C.Andrews, E.Morgan Supermarine Aircraft since 1914 (Putnam)

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.

G.Duval British Flying-Boats and Amphibians 1909-1952 (Putnam)

Supermarine Channel (1919)

   In 1919, the Supermarine Company re-purchased most of the A.D. flyingboats from the Air Ministry and converted them for civil use by replacing the original engines with the more economical 160 h.p. Beardmore, and by modifying the forward part of the hull to seat three passengers, one in a bow cockpit, two side-by-side in the main cockpit, with the pilot positioned just forward of the lower mainplane. The first machine to be converted was ex-A.D. Boat N1529, which became G-EAED in the civil register, and renamed as the Supermarine Channel. Three Channels, ’ED, ’EE, and ’EK, were the first commercial flying-boats to receive British certificates of airworthiness, dated 23 July, 1919. These three machines were used for pleasure flights along the South Coast from Bournemouth Pier and also for charter work, the delicate water handling required for such employment being provided by fitment of a long-overdue water rudder. On 28 September, 1919, the day after the British railway strike began, the Company started a regular service between Southampton and Le Havre with the Channels, inaugurated ceremonially by G-EAED. The venture lasted until the strike ended on 5 October and was a success, despite the fact that the underpowered Channels, with their lengthy take-off run, gave rise to a rumour that the service was mainly seaborne! Of all the sorties flown during this busy season, only one terminated in misfortune when ’EE crashed and sank during a pleasure flight.
   In the same year the New Zealand Flying School purchased a Channel, which was assembled at Auckland and registered G-NZAI. The engine was the standard Beardmore, but its low power did not satisfy the New Zealanders and in 1920 they replaced it with a 240 h.p. Siddeley Puma extracted from a D.H.9. The improvement in performance was immediate, with a speed increase of some 20 m.p.h., and it is perhaps no coincidence that Supermarines made a similar engine change to a Puma at about the same time. The Company further modified the Channel by fitting strut-mounted wing-tip floats and watertight camera-hatch doors in the hull bottoms, also fitting some, but not all, machines with rudders of greater area. So modified, the machine became known as the Channel Mk. II. The last three machines of the original ex-A.D. Boat batch were shipped to Bermuda and used for pleasure flying with the Bermuda and Western Atlantic Aviation Co. Ltd, on an expendable basis, for shortage of spares ended their careers within a few months. However, one of the Bermuda Channels was shipped to Trinidad in March 1921, where it joined two Channel Mk. Ils employed on air photographic work for survey of the Orinoco Delta. This was satisfactorily completed and a further contract received for air photographs of the interior of British Guiana by one machine, during the course of which a new mountain range was discovered. Unfortunately, this Channel sank after striking driftwood in the River Essequibo. One Channel Mk. II flew photographic sorties in the Fiji Islands during July 1921, and the following year G-NZAI continued this work, having previously operated an experimental air mail service in the Auckland area. Three Channel Mk. Ils were taken to Japan in 1921 by the British Aviation Mission to the Imperial Japanese Navy, and one machine supplied to the Royal Swedish Navy, but the latter was soon written-off in a crash. In 1920, seven Beardmore-engined Channels had been sold to Norway, three going to the civil company, Det Norske Luftfartsrederi, and operating on the Stavanger-Bergen route as well as airmail services between Oslo and Christiansand. The other four machines, one of which had dual control, went to the Royal Norwegian Navy which subsequently re-engined two of them with the 240 h.p. Siddeley Puma. Possibly the last Channel to be sold overseas was a single Mk. II shipped to Chile in 1922. Some idea of the hard-wearing qualities of the Channel’s hull may be obtained from the fact that the hull of the New Zealand machine, G-NZAI, was still in use as a boat in 1943!


SPECIFICATION

   Power Plant:
   One 160 h.p. Beardmore
   Mk.II - One 240 h.p. Siddeley Puma
   Span: 50 feet 4 inches
   Length: 30 feet 7 inches
   Loaded: (Beardmore) 3,400 pounds
   Total Area: 479 square feet
   Max. Speed:
   (Beardmore) 80 m.p.h.
   Mk.II - 100 m.p.h.
Endurance:
   (Beardmore) 3-75 hours
   Mk.II - 3 hours

H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)

Supermarine Channel. This was the name conferred by Supermarine on the A.D. Flying Boat constructed by them and offered for sale in 1919. A Scarff ring-mounting for a Lewis gun with 'single# ammunition drums was installed a short distance back from the bows as shown in a photograph herewith. This same picture suggests the presence of a four 20-lb bomb-carrier under the port wing, and the makers mentioned a possible load of two 50-lb or 100-lb bombs.

A.Jackson British Civil Aircraft since 1919 vol.3 (Putnam)

Supermarine Channel

   The A.D. two-seat patrol flying boat of 1916 was designed jointly by Lt. Linton Hope, Harold Bolas, Harold Yendall and Clifford W. Tinson and had a flexible wooden monococque hull which unconcernedly absorbed punishment from rough seas. The wings folded forward and construction took place at the Woolston, Southampton, works of Pemberton Billing Ltd. where 27 had been completed by the 1918 Armistice. A number of these were repurchased from the Air Ministry by the Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd., successors to the Pemberton Billing concern, and converted for civil use with 160 h.p. Beardmore engine driving a pusher airscrew and with the forward part of the hull seating two passengers in tandem with a third in the bows and the pilot behind.
   An initial batch of ten, redesignated Supermarine Channels, were registered to Supermarine as G-EAED to ’EM on 11 June 1919, three of which, G-EAED, ’EE and ’EK, still bearing R.A.F. serials, began pleasure flights along the South Coast with the first Cs. of A. issued to British commercial flying boats. Brisk business was done at Bournemouth Pier and chief pilot Cdr. B. D. Hobbs organised the daily positioning flight from Woolston into a regular service. During Cowes Week a Channel stationed on the Medina was chartered on 7 August for a flight round H.M.S. Renown as it left Portsmouth with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales aboard. Later in the month ’ED received a civic send-off at the inauguration of the world’s first international flying boat service to Le Havre and a local service to Cowes also began. The Channels taxied from the Woolston works to embark passengers at Royal Pier but ’EE overturned and sank during a pleasure flight at Bournemouth on 15 August and commercial operations ceased at the end of the season.
   In 1920 Channels G-EAEH, ’El and ’EL were despatched to Norway in crates for Norske Luftreideri’s mail and passenger service between Stavanger and Bergen. From difficult anchorages, over difficult terrain and frequently in marginal weather, they operated with 94-4% regularity until the company was wound up in December 1920. A fourth Channel, believed to have been G-EAEM, was a dual control trainer for the Royal Norwegian Navy based at Horten.
G-EAEF, 'EG and 'EJ were shipped to Bermuda in April 1920 and spent the following winter in highly successful pleasure flying operations with the Bermuda and Western Atlantic Aviation Co. Ltd. One of several novel charters involved overtaking and landing alongside a United States bound steamship and transferring actress Pearl White. Shortage of spares ended their careers within a few months but ’EG was shipped to Trinidad in March 1921 to join two Channel Mk.IIs G-EAWC and 'WP.
   Powered by the 240 h.p. Siddeley Puma, these had strutted wing tip floats and watertight camera doors let into the hull bottoms. Flown by С. E. Ward and F. Bailey of Bermuda and Western Atlantic Aviation Co. Ltd., they prospected for oil in the Orinoco Delta, Venezuela, under the direction of Major Cochran Patrick. Neither carried markings and one was detached later for the aerial survey of Georgetown, British Guiana, but sank in the River Essequibo after colliding with driftwood.
   In May 1921 another unmarked Channel, actually G-NZAI, was shipped to Walsh Bros, and Dexter for the New Zealand Flying School, Auckland. It was a hybrid with 160 h.p. Beardmore and Mk.H airframe and made the first ever Auckland-Wellington flight on 4 October 1921 piloted by George Bolt. Early in July 1922 it was shipped to Fiji for a two-week, 1,000 mile, survey of the main islands of the group, flown by Capt. A. C. