The A.D. Designs

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  The A.D.Navyplane was another initial Admiralty design by Harold Bolas given to Supermarine to complete detail design and construction. The machine, a single-engined pusher floatplane, was completed in eight weeks from the receipt of the master drawings, which led Murray Sueter, who in effect was the head of the Air Department, to send Supermarine a letter of commendation. The Navyplane was intended for reconnaissance and bombing duties but in fact never reached the production stage, bedevilled again by the failure of its intended engine, the American Smith static radial (brought to Britain in January 1915 by John W. Smith). The high hopes for the Smith engine were not realized, as happened at a later date with the ABC Dragonfly. Air-cooled radials proved difficult to design despite their advantages in the saving of space and weight.
  The Navyplane was a two-bay biplane with a high tailplane, to avoid the wash, and twin fins and rudders, and tail floats which were fitted with water rudders, all carried on four outriggers. It had a lightweight crew nacelle with a Lewis gun on a special mounting and carried W/T radio. A glazed nose which extended underneath to the pilot’s seat provided a good view forward and below, an essential feature for marine reconnaissance. The floats were of the pontoon type which, although much heavier than the sophisticated type designed by Linton Hope on his A.D.Boat principles, were more satisfactory in their operational use, the Linton Hope floats initially being hydrodynamically unstable.
  Two prototypes, 9095 and 9096, were ordered but only 9095 was built and tested with the Smith engine in August 1916, by Commander John Seddon. It was tested again in May 1917, with the Bentley-designed A.R.1 rotary engine but performance is reported to have been poor.
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A.D.Navyplane - One A.R.1 rotary. Pilot and observer.
   Span 36 ft (10-97 m); length 27 ft 9 in (8-45 m); height 12 ft 9 in (3-88 m); wing area 360 sq ft (33-44 sq m).
   Empty weight 2,100 lb (952 kg): loaded weight 3,102 lb (1.407 kg).
   Maximum speed 75 mph (120-7 km/h); alighting speed 36 mph (58 km/h); duration 6 hr.
   Armament. One Lewis machine-gun and a torpedo.

The A.D. Designs

  After the departure of Pemberton Billing for pastures new, which seems a novel way of describing the House of Commons, the Supermarine Works concentrated on working directly for the Admiralty, under Hubert Scott-Paine as managing director. The new company had been registered as the Supermarine Aviation Works Limited on 20 September, 1916. Meanwhile its contract for fifteen Short Type 184 floatplanes was running down and the twenty P.B.25s and the NightHawk were being completed. New work of a progressive nature was required and this was forthcoming from Air Department original designs, as well as Admiralty contracts for rebuilding aircraft returned from war service for repair.
  These A.D. concepts had managed to escape the Government embargo placed on original design by the Royal Aircraft Factory. This curious anomaly of history has never been explained. The principle of what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander was overlooked and the matter was probably an instance of lack of co-ordination in the whole war effort at the time, until a new Prime Minister started to take things in hand as in the Second World War. In any event, the Admiralty had been far more successful in their procurement policy than the War Office. The Handley Page heavy bomber, the Rolls-Royce Eagle engine and the range of Sopwith combat aircraft were originally naval requirements, a telling point not missed by Pemberton Billing and C. G. Grey in their attacks on the official aviation policy.
  So the Admiralty continued to foster its small but highly sophisticated Air Department which undoubtedly made a great impact on aircraft design, particularly in regard to structures. The mandatory manual Av.P. 970, entitled Design Requirements for Service Aircraft, owes its origin to the little booklet Handbook of Strength Calculations by Sutton Pippard and Laurence Pritchard on the basics first evaluated by Harris Booth and Harold Bolas and known as HB2, which were mathematically clarified by Arthur Berry into the famous Berry Functions. All these notable people were on the Air Department staff at the time of this break-through in airframe stressing.
  The concepts of the Air Department which were contracted to Supermarine consisted of the types known as the A.D.Boat, already in hand by Pemberton Billing Limited, the A.D.Navyplane and the N.1B Baby, the first British singleseat fighter flying-boat. After a shaky start to its career caused by hydrodynamic instability, the A.D.Boat was produced in small numbers, some of which were converted into civil passenger aircraft after the war. The Navyplane remained the sole example built at Woolston, largely because of engine supply shortages at the time, but the one Baby completed led to the Supermarine Schneider flying-boats.
  The two A.D.Boat prototypes, 1412 and 1413, were already being flight tested at the time the new company was finally constituted. According to J. Lankester Parker, who flew the type at an early stage, it suffered from the same malaise that plagued other seaplane designs at the time, particularly those in the flying-boat class, its chronic porpoising on take-off. In addition, the A.D.Boat had marked yaw defects, so much so that at take-off the machine had to be pointed downwind and, as planing speed rose, edged crabwise round into the wind. One of the principal causes of directional instability was thought to be the small area of the fin and rudder which characterized the Booth/Bolas designs. Strangely enough, the Supermarine Schneider racing floatplanes of a later date had a similar take-off problem for an entirely different reason.
  The overall designer of the A.D.Boat was Harris Booth, while Harold Bolas, Clifford Tinson and Harold Yandall were seconded from the Admiralty to Woolston Works to draft the details. Linton Hope was responsible for the lines and structure of the hull, the main attribute of which was its flexibility, enabling it to withstand the shocks and bumps of rough seas. On the circular hooped frames was a skin formed on a mould from double diagonal mahogany planking laid crosswise, with fabric sandwiched between the layers. The curved ribs of 1/4 in rock elm were closely spaced as were the stiffened stringers.
  This type of wooden construction stood the test of time until metal hulls were introduced by which time the hydrodynamic problems of planing bottoms had been largely solved. Those of the A.D.Boat were indicative of the search for knowledge on the subject, on which the experts could not agree, including G. S. Baker, who operated the Walter Froude model water-testing tank at the National Physical Laboratory. He had visited all the marine aircraft bases and was said to be the authority on matters like lift-off, hump speeds, angle of attack, shape and location of steps, and so on. The whole picture can be envisaged by a study of Linton Hope’s own Paper on Notes on Flying Boat Hulls which appeared in the Aeronautical Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society for August 1920. The controversies of the time were clearly brought out in the discussion which followed the presentation of the Paper.
  So after juggling with the location of the main step and changing the rear step from a streamline shaped tail to square cut, the A.D.Boat finally became a practical proposition for sea patrol duties although its actual use seems limited. The first production machine, N1520, passed acceptance trials at the Isle of Grain on 5 September, 1917. As with other new aircraft types at the time, the A.D.Boat suffered the usual set-backs caused by the erratic supply of satisfactory engines. It was designed for the Sunbeam Nubian, which failed to reach requirements. Hispano-Suizas were fitted, both direct-drive and geared, the latter having trouble with its gearing as it did in the S.E.5a. Later on, the Wolseley Python and Viper and the Sunbeam Arab were fitted experimentally, apparently with better results but only when the useful employment of the type was past. Production aircraft totalled 27 but most went into store. N1712 and N1719 were sent to Isle of Grain naval air station for experimental use, the latter being fitted with hydrovanes and flown in this form by Harry Busteed and Bentley Dacre. After the war N1529 was the first A.D.Boat to be converted by Supermarine as a civil passenger-carrying aircraft, and the further use of the new type, known as the Channel, is dealt with later.
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A.D.Boat - One 200 hp Hispano-Suiza. Pilot and observer.
   Span 50 ft 4 in (15-34 m); span folded 14 ft (4-26 tn); length 30 ft 7 in (9-32 m); length folded 42 ft 3 in (12-87 m); height 13 ft 1 in (3-98 m); wing area 455 sq ft (42-27 sq m).
   Empty weight 2,508 lb (1.137 kg); loaded weight 3,567 lb (1,618 kg).
   Maximum speed 100 mph (160-9 km/h); alighting speed 46 mph (74km/h); duration 4 1/2 hr.
   Armament. One 0-303-in Lewis machine-gun in bow cockpit.

