under the management of Robert McLean . McLean was tasked with expanding the new company which he undertook by improving the capability of the existing factory and looking for new facilities. Identifying that a manufacturer of flying boats would be good fit with their existing expertise designing and constructing land-based aircraft they evaluated

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4628-483: The issue of Navy Air Board Specification N.1(b) in early 1917, the company designed what later was called the Supermarine Baby . Three were subsequently built. The signing of the armistice agreement, with little prospect of any military contracts for some time, led to the company diversifying by employing its woodworkers in constructing everything from toilet seats to wooden framed bodies for Ford Model T cars. At

4717-529: The main income between 1919 and 1921 came from selling Channels with a modified design known as the Channel II being developed. As well as sales within Great Britain the company was able to sell 19 overseas, to customers including Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. In 1919 Scott-Paine decided to enter an aircraft from Supermarine in the upcoming 1919 Schneider Trophy seaplane race. A suitable aircraft

4806-499: The market for small amphibians and flying boats which was becoming more competitive as Blackburn and Short Brothers entered the market, the company designed large multi-engine flying boats to Air Ministry specifications. As a result, one example was built of the Scylla , a torpedo bomber triplane flying boat to specification 14/21. No orders were forthcoming. One example was also built of the Swan ,

4895-491: The multipart hulls of catamarans and trimarans and provide buoyancy for floatplanes , seaplanes and houseboats . They are used in pontoon bridges, floating piers, and floats anchored to the seabed for recreation or dockage. They are also used in shipbuilding and marine salvage, often deployed uninflated then pressurized to raise a sunken object. In military, floats are used as pontoon bridges or transportation platforms for heavier vehicles or machinery. In popular usage,

4984-426: The newly built S.6Bs, S1595 and S1596 . For the competition itself, only the S.6Bs and S.6As were intended to participate. The British plan for the Schneider contest was to have S1595 fly the course alone and, if its speed was not high enough, or the aircraft encountered mechanical failure, then the more-proven S.6A N248 would fly the course. If both S1595 and N248 failed in their attempts, then N247 , which

5073-448: The opinion that as well as wages being higher than at Vickers, it was also not being run efficiently, had poor record keeping, stock control, and was poorly equipped to build all-metal aircraft, with the ratio of unskilled to skilled labour at 1:3 compared with Vickers' 3:1. They therefore saw numerous opportunities to improve the profitability. One measure Vickers undertook was to send their experienced engineer Barnes Wallis to overhaul

5162-408: The other directors were Alfred Delves de Broughton and solicitor Charles Cecil Dominy. The first product of the new company was the P.B.31E Nighthawk which was a carryover from Billing's time for a quadruplane heavily armed and searchlight-equipped home defence fighter. Fitted with a recoilless Davis gun, it had a separate powerplant to power the searchlight . Only the prototype was built, which

5251-629: The pontoons, Seabees assembled docks, causeways, and rhinos to whatever size needed. They allowed landings on Sicily where no one thought possible. They ferried Patton across the Rhine and put Marines ashore on Okinawa . They would be used during the Korean War in the landing at Inchon in 1950 and again in Lebanon during the 1958 Lebanon crisis . Various objects that make use of floats are often referred to synecdochically as pontoons . Floats make up

5340-509: The race, so Mitchell's only realistic option was to refine the existing S.6, rather than attempting a new design. The principal differences between the S.6 and the S.6B were the increased power of the Rolls-Royce R engine and redesigned floats : minor aerodynamic refinements typically aimed at drag reduction were also made. A pair of S.6Bs, serials S1595 and S1596 , were built for the competition. Flown by members of RAF High Speed Flight ,

5429-461: The strength and profitability of the group. The most notable was their merger in January 1928 with long term rival Armstrong Whitworth to form Vickers-Armstrongs , with the exception of the Armstrong-Whitworth aircraft division and Armstrong Siddeley motor car division, which were bought out by J. D. Siddeley , and so did not join the new group. The new Vickers-Armstrong entity retained

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5518-828: The term pontoon can refer to any of several of the following objects that make use of nautical floats. A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on nautical floats for buoyancy. Common boat designs are a catamaran with two pontoons, or a trimaran with three. In many parts of the world, pontoon boats are used as small vehicle ferries to cross rivers and lakes. Raft-like platforms used for diving and other recreational activities are sometimes anchored at beaches and lake shores, often seasonally. Such platforms may be supported by foam-filled plastic floats or air-filled pontoons, and are known simply as "pontoons" in Australia and New Zealand. They may also be called swim floats. A floating dock , floating pier or floating jetty consists of

5607-511: The type competed successfully, winning the Schneider Trophy for Britain. Shortly after the race, S.6B S1596 , flown by Flt Lt. George Stainforth , broke the world air speed record , attaining a peak speed of 407.5 mph (655.67 km/h). Despite the Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald 's pledge that government support would be provided for the next British race entrant immediately after Britain's 1929 victory, official funding

5696-477: The water, which were eventually resolved. This led to 34 being built, though none saw service. In March 1916 Billing was elected as an MP . Once in parliament he was very vocal in his support of air power, constantly accusing the government of neglecting the issue. As he intended to run a campaign against the Royal Aircraft Factory and its products, it became apparent that if the company was to maintain

5785-504: The wings and undertake the final completion of two Vickers Viastra airliners and then employing it to construct a special version called the Viastra X, for the Prince of Wales . The other notable work was the design of the Type 179 , a six-engined flying boat, which led to the company being awarded a contract to build a prototype. Construction proceeded as far as the construction of the hull before

5874-575: The work practices in the design department. He arrived while Mitchell was away on his 1929 Christmas holidays and after installing himself in Mitchell's office began to make changes. Mitchell returned in the New Year, expressed his outrage at Wallis's presumption and immediately moved him to a disused loft in a remote corner of the Woolston works with orders to his staff not to make the interloper comfortable. Wallis eventually complained to McLean, who raised it with

5963-602: 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 company was founded in 1913 as Pemberton-Billing Ltd on the River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton , on ground previously purchased by Noel Pemberton Billing to construct motor launches. It produced

6052-480: Was able together with Southern Rail and the Asiatic Petroleum to establish the British Marine Air Navigation Company in 1923. They subsequently ordered three Sea Kings, which were used to commence a daily service on 25 September 1923 between Southampton and Guernsey. Then late in 1922 orders were received from the Air Ministry for five Seagull IIs followed by two further orders in early 1923. Later orders for what

6141-451: Was applied to the aircraft. Despite selling his shares to Vickers-Armstrongs, Bird stayed on as managing director of Supermarine while Mitchell continued as chief designer. He had signed a 10-year employment contract in 1923, that included a clause that said, if he left Supermarine he could not work for any other competitor without the directors written consent. While Supermarine was extremely profitable McLean and his management team were of

6230-437: Was applied to the aircraft. 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

6319-479: Was called the Seagull III were received in 1925 from the Royal Australian Navy. Partly due to Scott-Paine's preoccupation with developing the airline business the relationship between him and Bird began to breakdown. As a result, Bird assembled sufficient funds and on 16 November 1923 he confronted Scott-Paine who after negotiation accepted Bird's offer of £192,000 of his shares and left the company. In 1925 in an attempt to obtain additional funds with which to expand

6408-454: Was expected would place an order for aircraft with Supermarine. In expectation of receiving an order the directors decided not to reduce staff numbers. Meanwhile, to meet the requirements of the expected order Mitchell designed the Sea King in late 1922 to carry six passengers in an enclosed cabin. After receiving confirmation that subsidies would be available from the British government Scott-Paine

6497-573: Was felt that production was not worth pursuing. With no orders coming in, Billing had to sell one of his yachts and lease out part of the facilities to Tom Sopwith who used it for assembly and then testing of his Bat Boat . At the outbreak the First World War Billing enlisted in the Royal Navy Volunteer reserve, and thus he was no longer involved in day-to-day activities. With the business by now in serious financial trouble due to

6586-415: Was finished Supermarine received an order in late 1926 for two examples, with an order for a third following in early 1927. The S.5 dominated the 1927 contest, finishing first and second. The third example crashed killing its pilot while he was attempting to set a new air speed record over the Solent in 1928. In the late 1920s Vickers Ltd began a series of divestments and mergers as it attempted to improve

6675-516: Was found to have insufficient performance to be of any use against Zeppelins. After completion of the Nighthawk Scott-Paine dropped Billing's fixation with anti-Zeppelin defence fighters, and in the hope of gaining orders for flying boats forged a strong relationship with the RNAS through their local liaison officer James Bird. In early 1916 William Abraham Hargreaves was hired as chief designer. By 1917 realizing that he needed to strengthen

6764-493: Was hoped that he would be more diplomatic in bringing Supermarine's design office into agreement with Vickers work practices. That said the parent company provided the combined Vickers (Aviation) Ltd with £250,000 in 1929 to support research and development. As a consequence the capabilities of the design team at Supermarine were expanded by employing among others Alfred Faddy, William Munro (who had expertise in hydrodynamics and metal hull construction) and Beverley Shenstone who

