A swept wing is a wing angled either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than perpendicular to the fuselage.
151-573: 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 Scimitar was developed out of an earlier effort, internally designated Type 505 , an undercarriage -less fighter aircraft intended to be flown from rubber decks . Much of
302-649: A Scimitar immediately after. Late in the Scimitar's operational career, 16 examples were flown between 1965 and 1970 by the Fleet Requirements Unit (FRU) based at Bournemouth Airport (Hurn). The FRU was managed by Airwork Services and provided realistic flight operations for land and sea-based naval training units. Data from Supermarine Aircraft since 1914 General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Supermarine Supermarine
453-535: A cannon armament and was different enough in detail to be renamed the Type 529 . It flew for the first time on 29 August 1952. One unusual modification was the larger tailcone, which had been implemented so that a proposed tail-warning radar could be accommodated. The maximum speed of the straight-winged Type 508 and 529 was relatively modest, with the Type 529 reaching 607 mph (977 km/h) and it had already been decided when
604-600: 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
755-436: A fighter even prior to its introduction by other aircraft such as the de Havilland Sea Venom and the de Havilland Sea Vixen . It experienced a relatively high attrition rate due to a spate of accidents. Towards its latter years of operation, the type was frequently used as an aerial refuelling tanker . During 1969, the Scimitar was permanently withdrawn, having been replaced in service by newer and more capable aircraft such as
906-456: 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,
1057-418: A higher speed the effects of compressibility (abrupt changes in the density of the airflow), e.g. combat aircraft, airliners and business jets. Other reasons include: 1. enabling a wing carry-through box position to achieve a desired cabin size, e.g. HFB 320 Hansa Jet . 2. providing static aeroelastic relief which reduces bending moments under high g-loadings and may allow a lighter wing structure. For
1208-425: 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
1359-508: 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
1510-509: A local indentation of the fuselage above and below the wing root. This proved to not be very effective. During the development of the Douglas DC-8 airliner, uncambered airfoils were used in the wing root area to combat the unsweeping. Swept wings on supersonic aircraft usually lie within the cone-shaped shock wave produced at the nose of the aircraft so they will "see" subsonic airflow and work as subsonic wings. The angle needed to lie behind
1661-462: A means of creating positive longitudinal static stability . For a low-speed aircraft, swept wings may be used to resolve problems with the center of gravity , to move the wing spar into a more convenient location, or to improve the sideways view from the pilot's position. By 1905, Dunne had already built a model glider with swept wings followed by the powered Dunne D.5 , and by 1913 he had constructed successful powered variants that were able to cross
SECTION 10
#17328559589821812-725: 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
1963-456: 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
2114-619: 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
2265-477: A pair of proposed fighter aircraft equipped with swept wings from Hawker Aircraft and Supermarine , the Hawker Hunter and Supermarine Swift respectively, and successfully pressed for orders to be placed 'off the drawing board' in 1950. On 7 September 1953, the sole Hunter Mk 3 (the modified first prototype, WB 188 ) flown by Neville Duke broke the world air speed record for jet-powered aircraft, attaining
2416-599: 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,
2567-579: A record-breaking speed of Mach 1.06 (700 miles per hour (1,100 km/h; 610 kn)). The news of a successful straight-wing supersonic aircraft surprised many aeronautical experts on both sides of the Atlantic, as it was increasingly believed that a swept-wing design not only highly beneficial but also necessary to break the sound barrier. During the final years of the Second World War, aircraft designer Sir Geoffrey de Havilland commenced development on
2718-427: A reduction in its stalling speed, a reduced angle of attack, increased stability and control at low speeds, and more stable airflow over the wing's trailing edge. Thus, the basic design was considered to have been sufficiently proved to the extent that officials decided to proceed with an outwardly fairly similar looking aircraft, the Type 544 , to fulfil Specification N.113. A total of 100 aircraft were ordered, although
2869-399: 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
3020-629: 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
3171-582: A row it confirmed Britain as the outright and final winner of the Schneider trophy. Swept wing Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigated in Germany as early as 1935 by Albert Betz and Adolph Busemann , finding application just before the end of the Second World War . It has the effect of delaying the shock waves and accompanying aerodynamic drag rise caused by fluid compressibility near
SECTION 20