Pemberton Billing

  Perhaps the most eccentric of the early British aviators was the ‘incredible' Noel Pemberton Billing, as one writer called him. He was the genius who founded a little aircraft company at Woolston, Southampton, before the First World War, an enterprise that in later decades was to play an important part in aviation history.
  Pemberton Billing took an early interest in aeronautics and in 1904 nearly succeeded in killing himself in the classic mode by jumping off the roof of his house in a home-made glider. His first efforts at making a successful flying machine also followed precedent with qualified failure but he was a man with big ideas and in 1909 attempted to establish a large aviation complex and flying ground at South Fambridge in Essex. Although this enterprise attracted other pioneers, including Howard Wright, Weiss and McFie, it failed before a full year of operation probably because of marshy terrain and a transverse ditch across the take-off zone.
  Pemberton Billing’s marine interests were mainly centred on dealings in yachts which his friend C. G. Grey of The Aeroplane thought was a dubious business. With capital accrued from this and other sources and with a financial backer, in 1912 he purchased a site next to Woolston Ferry on the River Itchen at Southampton for a factory to produce fast launches and marine aircraft and work started there in 1913. Billing was so obsessed with the idea of flying over the sea instead of ploughing through it that he coined the word Supermarine for his telegraphic address, as the antonym of submarine for underwater craft. This word was to prefix many famous aircraft names at later dates even when the proprietary name of Vickers was officially prefixed after 1928.
  Even before the company was officially registered on 27 June, 1914, a striking biplane flying-boat had emerged from the Woolston Works and had been exhibited at the Aero Show at Olympia in London in the previous March. This was labelled the Supermarine P.B.1 and revealed a rakish fish-like hull with flared sponsons or fins, with the bottom planes attached to and built integrally with the upper frames of the hull. These features were the work of Linton Hope, a marine architect of some distinction, who introduced advanced yacht design techniques into flying-boat hull design which stood the test of time and found many applications later. Another novel feature of the P.B.1 was the rotary engine mounted power-egg fashion forward of the wings (the pilot was located aft) driving a three-blade propeller, with an upward thrust line to induce take-off performance. In fact, this characteristic had the reverse effect, that is, poor take-off caused mainly by the very low power delivered by the alleged 50 hp Gnome. Two attempts to fly this ’boat failed, the second after a redesign and rebuild.
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Pemberton Billing

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  Billing was hardly the man to be satisfied with producing other people’s designs such as the S.38 and proceeded to the rapid evolution of a private-venture single-seat scout of simple construction, which has become legendary as the ‘Seven Day Bus'. It had now become obvious that Pemberton Billing used the exercise of designing and building a small aeroplane of this type to create a political lever capable of influencing the sensitive emotions of the British public during the confusions of a democracy going to war. In fact, he did parade the aeroplane around his campaign area when standing for Parliament during by-elections, when his plan was to demolish the War Office aviation policy of the day, aided and abetted by C. G. Grey.
  Under the stress of the time, exaggerations were probably excusable and so PB must be accorded the licence of his contemporary statements, such as that he did the drawings himself in a day and that the machine was built from scratch within seven days and so on. A great deal of research has been done by Philip Jarrett, an aeronautical writer, into the real truth about the P.B.9, as the aeroplane was first classified, and the facts disclose that Billing had at least a lap start when his rush programme was initiated. E. C. Gordon England has said since that in the effects of the then defunct Radley-England enterprise, which had been making ‘waterplanes’, was a set of wings complete, intended for a small pusher aeroplane designed by himself and which were bought by Pemberton Billing.
  This purchase of redundant aircraft parts from Radley-England is confirmed in the balance sheet of Pemberton Billing Limited, dated December 1914. It was a comparatively simple matter to design a straightforward fuselage and tail unit to match the Gordon England wings, particularly as these were of one-piece design. The fuselage in fact merely rested on the bottom wing and was attached by U bolts, the inner struts standing proud of the body, there being no orthodox centre section. A reproduction of the P.B.9 fuselage drawing shows that it was done by C. Vasilesco which seems to dispose of PB's claim that he did the drawings himself or that the whole design was done on the factory walls, apart probably from a rough scheme. The structure appears to have been of the braced mortise and tenon type, the sort of thing that could have been produced in any reputable joiner’s shop. This was in fact Billing's idea, namely quick reproduction by furniture makers and so on.
  In the event, the P.B.9 performed creditably on its first test flight on 12 August. 1914, in the hands of Victor Mahl and it had a reported top speed of 78 mph and a climb of 500 ft/min. No order resulted but the one example served as a naval trainer at Hendon. The internal history of the Woolston Works here becomes misty, for because of uninterested official reaction to his Seven Day Bus, PB went off in a huff to do some service with the naval air arm and left Woolston in the charge of Hubert Scott-Paine, an up-and-coming young man with red hair. How much control the founder actually retained can only be a matter of conjecture but it became clear that Scott-Paine and the Air Department of the Admiralty gradually came more and more into the picture while PB himself became absorbed in his various political crusades. With his election as member of Parliament for East Herts on 10 March, 1916, Pemberton Billing gave up his interests in the company and a new one was formed as the Supermarine Aviation Works Limited.
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P.B.9 - One 50 hp Gnome. Single seat.
   Span 26 ft (7-9 m); length 20 ft (5-09 m); height 8 ft 3 in (2-51 m); wing area 205 sq ft (19-04 sq m).
   Empty weight 560 lb (254 kg); loaded weight 750 lb (340 kg).
   Maximum speed 78 mph (125-5 km/h); climb 540 ft/min (164 m/min); duration 3 hr.

Pemberton Billing

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  PB himself became absorbed in his various political crusades. With his election as member of Parliament for East Herts on 10 March, 1916, Pemberton Billing gave up his interests in the company and a new one was formed as the Supermarine Aviation Works Limited.
  Before that, however, two original designs had emerged from Woolston which were constructed as distinct from the bewildering series of unorthodox project ideas that poured from the fertile brain of Pemberton Billing. One was a little pusher scout, the P.B.23E, originally known as the Sparklet and later as the Push-Proj which apparently was short for pusher-projectile. The other was a large ungainly quadruplane designed to attack the Zeppelin airships which had started to bomb Britain in January 1915.
  The P.B.23E was a clean and simple design reducing drag to a minimum and was most probably inspired by Harold Bolas of the Air Department of the Admiralty, with whose chief, Murray Sueter, Pemberton Billing was in close contact at that time. In the prototype's flight trials at Hendon, in September 1915, instability was encountered, caused by the excessive rearward centre of gravity. By introducing an 11 degree sweepback to the wings a measure of correction was achieved in the improved redesign as the P.B.25 but pilots’ unsatisfactory reports of its handling characteristics persisted. Other modifications included inversely-tapered ailerons and an increase in fin area. An elliptical cross-section fabric-covered nacelle replaced the metal-covered version of the earlier machine, but it proved unpopular with the pilots, who feared its flimsy structure in the event of a nose-over landing.
  As far as is known, none of the twenty P.B.25s produced was used operationally although the type was flown at Eastchurch and others were at the Isle of Grain and Killingholme. At a time when fighting scouts with a free field of fire were in short supply against the ‘Fokker scourge’ on the Western Front, more might have been made of them but no doubt shortage of engines and time for more development precluded any practical effort in that direction, especially in view of the political climate in regard to aircraft procurement for two competitive Services. One opinion expressed at a much later date was that the type was intended by Pemberton Billing as a short-range escort fighter for his anti-airship patrol quadruplane, of which a description follows.
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P.B.23E - One 80 hp Le Rhone. Maximum speed 90 mph.
P.B.25 - One 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape or 110 hp Clerget. Single seat.
   Span 33 ft (10-05 m); length 24 ft 1 in (7-34 m); height 10 ft 5 in (3-17 m); wing area 277 sq ft (25-73 sq m).
   Empty weight 1,080 lb (489 kg); loaded weight 1,576 lb (761 kg).
   Maximum speed 99 mph (159-2 km/h) at sea level, 83-5 mph (134-3 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,048 m); stalling speed 40 mph (64-4 km/h); climb to 6,000 ft (1,828 m) 11 min, to 10,000 ft (3,048 m) 21 min; duration 3 hr.
   Armament. One 0-303-in Lewis machine-gun in front of nacelle.

Pemberton Billing

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  In 1915 the bombardment of Britain by the German airships posed a real threat to national morale, however minimal the total effect was in comparison with similar action in the Second World War. In consequence, anti-Zeppelin measures were introduced and one of these was to encourage the design and construction by Pemberton Billing of a slow-flying aeroplane of offensive capability. This was the P.B.29E, a quadruplane of large wing area and high aspect ratio to promote high flying. The somewhat crude appearance of this aeroplane is shown in the picture but its improved version, the P.B.31E, presented a more sophisticated outline and concept, with every known aid incorporated to improve its combat efficiency.
  Although the P.B.31E, better known as the Supermarine NightHawk, could scarcely be described as a weapons system in the modern sense, a fleet of such aircraft might have settled the airship threat further afield than was eventually accomplished by conventional short-range aeroplanes and anti-aircraft weapons. The NightHawk is interesting because in fully-equipped form it embodied the Davis non-recoil gun firing a 1 1/2 pound shell and a Lewis machine-gun on a Scarff mounting, both on the top wing, with another Lewis, similarly mounted, in the fuselage nose. A gimbal-mounted searchlight was located in the front end of the fuselage and was probably the first instance of such a use. Similarly, the installation of auxiliary power for the searchlight, by means of a 5 hp ABC flat-twin engine and generator, was probably the first example, certainly in British practice. Two NightHawks were ordered by the Admiralty, with serial numbers 1388 and 1389, but only the first was built. Before its completion the company had been reconstituted as the Supermarine Aviation Works Limited in which control passed to Hubert Scott-Paine.
  The P.B.29E crashed soon after its first flight, but the P.B.31E had greater success during its tests in the hands of Clifford B. Prodger at Eastchurch. The NightHawk proved to be underpowered with its two 100 hp Anzani radial engines but reached 75 mph top speed with a landing speed of only 35 mph, the latter an essential characteristic at that time for night operation.
  Pemberton Billing continued to evolve unorthodox concepts for aircraft and aids to flying, such as his idea for a mechanical height indicator for the landing approach, later revived at the RAE, Farnborough. A type list of the Pemberton Billing projects is given in the appendices as far as they properly come in the purview of Supermarine history. The story of his colourful career outside those interests is not within the scope of this study although he certainly achieved notoriety in political and juridical matters.


P.B.31E - Two 100 hp Anzani. Two pilots, supernumeraries optional.
   Span 60 ft (18-28 m); length 37 ft (11-27 m); height 17 ft 81 in (5-39 m); wing area 962 sq ft (89-37 sq m).
   Empty weight 3,677 lb (1,667 kg); loaded weight 6,146 lb (2,787 kg).
   Maximum speed 75 mph (120-7 km/h); landing speed 38 mph (61-1 km/h); normal duration 9 hr; maximum duration 18 hr.
   Armament. One 1 1/2 pdr cannon and 20 rounds of ammunition and two Lewis guns.

The A.D. Designs

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  Much activity was evident in naval circles to explore the possibilities of the single-seat fighter specially designed for naval requirements. Eastchurch and the Isle of Grain naval air stations had continued their evolution of new types in this field, mainly as improvements to the Sopwith Baby of Fairey or Parnall vintage. In this class specification N.1B was issued by the Air Department for a single-seat seaplane or flying-boat fighter, with a speed of 95 kt at 10,000 ft and a ceiling of at least 20,000 ft, no mean order in those days of dubious engine reliability. Tenders were submitted by Supermarine, Blackburn and Norman Thompson, and were all for flying-boat designs.
  The Supermarine N.1B Baby was designed by F. J. Hargreaves on lines no doubt inspired by Bolas and also no doubt assisted by R. J. Mitchell, the promising young draughtsman who had participated in the detail design of the NightHawk and the Navyplane. It was a single-bay biplane with a pusher propeller driven by the geared Hispano engine. Other features were its Linton Hope hull, designed on the same principles as the A.D.Boat construction, and an inverted camber tailplane mounted on top of the single fin and small rudder with a small extra fin on top. Ailerons were first fitted to the upper wings only but later were embodied also in the lower wings. With the Hispano engine the N.1B Baby achieved 117 mph at sea level, and in August 1918, with a Sunbeam Arab engine, reached 111-5 mph at 10,000 ft.
  Only one Baby was completed, N59, but its successors, the Sea King and the racing Sea Lions, achieved quite, a measure of fame as related later. The second Baby, N60, would have differed from N59 in various aspects because a revised set of drawings had been raised before it was cancelled. The engine would have been the 200 hp Sunbeam Arab as tried on N59, but the third aircraft, N61, was not proceeded with although hull construction may have been started.


N.1B Baby - One 200 hp Hispano-Suiza. Single seat.
   Span 30 ft 6 in (9-29 m); length 26 ft 4 in (8-02 m); height 10 ft 7 in (3-22 m); wing area 309 sq ft (28-7 sq m).
   Empty weight 1,699 lb (770 kg); loaded weight 2,326 lb (1,055 kg).
   Maximum speed 116 mph (186-6 km/h); alighting speed 57 mph (91-7 km/h); duration 3 hr.
   Figures as given in the 1919 Supermarine brochure.

The Channels

  Early in 1919 Supermarine were contemplating converting some of the surplus A. D. Boats into civil passenger-carrying aircraft capable in a small way of starting an air service over short-haul sea routes. As early as May of that year they were in fact preparing ten A.D.Boats, purchased from the Admiralty, in the hope of completing arrangements for flying trips at Whitsun from Southampton to Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor, all seaside resorts in the Isle of Wight. The first works order for these conversions was raised in February 1919 and the first drawing for the modifications was issued on 25 February for the addition of a water rudder and another, dated 2 April, was for a new mounting for the 160 hp Beardmore, an engine in good supply. The first use of the name Channel in the Supermarine drawings register was on 14 February, 1920, when all drawings were changed from the Admiralty nomenclature to new schedules for the four-seat Channel type.
  Of the ten aircraft being converted, five were to be used for the actual service with the other five in reserve for use alternately, thus giving ample opportunity for inspection and overhaul. A shortage of pilots was one of the factors telling against a regular service so the following officers were recruited from the former Royal Naval Air Service - J. Bird, B. D. Hobbs, F. J. Bailey, P. Brend, J. E. A. Hoare, H. G. Horsey and H. C. Biard. Some of these such as Sqn Cdr James Bird and Sqn Cdr Hobbs together with Biard and Bailey figure quite prominently in subsequent Supermarine history.
  The Channels were converted from the A.D.Boats by having an extra cockpit inserted just forward of the mainplanes and the 200 hp Hispano-Suiza engine replaced by the 160 hp Beardmore. With this additional cockpit the flying-boat could be used as a three-seat school machine or with the cockpits slightly modified as a four-seat passenger machine. The latter version was used for most of the passenger trips and a small water rudder was added to all the aircraft to improve the water-handling characteristics.
  The ten that were re-purchased from the Admiralty and converted to civil use were registered as under:

Registration RNAS No. C of A issued Constructor’s No
G-EAED N1529 23/7/19 -
G-EAEE N1710 23/7/19 -
G-EAEF N2452 7/8/19 - ’
G-EAEG N2451 28/5/20 975
G-EAEH N1716 5/6/20 974
G-EAEI N1715 28/5/20 973
G-EAEJ N1714 14/8/19 972
G-EAEK N1711 23/7/19 971
G-EAEL N1528 28/5/20 970
G-EAEM N1526 17/7/20 969

  All had previously gone into store when completed and had no active service to record.
  As soon as the certificate of airworthiness was issued Supermarine began using the Channels for joy flights and also started a passenger service from Southampton to Bournemouth from 23 July. On 30 July, a rare event for elderly people at that time, a woman of 72 and a man of 75 were taken on a flight, and during that same week several trips were made from Southampton to Cowes with passengers who had missed the ferry. Supermarine also applied for a service to the north east of France with stops at Cherbourg, Le Havre and St Malo. It is apparent from the above list that only three aircraft were available at this time, G-EAED, ’EE and ’EK, though these civil registrations were not worn but the Service serials retained. Embarkation took place at the pier at Bournemouth, and one of the pilots was Sqn Cdr B. D. Hobbs dso, dsc, who had recently been recruited.
  During the Cowes Regatta, one of the Channels was offering flights every day, and members of the Royal and other Yacht Clubs took advantage of this facility. Many members were enthusiastic and followed the yacht racing from the air. Col Wingfield chartered one on the evening of 7 August to fly him to Portsmouth and circle over hms Renown as she sailed, carrying HRH the Prince of Wales on his journey to Canada.
  On 16 August the flying-boat service to the Isle of Wight was inaugurated, with the two Channels taxi-ing from their Woolston base to the Royal Pier at Southampton, the service terminal. These aircraft were kept very busy, on occasion carrying prominent officials on flights over Southampton Water, among them the Mayor and Mayoress of Southampton, the Mayor of Winchester, the Sheriff and the Chief Constable of Hampshire, and some of the Councillors, including the only other lady, Mrs Welsh. Such civic patronage was a novelty then.
  On 12 August the motor launch service run by Spencer Bros from Ventnor was immobilized through a shortage of petrol so one of the Channels flew over a sufficient supply of Shell motor spirit to enable service to be resumed. This was probably the first instance when fuel was delivered by air for another public service. On 27 August it was announced that the Channels had carried passengers from Southampton to Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight and Southsea and also that a service would soon be started from Southampton to Le Havre and the Channel Islands.
  One of the Channels was used by Supermarine’s managing director. Hubert Scott-Paine, during the 1919 Schneider Seaplane Contest at Bournemouth, to take him from the works and was also used on joy flights before the start of the contest on 10 September.
  The Supermarine flying-boat service operated from Bournemouth to the Isle of Wight only when weather permitted and during the first two weeks of September there were hardly any flights because of the rough seas and bad weather. On 12 September, one machine was flying Southampton-Bournemouth when the pilot spotted a mine about four miles off Hurst Castle and then half a mile further on saw a Government tug from Yarmouth. The pilot circled the tug and then flew low down pointing out to the captain the position of the mine. The captain of the tug altered course and put out a boat to the mine but neither pilot nor passengers of the Channel learned what happened because they had to continue to Bournemouth. For the rest of September, flights were made as and when the weather permitted, to Bournemouth, Southsea and the Isle of Wight, and on flights over and round warships lying at anchor in Bournemouth Bay.
  The British railway strike of 1919 began on 27 September and this gave the Channels the opportunity of flying thousands of copies of the Southern Daily Echo from Southampton to Bournemouth. The proprietors of the Echo had the foresight to hire a Channel for this service which was undertaken quickly and smoothly and showed the possibilities of the flying-boat for commercial use. The newspapers were received by Supermarine at 6 pm and flown by Cdr Hobbs, arriving at Bournemouth at 6.43 pm and then taken ashore in several rowing boats.
  It was Scott-Paine’s idea to institute an air service over the English Channel to take over temporarily from the steam-packets which had ceased operations in sympathy with the railwaymen’s strike. For this he chose Capt H. C. Biard to be responsible for the daily service irrespective of the state of the weather. This flying-boat service from Woolston to Le Havre was inaugurated on 28 September when two machines left shortly after 5 pm each carrying a couple of passengers with luggage. On the way over they became separated in a storm but arrived at Le Havre safely. On the return journey one flew straight back to Woolston and the second alighted at Bembridge, Isle of Wight, to refuel and reached Woolston a little late but safe. From France, Biard had taken off safely and, expecting Hobbs up soon, flew around waiting for him. Hobbs, however, had trouble in getting airborne and at least half an hour was spent while he made some adjustments and could eventually take off. At last they set off together for England with Hobbs in the lead. Then Biard’s engine suddenly spluttered and stopped for lack of fuel and he only just managed to glide to Bembridge and alight on the water near the town. It took him some time to get the necessary petrol because he was told ‘it wasn’t the season’ but he eventually obtained some and managed to take off safely. Hobbs had not noticed Biard in difficulty but only missed him when he alighted at Woolston. An air search was begun for Biard so when he eventually arrived people were both exasperated and relieved.
  On the following day two Channels again flew to Le Havre and this time they carried mail in addition to passengers. One of the letters was a message of greeting from the Mayor of Southampton to the Mayor of Le Havre, another from the President of the Southampton Chamber of Commerce and a third from the French Consul. The following day another Channel flew to Le Havre with two passengers and luggage. It was during this flight that the ‘airline' had a very severe test. A howling gale developed, with sleet and hail getting worse as the time for departure approached. However, two passengers arrived for the cross-Channel service, one a naval officer and the other a Belgian millionaire financier, Monsieur Lowenstein, who seemed fed up with the English weather. Scott-Paine put a lifebelt round each of them before the start and the Belgian looked at it somewhat dubiously and queried its safety. Just before take-off Scott-Paine ran out and gave Lowenstein a pocket-flask of rum in case he felt cold on the flight. Biard took off safely into the teeth of the gale with the hail coming at them like machine-gun bullets, icicles grew on their gloves and coats and within half an hour the cold became intense. Biard could no longer feel his hands or feet at all and only moved the controls by instinct. The Belgian must have felt the cold too because he took out the flask of rum and took a good long drink, he then tried to pass it over his shoulder to the pilot but the flask tilted and the contents blew back straight into Biard’s eyes. Biard said afterwards; "It was more than a nuisance, one faulty touch on the controls would have ended our story, and worse still, all I got of that rum was the smell and it did smell so good!’
  The rum however quietened the Belgian but after a time he must have found the hail really troublesome because he produced his gold-handled umbrella and tried with frozen hands to put it up, possibly in front of his face to keep the hail off, but Biard knew that it would blow back into the propeller so he grabbed the empty rum bottle and hit the Belgian smartly over the head. The Belgian and his umbrella disappeared into the bottom of the cockpit and thus was not troubled with the hail any more. The gale was so severe, at times the wind reached 100 mph, that it took Biard over five hours to reach Le Havre. The Belgian turned out to be a true sportsman, bearing Biard no malice for the assault and taking him to an hotel and treating him to the drink that he had missed during the flight. The price for that trip was £12.10s each, the standard rate. Whether or not they felt they had had their money’s worth, certainly those two passengers would never forget it. During the 110 mile journey the airspeed read 55 kt but the ‘ground’ speed was only 20 kt, and the steamer normally could cover the same distance in six hours, or about an hour more than the flying-boat that day.
  Towards the end of the railwaymen’s strike on 5 October, Biard and another Supermarine pilot, Capt F. J. Bailey, having no passengers to bring back from France, decided to make a race of it on the assumption that they had passengers and were behind schedule. They both took off together and flew neck and neck all the way until they sighted the Isle of Wight, when Biard turned off the course they had been following to head for Southampton. At this point Biard lost sight of the other machine but did not ease up until he was over Southampton Water when there was no sign of the other Channel at all. He alighted to pass the word and then took off to look for the wreckage. There on the far side of the Isle of Wight was the mass of floating wreckage which was the Channel G-EAEE. Biard flew slowly round and round looking for a body but could only see the aircraft, the wings broken, the hull smashed in two, and some canvas and twisted metal. A salvage ship arrived and slowly took the wreckage aboard, but no body. Biard turned his machine towards home when one more aircraft flew up, adding to the number already there to assist in the search for the body. It was a two-seater and in the observer’s seat, none the worse for the accident except for scratches, was the 'body’ itself. A fishing boat had seen Capt Bailey crash and had taken him to Southampton where he somehow managed to find someone to fly him back to the wreck to show the searchers that he was still very much alive.
  When the strike of 1919 ended on 5 October, the service to France was discontinued, and it must be said here that it had never failed to operate. Unfortunately, no official encouragement was given to continue the service and thus the company decided to cease operations.
  On 17 April, 1920, General Frederick Sykes, Controller-General of Civil Aviation, and Colonel Beatty paid an official visit to the Supermarine Works. Sykes was taken for a flight in one of the four-seat Channels over the Isle of Wight, Spithead, and the Solent, flown by Biard who alighted on the River Itchen amongst the normal shipping. Then followed demonstrations of the manoeuvreability of the Channel on the water, including taxi-ing at speeds of 20 to 40 kt, with turns among the river traffic. Another test was stalling from very low height on to the surface. The machine used for this demonstration was the school version with dual control (conversion from the passenger type took one hour) and it had been used daily for training pilots of the Royal Norwegian Naval Air Service.
  Norway was interested in acquiring seaplanes both for naval use and for commercial air transport. A seaplane would obviously be much more suitable than a landplane at that time, considering the mountainous terrain of Norway with its deep inlets from the sea. In consequence a trial air route was planned along the west coast of Norway, to be opened in 1920 with Supermarine flyingboats. To fund their purchase the Norwegian public were invited to subscribe for shares in the Norwegian company.
  Three Channels were bought in May 1920. G-EAEH, G-EAEI and G-EAEL. They received the Norwegian registrations N9, N10 and N11 in the name of the company, Det Norske Luftfartrederi A/S of Christiania (now Oslo). The trial service started on 9 August with the first two, and when N11 arrived on 16 August the route Bergen-Haugesund-Stavanger was officially inaugurated, the airline having received a Government contract for the carriage of mail between Bergen and Stavanger.
  Originally it was thought that the three Channels would suffice for the service, keeping one in the air at any one time and one in reserve and one in maintenance, but the linking-up with the Bergen - Christiania railway needed two aircraft in the air at the same time, flying in opposite directions. As no more Channels were available at short notice, three German Friedrichshafen floatplanes were acquired, one on hire. In the inevitable comparison between them, the only case where the Channel was less efficient was that its engine, the 160 hp Beardmore, was less powerful than the 220 hp Benz of the German aircraft. Consequently, more overhauling was needed as the Beardmores had to be run full out in unfavourable weather because of lack of reserve power.