6853-467: Was in electrical engineering and automobiles. Romanian Carol Vasilesco was employed to prepare drawings and undertake the detailed design of airframes. On land at Oakbank Wharf on the river Itchen in Woolston, Southampton that Billing had previously purchased, the company established a factory with Hubert Scott-Paine as work manager. Its registered telegraphic address , used for sending telegrams and cables to

6942-505: Was insufficient time to overcome a number of design issues which lead to Supermarine withdrawing from the event. In the early 1920s the company developed a series of similar one-off amphibians. The most notable of these was the Seal II, which was a three-seater fleet spotter paid for by the Air Ministry. After it performed well during its evaluation by the RAF, two examples of an improved version, named

7031-454: Was only guaranteed for a short time. To improve the engine performance, the use of an exotic fuel mix was necessary, as well as the adoption of sodium -cooled valves. Instead, he refined the design of the existing Supermarine S.6, the new variant being referred to as the Supermarine S.6B . Mitchell retained the majority of the S.6's design, his efforts being principally focused on improving the prospective aircraft's heat dissipation; speaking on

7120-599: Was performed by S.6B S1595 , piloted by Flt. Lt. John Boothman , attaining a recorded top speed of 340.08 mph (547.19 km/h) and flying seven perfect laps of the triangular course over the Solent , the strait between the Isle of Wight and the British mainland . As the only contender it necessarily won, and the British record of wins entitled them to retain the Schneider trophy permanently. Seventeen days later, another historic flight

7209-486: Was performed by S.6B S1596 , flown by Flt Lt. George Stainforth , having broken the world air speed record by reaching a peak speed of 407.5 mph (655.67 km/h). The performance of the S.6B and its forerunners caused Mitchell to be recognised as a great designer of performance aircraft. The S.6B has been hailed as giving the impetus to the development of both the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft and

7298-524: Was persuaded by the British organizers to enter. As Supermarine being in a poor financial state, Mitchell was restricted to modifying the Sea Lion II, the result which was designated Sea Lion III and proved to be uncompetitive. For the 1924 contest Mitchell began design work on a completely new flying-boat biplane design called the Sea Urchin, which would have been fitted with a Rolls-Royce engine. However, there

7387-409: Was planned to be held in reserve, would be used. The S.6B S1596 was then to attempt the world air speed record. During practice, N247 was destroyed in a takeoff accident, resulting in the death of the pilot, Lieut. G. L. Brinton, R.N., precluding any other plans with only the two S.6Bs and the sole surviving S.6A prepared to conduct the final Schneider run. On 13 September 1931, the Schneider flight

7476-474: Was produced by heavily modifying N61, the youngest of the two Babys that the company had purchased from the government. Fitted with a Napier Lion engine it was given the name Sea Lion . Flown by Basil Hobbs the aircraft sank on 10 September 1919 after it struck flotsam while competing in the event. In early 1920 the company developed the Supermarine Sea King a single seat flying boat fighter resembling

7565-638: Was produced, for which an order for 20 was received from the Royal Naval Air Service . In late 1915 having completed serving with the RNVR and RNAS Billing returned to the company. As a result of his experience while involved in the organising of the air raid in November 1914 on the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance Billing believed that England was defenceless against attacks by Zeppelins. As

7654-461: Was promoted within the Vickers group and left Supermarine. He was succeeded at Supermarine by H.B. Pratt. In response to the onset of the Depression in 1929, with completion of contracts for Southampton running down and no new aircraft orders being received it was necessary to reduce construction staff numbers by a third over the winter of 1930. Vickers supported Supermarine by contracting it to build

7743-554: Was reformed while Mitchell and Rolls-Royce set to work. Mitchell, with limited time to prepare an entry, knew that there was not enough time left to design a new aircraft from scratch. The obvious means of improving the S.6's performance was by obtaining more power from the R-Type engine. Engineers at Rolls-Royce had managed to increase the available power of the engine by 400 hp (298 kW), enabling it to now provide up to 2,300 hp (1,715 kW); however, this level of performance

7832-620: Was the first academically trained aerodynamicist at Supermarine. As a consequence the services of Mitchell's deputy Frank Holroyd were no longer required and he was dismissed. By 1931 the restructuring of the company ended with Mitchell still technical director and reporting to him, the Technical Office under Alan Clifton and the Drawing Office under Joe Smith. Vickers' own pilots took over test flying, which led to Henry Biard's role as Supermarine's test pilot since 1919 coming to an end. As

7921-509: Was withdrawn less than two months later following the Wall Street Crash ; the official reason given for the withdrawal that the previous two contests had collected sufficient data on high speed flight, so further expenditure of public money was unwarranted. A further rationale given for the government's revised position was that that original purpose in pioneering high speed seaplanes had been satisfied by this point. A committee established by

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