#17328559589823322-404: A straight-wing paired with a V-tail and twin jet engines. The redesign was done in a manner that, if desired, an undercarriage-less configuration was still viable; furthermore, it was designed in such a manner that it could be readily adapted to Royal Air Force (RAF) requirements as well. The primary structural change between the two designs affected the wing spars, which were redirected underneath
3473-420: A swept wing as it travels through the air. The airflow over a swept wing encounters the wing at an angle. That angle can be broken down into two vectors, one perpendicular to the wing, and one parallel to the wing. The flow parallel to the wing has no effect on it, and since the perpendicular vector is shorter (meaning slower) than the actual airflow, it consequently exerts less pressure on the wing. In other words,
3624-631: 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
3775-434: A wing is generated by the airflow over it from front to rear. With increasing span-wise flow the boundary layers on the surface of the wing have longer to travel, and so are thicker and more susceptible to transition to turbulence or flow separation, also the effective aspect ratio of the wing is less and so air "leaks" around the wing tips reducing their effectiveness. The spanwise flow on swept wings produces airflow that moves
3926-419: A wing of given span, sweeping it increases the length of the spars running along it from root to tip. This tends to increase weight and reduce stiffness. If the fore-aft chord of the wing also remains the same, the distance between leading and trailing edges reduces, reducing its ability to resist twisting (torsion) forces. A swept wing of given span and chord must therefore be strengthened and will be heavier than
4077-576: A wing: 1. to arrange the center of gravity of the aircraft and the aerodynamic center of the wing to coincide more closely for longitudinal balance, e.g. Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and Messerschmitt Me 262 . Although not a swept wing the wing panels on the Douglas DC-1 outboard of the nacelles also had slight sweepback for similar reasons. 2. to provide longitudinal stability for tailless aircraft, e.g. Messerschmitt Me 163 Kometuu . 3. most commonly to increase Mach-number capability by delaying to
4228-534: A world speed record. On 12 April 1948, a D.H.108 did set a world's speed record at 973.65 km/h (605 mph), it subsequently became the first jet aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. Around this same timeframe, the Air Ministry introduced a program of experimental aircraft to examine the effects of swept wings, as well as the delta wing configuration. Furthermore, the Royal Air Force (RAF) identified
4379-485: Is forced to rapidly slow and return to ambient pressure. At the point where the density drops, the local speed of sound correspondingly drops and a shock wave can form. This is why in conventional wings, shock waves form first after the maximum Thickness/Chord and why all airliners designed for cruising in the transonic range (above M0.8) have supercritical wings that are flatter on top, resulting in minimized angular change of flow to upper surface air. The angular change to
4530-494: Is important because the leading edge has to be behind the mach cone to reduce wave drag. The quarter chord (25%) line is used because subsonic lift due to angle of attack acts there and, up until the introduction of supercritical sections, the crest was usually close to the quarter chord. Typical sweep angles vary from 0 for a straight-wing aircraft, to 45 degrees or more for fighters and other high-speed designs. Shock waves can form on some parts of an aircraft moving at less than
4681-429: Is placed in an airstream at an angle of yaw – i.e., it is swept back. Now, even if the local speed of the air on the upper surface of the wing becomes supersonic, a shock wave cannot form there because it would have to be a sweptback shock – swept at the same angle as the wing – i.e., it would be an oblique shock. Such an oblique shock cannot form until the velocity component normal to it becomes supersonic." To visualize
Supermarine Scimitar - Misplaced Pages Continue
4832-452: Is the largest continually curved surface, and therefore the largest contributor to this effect. Sweeping the wing has the effect of reducing the curvature of the body as seen from the airflow, by the cosine of the angle of sweep. For instance, a wing with a 45 degree sweep will see a reduction in effective curvature to about 70% of its straight-wing value. This has the effect of increasing the critical Mach by 30%. When applied to large areas of
4983-483: The Sabre dance in reference to the number of North American F-100 Super Sabres that crashed on landing as a result. Reducing pitch-up to an acceptable level has been done in different ways such as the addition of a fin known as a wing fence on the upper surface of the wing to redirect the flow to a streamwise direction. The MiG-15 was one example of an aircraft fitted with wing fences. Another closely related design
5134-457: The Admiralty had second thoughts about the undercarriage-less fighter, leading to Supermarine reworking their design by including a nosewheel undercarriage , the resulting redesign being designated the Type 508 . This led to the adoption of a retractable nosewheel undercarriage; redesign work was aided by considerations that had already made for the installation of a conventional undercarriage upon
5285-477: The Blackburn Buccaneer . The Scimitar stemmed from a number of designs produced by Supermarine for a naval jet aircraft. Work on what would eventually lead to the Scimitar officially commenced in 1945 following the release of a requirement for an undercarriage-less fighter aircraft, which was intended to land on flexible "sprung" rubber decks . According to aviation authors C. F. Andrews and E. B. Morgan, it
5436-683: The English Channel . The Dunne D.5 was exceptionally aerodynamically stable for the time, and the D.8 was sold to the Royal Flying Corps ; it was also manufactured under licence by Starling Burgess to the United States Navy amongst other customers. Dunne's work ceased with the onset of war in 1914, but afterwards the idea was taken up by G. T. R. Hill in England who designed a series of gliders and aircraft to Dunne's guidelines, notably
5587-455: The Junkers Ju 287 or HFB 320 Hansa Jet . However, larger sweep suitable for high-speed aircraft, like fighters, was generally impossible until the introduction of fly by wire systems that could react quickly enough to damp out these instabilities. The Grumman X-29 was an experimental technology demonstration project designed to test the forward swept wing for enhanced maneuverability during
5738-544: 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
5889-520: The Westland-Hill Pterodactyl series. However, Dunne's theories met with little acceptance amongst the leading aircraft designers and aviation companies at the time. The idea of using swept wings to reduce high-speed drag was developed in Germany in the 1930s. At a Volta Conference meeting in 1935 in Italy, Adolf Busemann suggested the use of swept wings for supersonic flight. He noted that
6040-418: The de Havilland Comet , which would become the world's first jet airliner. An early design consideration was whether to apply the new swept-wing configuration. Thus, an experimental aircraft to explore the technology, the de Havilland DH 108 , was developed by the firm in 1944, headed by project engineer John Carver Meadows Frost with a team of 8–10 draughtsmen and engineers. The DH 108 primarily consisted of
6191-444: The speed of sound , improving performance. Swept wings are therefore almost always used on jet aircraft designed to fly at these speeds. The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but variants include forward sweep , variable sweep wings and oblique wings in which one side sweeps forward and the other back. The delta wing is also aerodynamically a form of swept wing. There are three main reasons for sweeping
Supermarine Scimitar - Misplaced Pages Continue
6342-412: The 1930s and 1940s, but the breakthrough mathematical definition of sweep theory is generally credited to NACA 's Robert T. Jones in 1945. Sweep theory builds on other wing lift theories. Lifting line theory describes lift generated by a straight wing (a wing in which the leading edge is perpendicular to the airflow). Weissinger theory describes the distribution of lift for a swept wing, but does not have
6493-405: The 1980s. The Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut is another notable demonstrator aircraft implementing this technology to achieve high levels of agility. To date, no highly swept-forward design has entered production. The first successful aeroplanes adhered to the basic design of rectangular wings at right angles to the body of the machine. Such a layout is inherently unstable; if the weight distribution of
6644-668: 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
6795-615: 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,
6946-606: The Royal Navy had changed the specification to a low level strike aircraft with nuclear capability , despite having originally been designed as a fighter. The first of the Type 544s, serving as prototypes for the later production series, flew on 19 January 1956. The aircraft evolved more with the third Type 544, incorporating different aerodynamic changes and a stronger airframe for the new low level role - to quote Flight ; "To permit uninhibited manoeuvring in thick turbulent air at low levels while carrying heavy loads of strike weapons,
7097-405: 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
7248-486: The Scimitar could operate as a fighter, the interceptor role was covered by the de Havilland Sea Venom and then the de Havilland Sea Vixen . The Scimitar itself was replaced by the Blackburn Buccaneer . It was kept initially as a tanker to allow the underpowered Buccaneer S.1 to be launched from aircraft carriers with a useful weapons load. To save weight, the Buccaneer would take off with a reduced fuel load then refuel from
7399-406: The Scimitar shortly thereafter, leading to its use upon the carriers HMS Ark Royal , HMS Centaur , HMS Eagle and HMS Victorious as well. Early on in the Scimitar's flying career, the majority of the Royal Navy's carriers were relatively small while the Scimitar was a comparatively large and powerful aircraft. This combination likely contributed heavily to the frequent landing accidents with
7550-488: 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
7701-508: 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,
SECTION 50
#17328559589827852-512: 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
8003-459: 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
8154-708: 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
8305-407: The Type 505 during its initial test flights. Furthermore, the viable landing speed was also reduced at this time, necessitating various alterations, such as the wing thickness being increased from seven to nine percent for a higher lift coefficient, while the wing's area was also expanded. The Type 508 was the first Scimitar ancestor; it shared the broad layout of the unflown Type 505, both possessing
8456-407: The Type 508 first flew, to redesign the third prototype with swept wings to improve performance. The resulting Type 525 also featured conventional swept tail surfaces as well as blown flaps to reduce the aircraft's landing speed and first flew on 27 April 1954. While the aircraft was subsequently lost as a result of a crash, numerous favourable performance improvements had been observed, including
8607-483: 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
8758-687: The actual aircraft speed is, this becomes a problem during slow-flight phases, such as takeoff and landing. There have been various ways of addressing the problem, including the variable-incidence wing design on the Vought F-8 Crusader , and swing wings on aircraft such as the F-14 , F-111 , and the Panavia Tornado . The term "swept wing" is normally used to mean "swept back", but other swept variants include forward sweep , variable sweep wings and oblique wings in which one side sweeps forward and
8909-434: The air does have time to react, and is pushed spanwise by the angled leading edge, towards the wing tip. At the wing root, by the fuselage, this has little noticeable effect, but as one moves towards the wingtip the airflow is pushed spanwise not only by the leading edge, but the spanwise moving air beside it. At the tip the airflow is moving along the wing instead of over it, a problem known as spanwise flow . The lift from
9060-481: The air that is normally part of lift generation is decreased and this lift reduction is compensated for by deeper curved lower surfaces accompanied by a reflex curve at the trailing edge. This results in a much weaker shock wave towards the rear of the upper wing surface and a corresponding increase in critical mach number. Shock waves require energy to form. This energy is taken out of the aircraft, which has to supply extra thrust to make up for this energy loss. Thus
9211-421: The air would be added to the previously perpendicular airflow, resulting in an airflow over the wing at an angle to the leading edge. This angle results in airflow traveling a greater distance from leading edge to trailing edge, and thus the air pressure is distributed over a greater distance (and consequently lessened at any particular point on the surface). This scenario is identical to the airflow experienced by
SECTION 60
#17328559589829362-414: The aircraft changes even slightly, the wing will want to rotate so its front moves up (weight moving rearward) or down (forward) and this rotation will change the development of lift and cause it to move further in that direction. To make an aircraft stable, the normal solution is to place the weight at one end and offset this with an opposite downward force at the other - this leads to the classic layout with
9513-447: 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
9664-443: The aircraft's features, including its unorthodox V-tail (or "butterfly tail") and its thin straight wing, were shared with this ancestor; however, the Admiralty reconsidered their requirements and specified a conventional undercarriage be used. Accordingly, Supermarine produced the closely related Type 508 , equipped with an enlarged wing and retractable undercarriage. On 31 August 1951, the Type 508 performed its maiden flight , it
9815-422: The aircraft, like the wings and empennage , this allows the aircraft to reach speeds closer to Mach 1. One limiting factor in swept wing design is the so-called "middle effect". If a swept wing is continuous - an oblique swept wing - the pressure isobars will be swept at a continuous angle from tip to tip. However, if the left and right halves are swept back equally, as is common practice, the pressure isobars on
9966-707: 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
10117-547: The airframe compact and fairly lightweight, it was also desirable to adopt the most powerful powerplants available while restricting its diameter and thus its overall size; it was promptly determined that placing a pair of engines in a side-by-side configuration resulted in a relatively flat fuselage cross-section that generated favourable characteristics for undercarriage-less landings. Supermarine's design to meet this requirement, internally designated Type 505 , featured an unusual V-tail (or "butterfly tail") arrangement that kept
10268-418: The airspeed over the wing was dominated by the normal component of the airflow, not the freestream velocity, so by setting the wing at an angle the forward velocity at which the shock waves would form would be higher (the same had been noted by Max Munk in 1924, although not in the context of high-speed flight). Albert Betz immediately suggested the same effect would be equally useful in the transonic. After
10419-413: The angle of attack at the tip, thus reducing the bending moment on the wing, as well as somewhat reducing the chance of tip stall. However, the same effect on forward-swept wings produces a wash-in effect that increases the angle of attack promoting tip stall. Small amounts of sweep do not cause serious problems, and had been used on a variety of aircraft to move the spar into a convenient location, as on