  On all other counts such as stability and passenger comfort and the ability to operate in very bad weather, when the Friedrichshafens were unable to stay in the air, the Channels were judged superior. Despite considerable difficulties in operating regular air services during exceptionally bad weather, 93-5 per cent regularity up to 21 October was maintained and at the end of the season in December 1920, the figure achieved was 94-4 per cent. Of 212 flights scheduled 200 were completed, five being prevented by bad weather and seven by lack of aircraft. The number of scheduled deliveries of mail accepted by the postal authorities was 196.
  The airline ceased operations in December 1920 from lack of public support, with the total number of passengers carried only 64, a load factor of 0-32 per flight. The failure was not caused by faulty organization or technical difficulties and had the company continued in the following summer season, given better weather it might have succeeded. Another factor in the airline’s demise was the fact that the postal authorities put such a high surcharge on the air mail letters that a telegram was only slightly dearer. The amount of mail carried consequently was not as great as had been hoped. On the operating side, as far as the Channels were concerned, there was only one mishap when one of the engine struts on N11 broke, tilting the engine backwards and badly damaging the hull, causing a forced alighting on the sea. The passengers were taken off by boat but there is no record that the machine was repaired later.
  On 20 June, 1919, the Norwegian Government issued, through its London representatives, a detailed specification inviting tenders for eight naval seaplanes with spares. Floats were called for, but in revised terms issued a month later a floatplane or flying-boat would be accepted, to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII engine. Vickers submitted their Viking amphibian first with the Wolseley Viper and then with the Rolls-Royce Falcon which was some 100 hp less powerful than the Eagle. Somewhat surprisingly, the Supermarine tender for Channels was accepted and four were ordered embodying the even lower-powered Beardmore engine of 160 hp. The fact that Channels were already operating reasonably successfully and the Viking was a new design from a landplane design team may have influenced the decision.
  The first two naval Channels for Norway went into service in May 1920, and the last was delivered in July. Their serial numbers were F-38, F-40, F-42 and F-44. Norwegian naval pilots had been through a six weeks familiarization course in March and April 1920 and so were able to take the aircraft over themselves for type approval. Little is known of the operational history of the aircraft. One of the first Channels delivered was a dual-control three-seater, used for training at the Horten naval seaplane base. Another was used for a postal service between Christiania and Kristiansand from July 1920. Three were written off by crashes from unknown causes at various times, F-38 on 12 July, 1920, F-42 on 13 June, 1921, and F-44 on 15 May, 1923, while F-40 lasted until 1 March, 1928, when it was withdrawn from service. A replacement for F-38 was N10, acquired from the civil airline company and given the same number F-38 and rebuilt with a Siddeley Puma engine of 240 hp. N9 was probably acquired as well for cannabilizing for spares.
  Before their demise, F-40 and F-44 were re-engined with Pumas which gave more power than the Beardmores. The Siddeley Puma installation had been studied by Supermarine early in 1920 to promote better performance especially for take off, and drawings had been raised in October 1920. Kits for conversion were supplied by Supermarine. The designation Channel Mark II was allotted later for the Puma version with additional modifications.
  Three of the original batch of ten Channels were despatched to Bermuda in 1920, G-EAEG and G-EAEJ in April and the third one, G-EAEF. in November. These joined the aircraft of a company formed to promote flying in the Bermudas, Bermuda and West Atlantic Aviation Company combining the interests of A. V. Roe, Supermarine Aviation Works, and Beardmore Aero Engines. In Flight of 18 March, 1920, it was reported that Furness, Withy and Co of Bermuda were also associated with the enterprise but exactly how is not known, though the company was formed with the issue of 3,000 ordinary shares of £1 (sterling) each. In charge of the flying operations were Maj H. H. Kitchener and Maj H. Hemming, afc, and the aircraft were used for pleasure or charter flights during the winter season of 1920. One letter in particular to Charles Pattison, the Supermarine representative, testified to the pleasure derived by passengers experiencing their first flights, and to the security felt when airborne in the Channel.
  How successful the Channels were in establishing an inter-islands air service does not appear to be on record but they did pioneer the intensive area network of today. A service was planned from the Bahamas to Florida but was not followed up as the Channels were already suffering from lack of spares and one, G-EAEG, was sent to Trinidad in March 1921.
  Two Channel Mark Ils with the Puma engine were sent to Trinidad for use in the British controlled oilfields and were used to survey the Orinoco delta in Venezuela and the river’s 436 tributaries. The work was done by Bermuda and West Atlantic Aviation on behalf of the oil company and consisted of photographic air surveys to discover oil-bearing lands disclosed by partial destruction of the vegetation and to find suitable forest tracks and waterways leading to them. This original British air survey met with little initial success as far as can be ascertained but no doubt led to further air exploration in due course.
  These two Channel Ils (one was G-EAWC, the other’s registration is not known) had some modifications, different wingtip float attachments and hull lines, with the bows adapted to take a special camera port-hole. The camera of the L.B. type was arranged to be lowered into position, and raised and the port-hole quickly closed by simple movements. The photographic plate racks were insulated against vibration and the photographers’ compartment was separated from the main hull by a water-tight bulkhead in case the port-hole closing mechanism failed. The photographer was W. D. Wise and he had three assistants, not necessarily all airborne at one time. The camera and equipment cost about £1,300. The aircraft were flown at Woolston in March 1921, stripped down and shipped to Trinidad. In command of the expedition was Maj C. Gordon Patrick. dso, mc, with Supermarine pilots C. E. Ward and F. J. Bailey accompanied by three technical assistants. The first flight was made over Port of Spain, the capital of the island, on 7 May, 1921, by Maj Patrick in the Channel named Specialist, after the name of the ship that took the aircraft from England. It seemed appropriate. The appearance of the machine over the town created quite a stir as many of its people had never seen an aeroplane in flight. For half-an-hour the business quarter came to a standstill as the streets became crowded with eager sightseers; tramcars slowed down to give a better view to their passengers and cars pulled up so that their occupants could watch. Even golfers on the town links ceased play to watch. At that time any airborne craft was a novelty, especially a flying-boat.
  A few days later the Governor was taken for a flight around the island by Capt Bailey, who took off from Chaguaramas Dock over the assembly of boats, flew round the bay and over the Specialist at anchor in the harbour. The Governor was very favourably impressed. The same afternoon the Channel flew Major and Mrs Gordon Patrick on a test flight of one hour, passing over Chacachacars and south towards San Fernando. A height of 7,000 ft was reached over cloud cover, the highest reached during the trials. These details are by courtesy of the Trinidad Guardian.
  From Trinidad the aircraft were flown to Venezuela where the party stayed in two steel barges moored in one of the main streams of the Orinoco delta, with the Channel flying-boats moored nearby. After the survey G-EAWC went on to Georgetown in British Guiana for further work of this nature but before completion of the task it was sunk by striking driftwood, the bane of flying-boats, in the river Essequibo. During its survey, however, its crew discovered a new mountain range. It is presumed that the two other Channels were left in Venezuela for further use but of this no record is available.
  Early in 1921 a Channel I, with Beardmore engine, was delivered to Walsh Brothers and Dexter Ltd for use by the New Zealand Flying School. The flyingboat was registered G-NZAI, although this may not have actually been painted on, and during the period May-July shared with the Walsh flying-boat G-NZAS operation of an unscheduled daily passenger, mail and goods service between Auckland and Onerahi (for Whangarei).
  The Right Rev Dr H. W. Cleary, Catholic Bishop of Auckland, is known to have used the Channel’boat to tour his diocese; and on 4 October, 1921, flown by George Bolt, with Leo A. Walsh and R. J. Johnson aboard, G-NZAI made the first flight from Auckland to Wellington.
  G-NZAI was the first aircraft of any kind to visit Fiji, and for about three weeks in July 1921 it made several tests, including flights round the two main islands of the Fiji group. A survey was made from the air of the whole coast line of Viti Levu. Had this exercise been followed by the establishment of a flying-boat air mail service, the long delay that existed in exchange of correspondence among the group would have been much reduced: but this did not happen, though the machine was used to a certain extent. It then returned to its base at Kohimarama, Auckland. At some time G-NZAI was fitted with a Puma engine.
  In September 1924 the school was forced to close down, the Government taking over the New Zealand Flying School’s assets, and G-NZAI was broken up when no buyer could be found for it in 1926 or 1927. Its hull was kept and used as a boat, surviving until as late as 1943 when it was disposed of by the simple expedient of burning, as it was of wooden construction.
  Sometimes weather, though bad, can be an advantage as was the case when a Japanese delegation visited Southampton for a demonstration of the Channel flying-boat. The date was 14 March, 1921, a full gale was blowing and a strong spring tide was running, and even in the sheltered water in which the Woolston Works lay the sea was running in waves from four to five feet high. Into this a Channel was launched with the Japanese Naval Attache and the chief of the Japanese Naval Air Service aboard. Capt Biard taxied out and then took off in just over five seconds after opening up the engine - a record for this type of flying-boat. The flight was round the Isle of Wight and then the return was made to Southampton Water where a good alighting was made in the very heavy seas, the wind blowing up to 50 mph. The Channel was then taxied for about a mile and a half against the ebb tide, demonstrating the manoeuvrability of the machine before it was taxied onto the slipway where the crew and passengers disembarked. The wind and tide were by then so strong that the landing crew consisted of the boatswain and no fewer than five hands because the wind was abeam of the aircraft on the slipway. The amount of water taken aboard, including the 14 1/2 minutes of the beaching, was only about 28 lb which was remarkable because the Channel had been taxied on the sea for 2 3/4 miles during the demonstration. This in such rough weather was so convincing that an order was placed for three Channels fitted with the Puma engine. These were taken to Japan by the British Aviation Mission to the Imperial Japanese Navy but little is known of their actual usage except that they were flown from the lake at Kasumigaura air base.
  A Channel Mk II purchased for the Royal Swedish Navy in 1921 for an evaluation of the flying-boat type of aircraft for naval use had an unfortunate end for it crashed soon after delivery at Fjaderholmarna with fatal results for the pilot. Previously two Swedish naval officers, Cdr Werner and Capt Luback. had visited Vickers at Weybridge to examine the Viking amphibian but had chosen the Channel in preference because it had been designed for a convertible ski undercarriage.
  The last Channel to be built was delivered to Chile in 1922 as a three-seat armed reconnaissance flying-boat. It carried Chilean markings but no registration, Service or civil. Its hull was completely different from its predecessors and seems to have been similar to the Seal/Seagull types which followed in the Supermarine line of succession. This hybrid was in fact listed as a Channel Mk II with the constructor's number 1167 and served with the Chilean Naval Air Service.


Channel I - One 160 hp Beardmore. Pilot and four passengers.
   Span (upper) 50 ft 5 in (15-36 m), (lower) 39 ft 7 in (12-6 m); length 30 ft (9-14 m); height 13 ft (3-96 m); wing area 453 sq ft (42-07 sq m).
   Empty weight 2,356 lb (1,068 kg); loaded weight 3,400 lb (1,542 kg).
   Maximum speed 80 mph (128-7 km/h) (Mk II 92 mph (148 km/h); alighting speed (Mk I and II) 53 mph (86-2 km/h); climb to 3.000 ft (914-4 m) 15 min; duration 3 hr.

Sea King

  A project for a single-seat fighter flying-boat similar to the Baby was started on 29 October, 1919, under Supermarine job number 1169, when hull lines were drawn. With the cessation of hostilities the original N.1B requirement expired as did the use of the Baby. Supermarine decided to pursue the concept and various schemes were considered. Of these, in July 1919 a master drawing was finalized of a seaplane with a Napier Lion engine which became the Sea Lion I and was entered for the 1919 Schneider Trophy contest. After the race at Bournemouth, in which the Sea Lion sank, the fighter flying-boat concept was continued in an overall configuration similar to the Sea Lion. When this machine was completed it was named the Sea King I, powered with a 160 hp Beardmore engine. One modification was the deletion of the horn balances of the control surfaces. It was flown early in 1920 but there is no record of the exact date or the identity of the pilot.
  How long the Sea King I remained in its original form is uncertain as so little was published and when it appeared at Olympia in July 1920, where it attracted much attention as the only single-seat seaplane fighter, the wing structure had been altered to that of an equal-span single-bay biplane. The hull and the T-type tail were the same but with the addition of a small triangular fin above the horizontal stabilizer. Another version is believed to have been flown with a Siddeley Puma engine which would have improved performance. This scheme also improved on the Baby’s machine-gun mounting which had been right in the middle of the pilot’s view, and was now moved to a lower position in the hull nose. Directional stability must have remained a problem as the rudder still appeared too small for adequate control. Other schemes were considered at the same time as the Puma installation. One of these projects was for a two-seat fighter with a Lewis gun on a Scarff ring in the front cockpit giving more than 180 degrees of fire, and with provision for two parachutes and a fog horn, the latter introduced no doubt as a consequence of experience in the Schneider race in 1919 at Bournemouth, which had been fogbound. The deciding factor in choice of design was probably the issue by the Air Ministry in June 1921 of basic requirements for a D of R type 6 single-seat fighter for shipboard use, which could be satisfied by an amphibian but in the event was filled by the Fairey Flycatcher of conventional landplane fighter design. The scheme eventually chosen and constructed was that of 7 July which reverted to the single-seat amphibian layout with either a Lion or the larger Hispano engine. Meanwhile one design quite unlike any other at that time was for a tractor amphibian with either a Jaguar or a Jupiter air-cooled radial engine, shades of things to come in the Walrus and Sea Otter era.
  The Sea King II was completed with the 300 hp Hispano-Suiza at the end of December 1921 and flew shortly afterwards, six months from design to first flight. Like the modified Mk I shown at Olympia, it was an equal-span single-bay biplane with a much modified tail reflecting the influence of Mitchell in the overall design. The horizontal stabilizer had been lowered in position and the enlarged fin and rudder consequently extended above, thus dropping the T form of the Mk Il’s predecessors. The hull was developed on Linton Hope principles with mahogany planking attached to the rock elm timbers and frames by non-ferrous fixings and rivets with a covering of special pigmented doped fabric. The two steps were attached as separate components to the planing bottom and could be easily renewed in event of damage. An unusual feature was an attempt to avoid cavitation by inserting a tube running through the hull supplying ventilating air to the rear step. The idea was to facilitate ‘unsticking’ from the water by removing any vacuum behind the step during the acceleration build-up of speed for take off. No report exists of this system being used in any other Supermarine design so apparently the results were inconclusive.
  Another innovation was that the pilot’s back rest could be lowered to form a step for easy access to the starting magneto on one side of the engine and the filler cap of the petrol tank on the other. The undercarriage struts were so arranged that the landing shocks were not transmitted through the hull and were of the bent axle type with retraction upwards and outwards. The tailskid-cum-water rudder was substantial and was steerable from a wheel in the cockpit. The engine mounting structure was independent of the wing cellule enabling the outer planes to be removed without disturbing the power unit. In fact the whole wing structure plus the power unit could be removed by withdrawing eight bolts and the undercarriage by removing ten bolts. This facility was indicative of the ease of maintenance and interchangeability introduced into the design of the Sea King II. This latter characteristic was inspired largely by the policy of most aircraft firms of the time to make do and mend by using components and parts from other designs which had become obsolescent, such as the Supermarine-built Baby and the Sea Lion I.
  Pilots who flew the Sea King II claimed that it had an unusual degree of manoeuvrability in that its aerobatic capability was the equal of any contemporary landplane fighter and was inherently stable. It was free from any change of trim, engine on or off, and could be flown hands off in reasonable weather conditions. There was no tendency to porpoise on the water as on some previous types. It was the first complete design over which Mitchell had full authority as chief designer and this extended to the modifications necessary when the Sea King was considered, largely on a suggestion by the editor of Flight, as an entry for the 1922 Schneider Trophy contest. It was renamed the Sea Lion II and achieved a notable success for Britain, although not a single customer could be found for it as the Sea King II amphibian fighter.


Sea King I - One 160 hp Beardmore or one 240 hp Siddeley Puma. Single seat.
   Span (upper) 35 ft 6 in (10-82 m). (lower) 30 ft 5 in (9-27 m); length 27 ft 4 in (8-33 m); height 11 ft 7 in (3-53 m); wing area 339 sq ft (31-49 sq m).
   Loaded weight (Beardmore) 2.500 lb (1.134 kg), (Puma) 2.646 lb (1,200 kg).
   Maximum speed (Beardmore) 110-5 mph (177-8 km/h). (Puma) 121 mph (194-7 km/h). Estimated speed with Napier Lion (as amphibian) 141 mph (226-9 km/h).

Sea King II - One 300 hp Hispano-Suiza. Single seat.
   Span 32 ft (9-75 m); length 26 ft 9 in (8-15 m); height 11 ft 7 in (3-53 m).
   Empty weight 2,115 lb (959 kg); loaded weight 2,850 lb (1.292 kg).
   Maximum speed 125 mph (201-1 km/h) at sea level; climb to 10,000 ft (3,048 m) 12 min; duration 2 hr.

Schneider Sea Lions

  One of the most influential competitions ever organized in aviation was that for the Jacques Schneider International Seaplane Trophy. In 1912, Jacques Schneider, a member of the family of French armament manufacturers, presented through the Aero-Club de France, a striking bronze trophy displaying a sea nymph kissing a wave, for an international seaplane contest, with the express intention of fostering marine aviation which at that time had tended to lag behind landplane development. This far-seeing act started perhaps the most emotive series of air races ever held and led to more technical development of the fixed-wing aeroplane and piston engine than any other agency, it could be said, until the evolution of the jet engine. In the history of the successive contests for this coveted trophy, Supermarine played one of the most notable parts, a participation which eventually led to a vital involvement in a later and much more serious contest, the Second World War. The story of Supermarine’s contribution to the history of the Schneider Trophy races starts here with the first of the racing Sea Lions.
  This was the Sea Lion I, developed from the Supermarine N.1B Baby. It took its name from the 450 hp Napier Lion engine which had replaced the Baby’s much lower-powered Hispanos and Sunbeams and raised the speed from 117 mph to over 140 mph. The design work was directed by F. J. Hargreaves, then in charge of the drawing and technical offices at Woolston. The wings of the Sea Lion I were of unequal span, with the interplane struts splayed outwards and with the engine on an independent pylon mounting. The engine was partly cowled with an oval car-type radiator mounted in the front. The T-tail resembled that of the Baby but the fin and rudder had been considerably increased in area. The hull was of the then familiar Linton Hope construction. The control surfaces all had aerodynamic horn-type balances.
  Sea Lion I was one of the four British seaplanes which were available to compete in the 1919 Schneider Trophy Contest. This was to be held in Britain, a privilege gained by the sensational win of the Sopwith Tabloid in the 1914 contest held at Monaco. As the organizing body under the direction of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the Royal Aero Club selected Bournemouth as the base for a triangular course of ten laps totalling 200 nautical miles, with Swanage and Hengistbury Head as the other turning points. A great contest was awaited in view of the vastly improved breed of aircraft generated during the 1914-18 War and their greatly improved performances. Indicative of this progress had been the direct flight of Alcock and Brown across the Atlantic in June 1919 in a Vickers Vimy.
  The other British competitors were the Fairey and Sopwith floatplanes, the entries being limited to three aircraft from any one nation, with the Avro floatplane as standby reserve. France had entered two Nieuports and a Spad, all floatplanes, while Italy’s one entry was a Savoia 13 flying-boat. In the event all had very mixed fortunes, some it must be admitted caused by bad organization which, with the choice of venue, came in for some severe criticism.
  With the worst of bad luck, the Royal Aero Club were confronted on the day of the contest, 10 September, 1919, by fog, which delayed the start of the race until tea time. The subsequent fiasco has been told in detail elsewhere but here only the career of the Supermarine contestant is recorded.
  The Sea Lion I arrived at one o’clock and tied up alongside the Supermarine launch Tiddleywinks, which was reputed to be the hull of one of Pemberton Billing’s original designs for a slip-wing aeroplane, probably of the prewar German order for P.B.7s. By late afternoon conditions were considered to be clear enough for the race to start and the Fairey was the first away at ten minutes to five, followed by the Sea Lion, the Sopwith and the Savoia. The Sea Lion’s engine was hand-started by Capt John Hoare for the pilot, Sqn Ldr Basil D. Hobbs, both Supermarine pilots. On ignition Hoare dived smartly overboard, being picked up by Tiddleywinks. The Sea Lion took off successfully and headed for the first turning point but ran into fog over Swanage Bay where the pilot lost his bearings, after having had a momentary sight of the Fairey machine and only just succeeding in avoiding a collision. Thinking that the visibility might be better lower down, he descended to near the surface where conditions were in fact just as bad. Realizing that he must be in the vicinity of Swanage Bay and thus in danger of running into the cliffs, he alighted to work out his position. In this he failed but decided to take off in the direction of Bournemouth in order to get out of fog and then make a fresh attempt to find the Swanage marker boat. Unfortunately, on take off and just at the moment of leaving the water he felt a terrific bang, caused by hitting an unseen object. From a flying point of view the machine behaved perfectly and so he decided to continue the race at a greater height. This he did. He still did not see the Swanage marker but from the position of the Purbeck Hills was able to satisfy himself that he had at least gone round it.
  Hobbs then flew to Hengistbury Head by compass course and found it clear of fog and rounded it safely to make his first alighting to the east of Boscombe Pier alongside the marker boat, as required by the rules. He made a perfect touchdown, but a hole in the bottom of the hull was so large that the boat almost immediately filled with water and there was no chance of beaching. The Sea Lion turned half over in an undignified position with the tail sticking up in the air. The motor launch picked up Hobbs, and when Tiddleywinks came up, Scott-Paine and Cdr James Bird of Supermarine secured the tail of the machine just before it sank and then towed it into shallow water where, with the help of rigging tackle, it was secured to Boscombe Pier and later salvaged and taken back to Woolston.
  The only pilot to circumnavigate the course was the Italian naval pilot Janello in the Savoia. He completed the required number of laps but missed the correct Swanage turning point on each lap, by mistaking a yacht for the marker boat, and was disqualified. The race was then declared void. The Italians protested and the Royal Aero Club consented that, as a compliment to Janello’s gallant effort, the 1920 contest would be held in Italy. The original decision that the race was void was upheld by the FAI.
  The hull of the Sea Lion I was loaned to the Science Museum at South Kensington in 1921 for exhibition so it must have been patched up or repaired to some extent. In 1928 the Science Museum was short of space for their exhibits (as they always are) and so they wrote to Supermarine regarding its return. Supermarine replied on 3 November, 1928, stating that the hull was now obsolete and could be disposed of, which the Museum did by breaking it up.
  