10570-401: The basic concept of simple sweep theory, consider a straight, non-swept wing of infinite length, which meets the airflow at a perpendicular angle. The resulting air pressure distribution is equivalent to the length of the wing's chord (the distance from the leading edge to the trailing edge). If we were to begin to slide the wing sideways ( spanwise ), the sideways motion of the wing relative to
10721-411: 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
10872-485: 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
11023-839: 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
11174-412: The capability to include chordwise pressure distribution. There are other methods that do describe chordwise distributions, but they have other limitations. Jones' sweep theory provides a simple, comprehensive analysis of swept wing performance. An explanation of how the swept wing works was offered by Robert T. Jones : "Assume a wing is a cylinder of uniform airfoil cross-section, chord and thickness and
11325-516: 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
11476-549: 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
11627-457: 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
11778-452: 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
11929-487: 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
12080-494: 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
12231-511: The cone increases with increasing speed, at Mach 1.3 the angle is about 45 degrees, at Mach 2.0 it is 60 degrees. The angle of the Mach cone formed off the body of the aircraft will be at about sin μ = 1/M (μ is the sweep angle of the Mach cone) When a swept wing travels at high speed, the airflow has little time to react and simply flows over the wing almost straight from front to back. At lower speeds
12382-509: 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
12533-405: 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
12684-462: The earlier Supermarine Attacker was positioned within the aircraft's nose, it was pressurised to better facilitate flying at altitude. The powerplant selected was the Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engine, a pair of which being installed side by side within the fuselage; it was accessed via removable panels on the upper fuselage. A relatively thin wing could also be adopted, having been freed from
12835-412: The effects of compressibility in transonic and supersonic aircraft because of the reduced pressures. This allows the mach number of an aircraft to be higher than that actually experienced by the wing. There is also a negative aspect to sweep theory. The lift produced by a wing is directly related to the speed of the air over the wing. Since the airflow speed experienced by a swept wing is lower than what
12986-460: 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
13137-460: The engine in front and the control surfaces at the end of a long boom with the wing in the middle. This layout has long been known to be inefficient. The downward force of the control surfaces needs further lift from the wing to offset. The amount of force can be decreased by increasing the length of the boom, but this leads to more skin friction and weight of the boom itself. This problem led to many experiments with different layouts that eliminates
13288-401: The engines to accommodate the undercarriage. During November 1947, Supermarine received an initial order for three Type 508s to fulfil Specification N.9/47 . On 31 August 1951, the first Type 508 performed its maiden flight from RAF Boscombe Down ; by May 1952, the aircraft had commenced carrier-based trials aboard HMS Eagle . The second aircraft featured significant differences, carrying
13439-419: The equivalent unswept wing. A swept wing typically angles backward from its root rather than forwards. Because wings are made as light as possible, they tend to flex under load. This aeroelasticity under aerodynamic load causes the tips to bend upwards in normal flight. Backwards sweep causes the tips to reduce their angle of attack as they bend, reducing their lift and limiting the effect. Forward sweep causes
13590-489: 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
13741-535: The fastest aircraft of the era were only approaching 400 km/h (249 mph).The presentation was largely of academic interest, and soon forgotten. Even notable attendees including Theodore von Kármán and Eastman Jacobs did not recall the presentation 10 years later when it was re-introduced to them. Hubert Ludwieg of the High-Speed Aerodynamics Branch at the AVA Göttingen in 1939 conducted
13892-537: The first use of duplicated fully-powered flight controls by a British naval aircraft. At the point of its introduction, the Scimitar was the largest, heaviest and most powerful aircraft to have entered service with the Fleet Air Arm. In June 1958, operational training on the type commenced with 803 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Lossiemouth , prior to their embarkment upon the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious during September of that year. Multiple squadrons formed around
14043-565: The first wind tunnel tests to investigate Busemann's theory. Two wings, one with no sweep, and one with 45 degrees of sweep were tested at Mach numbers of 0.7 and 0.9 in the 11 x 13 cm wind tunnel. The results of these tests confirmed the drag reduction offered by swept wings at transonic speeds. The results of the tests were communicated to Albert Betz who then passed them on to Willy Messerschmitt in December 1939. The tests were expanded in 1940 to include wings with 15, 30 and -45 degrees of sweep and Mach numbers as high as 1.21. With
14194-715: The immediate post-war era, several nations were conducting research into high speed aircraft. In the United Kingdom, work commenced during 1943 on the Miles M.52 , a high-speed experimental aircraft equipped with a straight wing that was developed in conjunction with Frank Whittle 's Power Jets company, the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in Farnborough , and the National Physical Laboratory . The M.52
14345-472: The introduction of jets in the later half of the Second World War , the swept wing became increasingly applicable to optimally satisfying aerodynamic needs. The German jet-powered Messerschmitt Me 262 and rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 suffered from compressibility effects that made both aircraft very difficult to control at high speeds. In addition, the speeds put them into the wave drag regime, and anything that could reduce this drag would increase
14496-483: 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
14647-461: The left wing in theory will meet the pressure isobars of the right wing on the centerline at a large angle. As the isobars cannot meet in such a fashion, they will tend to curve on each side as they near the centerline, so that the isobars cross the centerline at right angles to the centerline. This causes an "unsweeping" of the isobars in the wing root region. To combat this unsweeping, German aerodynamicist Dietrich Küchemann proposed and had tested
14798-529: 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
14949-499: 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 ,
15100-434: The necessity of bearing elements of the undercarriage; while considerations towards a swept wing configuration were made, the option was discounted due to it presenting too many unknown factors at the time. Instead, a straight wing with a constant airfoil section was adopted; its leading edge section was as large as was feasible to minimise premature breakaway of airflow, a phenomenon that could lead to stalls . During 1948,
15251-420: The need for the downward force. One such wing geometry appeared before World War I , which led to early swept wing designs. In this layout, the wing is swept so that portions lie far in front and in back of the center of gravity (CoG), with the control surfaces behind it. The result is a weight distribution similar to the classic layout, but the offsetting control force is no longer a separate surface but part of
15402-448: 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
15553-433: The other back. The delta wing also incorporates the same advantages as part of its layout. Sweeping a wing forward has approximately the same effect as rearward in terms of drag reduction, but has other advantages in terms of low-speed handling where tip stall problems simply go away. In this case the low-speed air flows towards the fuselage, which acts as a very large wing fence. Additionally, wings are generally larger at
15704-408: 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
15855-421: The pairing of the front fuselage of the de Havilland Vampire to a swept wing and small vertical tail; it was the first British swept wing jet, unofficially known as the "Swallow". It first flew on 15 May 1946, a mere eight months after the project's go-ahead. Company test pilot and son of the builder, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr ., flew the first of three aircraft and found it extremely fast – fast enough to try for
16006-458: The performance of their aircraft, notably the notoriously short flight times measured in minutes. This resulted in a crash program to introduce new swept wing designs, both for fighters as well as bombers . The Blohm & Voss P 215 was designed to take full advantage of the swept wing's aerodynamic properties; however, an order for three prototypes was received only weeks before the war ended and no examples were ever built. The Focke-Wulf Ta 183
16157-402: The presentation the host of the meeting, Arturo Crocco , jokingly sketched "Busemann's airplane of the future" on the back of a menu while they all dined. Crocco's sketch showed a classic 1950s fighter design, with swept wings and tail surfaces, although he also sketched a swept propeller powering it. At the time, however, there was no way to power an aircraft to these sorts of speeds, and even
16308-422: The problem. In addition to pitch-up there are other complications inherent in a swept-wing configuration. For any given length of wing, the actual span from tip-to-tip is shorter than the same wing that is not swept. There is a strong correlation between low-speed drag and aspect ratio , the span compared to chord, so a swept wing always has more drag at lower speeds. In addition, there is extra torque applied by
16459-431: The root anyway, which allows them to have better low-speed lift. However, this arrangement also has serious stability problems. The rearmost section of the wing will stall first causing a pitch-up moment pushing the aircraft further into stall similar to a swept back wing design. Thus swept-forward wings are unstable in a fashion similar to the low-speed problems of a conventional swept wing. However unlike swept back wings,
16610-426: The shocks are seen as a form of drag . Since the shocks form when the local air velocity reaches supersonic speeds, there is a certain " critical mach " speed where sonic flow first appears on the wing. There is a following point called the drag divergence mach number where the effect of the drag from the shocks becomes noticeable. This is normally when the shocks start generating over the wing, which on most aircraft
16761-403: The speed of sound. Low-pressure regions around an aircraft cause the flow to accelerate, and at transonic speeds this local acceleration can exceed Mach 1. Localized supersonic flow must return to the freestream conditions around the rest of the aircraft, and as the flow enters an adverse pressure gradient in the aft section of the wing, a discontinuity emerges in the form of a shock wave as the air
16912-402: The stagnation point on the leading edge of any individual wing segment further beneath the leading edge, increasing effective angle of attack of wing segments relative to its neighbouring forward segment. The result is that wing segments farther towards the rear operate at increasingly higher angles of attack promoting early stall of those segments. This promotes tip stall on back-swept wings, as
17063-511: 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
17214-618: The structure is extremely sturdy". Various aerodynamic "fixes" were implemented in an effort to counter undesirable pitch-up effects present during high speed flight and at high altitudes; these included flared-out wing tips and wing fences, while the tailplane was also changed from dihedral to anhedral. These combined modifications led to the final Type 544 being considered the "production standard". The first production Scimitar flew on 11 January 1957. The Scimitar pioneered fuel flow proportioning and integral main-plane tanks, along with "blown" flying surfaces to reduce landing speeds. It also featured
17365-540: The swept wing design used by most modern jet aircraft, as this design performs more effectively at transonic and supersonic speeds. In its advanced form, sweep theory led to the experimental oblique wing concept. Adolf Busemann introduced the concept of the swept wing and presented this in 1935 at the Fifth Volta Conference in Rome. Sweep theory in general was a subject of development and investigation throughout
17516-508: The tail surfaces away from the jet exhausts. Pitch control was performed via movements of the whole tail, the elevators being capable of working in tandem to provide additional pitch control, while also replacing the rudder of a conventional tail when being worked differentially. Wide-chord ailerons were installed for lateral control while leading and trailing edge flaps were also fitted, including dive flaps to aid in recovery during high speed flight by restoring lift. A cockpit akin to
17667-411: The tips are most rearward, while delaying tip stall for forward-swept wings, where the tips are forward. With both forward and back-swept wings, the rear of the wing will stall first creating a nose-up moment on the aircraft. If not corrected by the pilot the plane will pitch up, leading to more of the wing stalling and more pitch up in a divergent manner. This uncontrollable instability came to be known as
17818-450: The tips on a forward swept design will stall last, maintaining roll control. Forward-swept wings can also experience dangerous flexing effects compared to aft-swept wings that can negate the tip stall advantage if the wing is not sufficiently stiff. In aft-swept designs, when the airplane maneuvers at high load factor the wing loading and geometry twists the wing in such a way as to create washout (tip twists leading edge down). This reduces
17969-467: The tips to increase their angle of attack as they bend. This increases their lift causing further bending and hence yet more lift in a cycle which can cause a runaway structural failure. For this reason forward sweep is rare and the wing must be unusually rigid. There are two sweep angles of importance, one at the leading edge for supersonic aircraft and the other 25% of the way back from the leading edge for subsonic and transonic aircraft. Leading edge sweep
18120-401: The type; perhaps the most high profile of these occurred during the type's introduction. It was a fatal accident, taking the life of Commander John Russell, commanding officer of 803 Naval Air Squadron, the first squadron to operate the Scimitar. Overall the Scimitar suffered from a high loss rate; 39 were lost in a number of accidents, amounting to 51% of the Scimitar's production run. Although
18271-477: 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
18422-448: The wing experiences airflow that is slower - and at lower pressures - than the actual speed of the aircraft. One of the factors that must be taken into account when designing a high-speed wing is compressibility , which is the effect that acts upon a wing as it approaches and passes through the speed of sound . The significant negative effects of compressibility made it a prime issue with aeronautical engineers. Sweep theory helps mitigate
18573-469: The wing to the fuselage which has to be allowed for when establishing the transfer of wing-box loads to the fuselage. This results from the significant part of the wing lift which lies behind the attachment length where the wing meets the fuselage. Sweep theory is an aeronautical engineering description of the behavior of airflow over a wing when the wing's leading edge encounters the airflow at an oblique angle. The development of sweep theory resulted in
18724-524: The wing, which would have existed anyway. This eliminates the need for separate structure, making the aircraft have less drag and require less total lift for the same level of performance. These layouts inspired several flying wing gliders and some powered aircraft during the interwar years. The first to achieve stability was British designer J. W. Dunne who was obsessed with achieving inherent stability in flight. He successfully employed swept wings in his tailless aircraft (which, crucially, used washout ) as
18875-504: 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
19026-575: 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
19177-602: 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
19328-480: 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
19479-564: Was another swept wing fighter design, but was also not produced before the war's end. In the post-war era, Kurt Tank developed the Ta 183 into the IAe Pulqui II , but this proved unsuccessful. A prototype test aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me P.1101 , was built to research the tradeoffs of the design and develop general rules about what angle of sweep to use. When it was 80% complete, the P.1101
19630-451: 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
19781-588: 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
19932-597: 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
20083-543: Was captured by US forces and returned to the United States , where two additional copies with US-built engines carried on the research as the Bell X-5 . Germany's wartime experience with the swept wings and its high value for supersonic flight stood in strong contrast to the prevailing views of Allied experts of the era, who commonly espoused their belief in the impossibility of manned vehicles travelling at such speeds. During
20234-485: Was closely followed by the redesigned Type 529 and Type 544 , the latter serving as a direct prototype for the production model, making its first flight in January 1956. During 1957, the first production aircraft were delivered, enabling the Scimitar to enter service with the Royal Navy during the following year. The aircraft was operated by the Royal Navy as a low level strike aircraft, which included potentially being armed with nuclear weapons , having been superseded as
20385-496: Was commonly believed amongst officials that such an arrangement would enable aircraft to be built with a lighter and simpler structure, and thus be capable of achieving greater performance in comparison to their conventional peers, particularly amongst those being operated from aircraft carriers . Specifically, the weight reduction achieved by eliminating the reinforced undercarriage used on naval aircraft would lead to substantially great rates of climb and acceleration. Seeking to keep
20536-460: Was envisioned to be capable of achieving 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h) in level flight, thus enabling the aircraft to potentially be the first to exceed the speed of sound in the world. In February 1946, the programme was abruptly discontinued for unclear reasons. It has since been widely recognised that the cancellation of the M.52 was a major setback in British progress in the field of supersonic design. Another, more successful, programme
20687-454: 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
20838-573: 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
20989-415: 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
21140-516: 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
21291-493: 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
21442-467: 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
21593-505: 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
21744-524: 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
21895-474: 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
22046-638: 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
22197-461: 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
22348-634: Was the US's Bell X-1 , which also was equipped with a straight wing. According to Miles Chief Aerodynamicist Dennis Bancroft, the Bell Aircraft company was given access to the drawings and research on the M.52. On 14 October 1947, the Bell X-1 performed the first manned supersonic flight, piloted by Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager , having been drop launched from the bomb bay of a Boeing B-29 Superfortress and attained
22499-523: Was the addition of a dogtooth notch to the leading edge, used on the Avro Arrow interceptor. Other designs took a more radical approach, including the Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor 's wing that grew wider towards the tip to provide more lift at the tip. The Handley Page Victor was equipped with a crescent wing , with three values of sweep, about 48 degrees near the wing root where the wing
22650-620: 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
22801-471: Was thickest, a 38 degree transition length and 27 degrees for the remainder to the tip. Modern solutions to the problem no longer require "custom" designs such as these. The addition of leading-edge slats and large compound flaps to the wings has largely resolved the issue. On fighter designs, the addition of leading-edge extensions , which are typically included to achieve a high level of maneuverability, also serve to add lift during landing and reduce
#981018