Sea Lion II

  The Schneider Trophy contest for 1920 was held at Venice where it was an uncontested fly-over for the Italians in a Savoia S.19 flying-boat, so notching up their first win. This meant that the Italians held the Trophy and so the 1921 contest was also held at Venice, which the Italians again won with a fly-over in a Macchi M.7 flying-boat. This was their second win. A third successive win would have meant that they could keep the Trophy. So for the 1922 contest held at Naples the entrants were three Italian aircraft, two French and one only from Great Britain, the Sea Lion II. Whereas by then the Italian and French teams had access to Government financial assistance, the Sea Lion was financed privately by Scott-Paine and Cdr James Bird of Supermarine, aided by the loan of a new 450 hp Napier Lion engine from Napiers. The British Government said that they could not afford to spend funds on this venture and pleaded the heavy financial burden caused by the 1914-18 War. The two French entries failed to put in an appearance and so the only challenger left was the Supermarine Sea Lion II.
  This was a high-speed pusher flying-boat designed by R. J. Mitchell. The new Sea Lion was originally the single-seat Sea King II amphibian of 1921, but rebuilt as a racing flying-boat and fitted with the Napier Lion engine between the Sea King mainplanes, which were reduced in area by modifying them to a narrower chord. To offset the greater torque of the engine the fin area above the low-mounted tailplane was increased, as was the rudder area.
  Scott-Paine, the managing director, took Biard aside one day in 1922 and asked him if he would like to fly in the Schneider Trophy race that year. He agreed and was then shown the actual aircraft almost completed in one of the building sheds. Before the race was completed Scott-Paine had spent over £6,000 so that Britain should have a worthy challenger. He also did wonderful work in getting together a real British team effort, for the loaned Napier engine would have cost £3,000 if purchased, another firm lent a high-speed propeller, the insurance company halved its rates to insure the machine, while Shell gave the petrol and Castrol the oil.
  About a week after Biard had seen the new Sea Lion, still unfinished, the Italian authorities, without any warning, suddenly put forward the date of the race by fourteen days, which meant that much less time to get ready. Supermarine however were determined to be in and men worked day and night until the Sea Lion was completed, leaving very little time to give it the number of flight tests needed before it could be flown in the race. To make matters worse, the English weather turned against them and gales prevented it taking off on its first flight, with Biard kicking his heels and just looking at the aeroplane. Late that day the gales subsided and he ordered her out and the engine was started up. He taxied out and was very quickly airborne but when a couple of hundred feet above Southampton Docks the engine suddenly cut out completely and he was gliding towards a forest of funnels and ships, but by skilful flying managed to alight safely between them without damage. The aeroplane was towed back to the works with Biard very despondent, where it was again worked on that night.
  The following day was again too windy for flying until just about sunset when Biard once more took the Sea Lion off. This time everything went according to plan and the pilot opened the engine flat out until the airspeed indicator was showing nearly 150 mph, which was faster than any flying-boat had ever flown before. Following this he turned and flew back again and did one or two sharp turns ready for the race itself with the machine answering sweetly to the controls every time. As it was getting dark, he alighted and taxied back to the slipway where at least a dozen eager operatives asked the same question, 'How fast?' Next day was reasonable at last and the Sea Lion was put through her paces, followed by more testing with only one or two final adjustments.
  With all that behind them Supermarine came upon another snag, for no continental railway would guarantee either the safety of the machine or that it would be delivered at Naples in time to take part in the race. At the critical moment the General Steam Navigation Company came with the offer of the loan of a steamship complete with crew, ss Philomel, Captain Field, was sailed into Southampton Water where the mechanics and sailors together packed the Sea Lion aboard as if it were made of glass. Scott-Paine also journeyed with the ship to Naples where the aircraft was just as gently unpacked, swung outboard and lowered on to the calm blue water accompanied by three rousing cheers for luck by the crew of the Philomel.
  As soon as everything was doubly checked Biard took off and immediately discovered that the cool breezes which came off the mountains surrounding the Bay of Naples created some surprising eddies of wind at about 3,000-4,000 ft where they met the hot air of the bay. From his boyhood he had always wanted to see Vesuvius so he decided to fly over it. He went steady at only 130 mph in order to have a good view but as he reached the volcano the hot-air blast from below promptly bumped him up 2,000 ft, going vertically upwards like a sailplane in a thermal, so that his view of the crater was distracted in jostling with the controls to avoid falling into it. By the time he had the aircraft again under control he was several miles from Vesuvius and wisely decided that the best way to see it was on foot, so flew back to Naples.
  Every time Biard flew the Sea Lion, the Italian pilots, Passaleva, Zanetti and Gorgolino, with their experts and many other onlookers, watched every movement he made, timed her over every stretch and studied her on the corners, and formulated their plans for the race. Whereas the Sea Lion was on view to all, the French aircraft, two CAMS, were wrapped in mystery. Biard was careful not to open the Sea Lion up too much and on the final trials over the actual course he even cornered rather widely round the pylons, partly from ordinary caution and partly because he wanted to keep something up his sleeve for the race itself.
  Before the main contest the participating aircraft had to pass strict navigation tests, including taxi-ing across the starting line, ascending, alighting, taxi-ing round buoys over two marked distances each of about half a mile at a minimum speed of 12 mph, covering the actual course in the air, alighting and finally taxi-ing across the finishing line. There was also a six hours’ mooring-out test where the machines were just left at their moorings unattended, whatever the weather. This was to prove that the machines taking part were fully seaworthy and airworthy and capable of participating in the actual race. The two French CAMS entries did not turn up for these tests and so could not take part in the actual contest. This left three Italian and one British contestant only. The British machine stood up perfectly to all the tests but the fastest Italian machine, Passaleva’s Savoia S.51, capsized at her moorings and later split her propeller plus other parts. This could and should have meant her disqualification but the Italians all showed up on the day and the British said nothing.
  The day was 12 August, 1922, and Biard, wanting to keep as cool as possible, turned out in shirt sleeves and a pair of old grey flannel trousers. At the start of the race he was so busy with the controls, and the fact that he had to taxi over the starting line before taking off, that the Italians were all ahead of him. The engine ran perfectly and he almost hit the marker balloon on the first turning point in chasing the Italians but succeeded in missing it and then let the engine full out until he was doing 160 mph indicated airspeed, faster than he or the Sea Lion had ever travelled before. This surprise was the result of the Napier mechanics’ tuning of the engine to absolutely top performance. After two circuits he had closed up on the Italians and they must have been watching him, because they teamed up closer to try to prevent him passing. Biard decided that he could not go round the outside of them because of the extra distance he would have to fly. Also he could not fly inside them in case he missed the line and be disqualified. This left him two choices, either to fly under them or over them and he decided on the latter course on one of the corners where they were not so bunched up. He waited for a quarter of an hour, holding the Sea Lion back before he decided to overtake, he got closer and closer with the wake from the machines in front threatening to turn him over, then he opened the throttle fully and pulled the nose up and over them. On looking down he could see the goggled faces of the Italian pilots below staring up over their shoulders, startled, grabbing at their controls, trying to urge their machines to greater efforts but to no avail. Biard was past and diving down in front of them at about 200 mph, wondering if the machine would hold together, and then round the balloon ahead of the Italians with them now rocking in his wake.
  He got well ahead and so could afford to ease off the engine somewhat, with the result that the Italians gradually caught him up but not close enough to worry him. After he had completed twelve laps he decided on what he described as a bit of fun and opened the throttle wide open so that on rounding the last marker and diving down to level off he was once again almost touching 200 mph, and so down the final straight, over the finishing line at probably the world’s fastest speed - certainly for seaplanes - and he had won for Britain. He did another couple of laps and then touched down where he could hear the tremendous yelling of the crowds.
  His time of 1 hr 34 min 51 sec over the 200-2 nautical miles (370-5 km) course gave him an average speed of 145-7 mph (234-5 km/h), and Passaleva, who was second, flew the course in 1 hr 36 min 22 sec at 143-5 mph in the Savoia S.51, Zanetti in the Macchi M.17 was third at 133 mph, and Gorgolino was fourth at 123-7 mph.
  The FAI granted the Sea Lion II the first World's Records in the marine aircraft class in January 1923 as follows:

   Duration of 1 hr 34 min 51-6 sec
   Longest distance accomplished 230 miles
   Fastest time for 100 km - (62 miles) in 28 min 41-4 sec at 130 mph
   Fastest time for 200 km - (124 miles) in 57 min 37-4 sec at 129-4 mph

  Before Biard left Naples, he visited Vesuvius with Scott-Paine as promised, accompanied by some Italian friends and found it even more active than when he had flown over it. On the triumphant return to Southampton the team was met by a tremendous reception from the crowds, ringing handbells, beating shovels, whistling, ships' sirens and so on, and it was obvious that everybody appreciated what Biard, and the Supermarine and Napier companies, had so recently accomplished. Even the Mayor and Corporation turned out in full ceremonial dress.
  The Sea Lion II on its return was purchased by the Air Ministry and allocated the serial number N157 and flown to Felixstowe where it was used for high-speed research on seaplanes.
  The Sea Lion hull was of the standard Linton Hope circular section, with built-on steps and was divided into watertight compartments. The engine was mounted in a faired nacelle which contained the oil-tank and frontal radiator, and was very accessible and easily replaced when required. The complete wing structure with power unit could be removed from the hull by withdrawing just eight bolts. The amphibian gear was attached by only ten bolts but was not carried during the contest. The main differences from the Sea Lion I were a redesigned bow and fin and rudder, reduced wing area and the undercarriage (when fitted) retracted under the wings instead of up the side of the hull, as on previous aircraft. The fin area had been further increased at Naples to improve directional control.


Sea Lion III

  For the 1923 Schneider Trophy race held at Cowes, Supermarine were not going to enter a machine. When Scott-Paine realized that the two British competitors, the Sopwith and the Blackburn Pellet, were inferior by his standards, and also influenced by the surprise entry of the US Navy Curtiss CR-3s, sponsored by the United States Government, he had second thoughts. The American floatplanes, powered by the new 465 hp Curtiss D-12 engines, were really lovely little machines and were amazingly streamlined. So at the last minute and under pressure because he did not feel able to spend £6,000 building another aircraft, he took over the old Sea Lion II. He knew it was not fast enough to beat the Americans in its existing form. He consequently decided to redesign and re-engine it to get at least another 15 mph over the previous year’s winner, and recovered it from the Air Ministry for this purpose. This gave R. J. Mitchell the worst job of his career, to get more speed out of an aeroplane that had originally been redesigned for high-speed racing and indeed was the fastest seaplane in the world only twelve months before, but one which possibly would be outclassed.
  Mitchell increased the wing area to cater for 400 lb weight increase, altered the lines of the bottom of the hull so as to offer less frontal air resistance with a slight increase in hull length. The wingtip floats were mounted on streamlined struts and once more there was a modified rudder with increased area. Napiers again supplied an engine, this time a Series III Lion of 525 hp, which was encased in a streamline cowling behind a circular nose radiator, in a much cleaner installation than those of the earlier Sea Lions.
  Naturally Henri Biard was selected as pilot. When he saw Sea Lion III for the first time he said, 'She is going to be a bit playful to get off the water', and he was proved right shortly after. He climbed into the cockpit, started up the engine and almost instantly found himself in the air. The machine had wanted to hydroplane into the air before flying speed was reached and this was not to his liking because, unless the pilot was careful, the aircraft would bump up and down on to the water at high speed and anything could happen. This no doubt was the old porpoising trouble again. The only thing as far as Biard was concerned was to open up the engine flat out from the start, take a phenomenally short run on the water and jump straight into the air with speed enough to climb straight away rapidly. This he considered was an asset for the race as long as he could manage the take off properly. After several flights he got the measure of the take off and the general handling characteristics in the air were really good, so that when he managed to get up to 160 mph he considered there seemed a chance against the Americans, however slim.
  For the 1923 race there were eleven entries but as the race date approached most of them began to develop trouble of one sort or another. Kenworthy in the Blackburn Pellet (a converted N.1B design contemporary with the Supermarine Baby) had two amazing escapes from drowning when the machine finished up under the water. The second time it was too late to do anything about reconstruction because the mishap occurred during the navigation tests of the contest. The Sopwith-Hawker entry had crashed previously so that this once again meant that the Supermarine entry was the only one competing for Great Britain, and the two Italian entries were withdrawn before the start. The third American entry, the Navy Wright biplane, also was in difficulties on test off Selsey Bill, when its high-power Wright T-2 engine of reputed 700 hp disintegrated after only 20 minutes flying. This led to the breaking up of the three-blade metal propeller, the puncturing of the floats and the capsizing of the machine, without harming the pilot. But the showing of the Curtiss CR-3s in practice was ominous. Thus, this seventh Contest, held 27-28 September, 1923, at Cowes over a five-lap course totalling 186 nautical miles, had only four competitors for the race itself on the second day of the contest, two American, the British Sea Lion III and one French CAMS 38.
  The two Americans took off first and the moment Biard saw them flying he doubted if the poor old Sea Lion could match them. He took off after them, the Sea Lion getting up so sharply off the starting line that the judges disqualified it but, on protests from General Brancker aboard the judges’ barge, the disqualification was quashed. However, Biard knew nothing at all about this and was trying to persuade the last ounce of speed out of the Sea Lion in chasing the Americans, with the lone Frenchman on his tail. On each turn at Selsey he cut his engine to get round more sharply and on the one leg with the wind behind him he could get up to over 170 mph, but to no avail. The Frenchman in the CAMS had engine failure on the first lap and so that left only three competitors. All finished the race, Lt D. Rittenhouse, US Navy, was the winner at an average speed of 177'38 mph, a new World Air Speed Record, Irvine, the second American did 173-47 mph, Biard coming in third at 157-17 mph. Just to give the crowd some consolation and the Americans a salute, as soon as Biard had crossed the line he zoomed to 5,000 ft over Cowes and descended round and round in a fast spiral to alight on the water. The aircraft was tied up and Biard went off to shake hands with Rittenhouse.
  Scott-Paine was very disappointed at the failure of the Sea Lion to win the race but under the conditions of a limited budget out of his own and the company’s funds, and the fact that the hull was originally built in about 1916, the aircraft had put up a good show against the Government-backed $2m high-speed flight of the Americans.
  After the race the Air Ministry once again wanted the aircraft back and Biard had to fly it to the Isle of Grain air station from Southampton, which he accomplished in less than an hour, and said goodbye to it there. Sqn Ldr Rea then flew it from there to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe after being warned by Biard about the take-off, of how it wanted to rise before sufficient flying speed had been reached. Rea managed to deliver it safely.
  The Sea Lion was then given over to Flg Off E. E. Pauli-Smith for tests. He too was warned about the quick take-off characteristic but he insisted that the danger was greater if the aircraft was taken off at full throttle from the start. He said he would rather try it at first more slowly, though once again being warned. On 5 July, 1924, Smith went out for a trial flight, started up the engine, taxied beautifully on the water, found himself rising without sufficient speed to climb, rose only a few feet and the machine came down on its nose, bounced up again to about forty feet, stalled and dived straight in.
  The Sea Lion was smashed into a mass of twisted metal and splintered wood and Flg Off Smith was killed instantly, the whole mass being taken to the sea bed with him pinned in it. The wreckage was salvaged but was not worth putting together again. A sad end to a fine aeroplane and a splendid pilot.
  For good reasons, this seventh Contest for the Schneider Trophy saw the end of the flying-boat as a contender in future races, however gallant the efforts of the Supermarine Sea Lions had been. The American combination of the outstanding Curtiss D-12 engine, with the highly streamlined Curtiss CR-3 airframe on floats, of low overall frontal area, was the deciding factor in the 1923 Schneider race. With the high-speed light alloy thin-bladed Reed propeller and the flush-mounted corrugated wing radiators, this sophisticated concept set a new pattern for highspeed flight in the next decade. In this context the single-seat flying-boat was out and floatplanes were the only answer from then on, and Supermarine were not behind in these ultimate developments.


Sea Lion I - One 450 hp Napier Lion IA. Single seat.
   Span (upper) 35 ft (10-66 m), (lower) 28 ft 3 in (8-61 m); length 26 ft 4 in (8-02 m); wing area 380 sq ft (35-3 sq tn).
   Empty weight 2,000 lb (907 kg); loaded weight 2.900 lb (1,315 kg).
   Maximum speed 147 mph (236-5 km/h); duration 21 hr.

Sea Lion II - One 450 hp Napier Lion II. Single seat.
   Span 32 ft (9-75 m); length 24 ft 9 in (7-54 m); wing area 384 sq ft (35-67 sq m).
   Empty weight 2.115 lb (959 kg); loaded weight (less undercarriage) 2,850 lb (1,292 kg). Maximum speed 160 mph (257-4 km/h); duration 3 hr.

Sea Lion III - One 525 hp Napier Lion III. Single seat.
   Span 28 ft (8-53 m); length 28 ft (8-53 m); wing area 360 sq ft (33-44 sq m).
   Empty weight 2,400 lb (1.088 kg); loaded weight 3,275 lb (1,485 kg).
   Maximum speed 175 mph (281-6 km/h); alighting speed 55 mph (88-5 km/h); duration 3 hr.
   Figures quoted are for aircraft in racing trim.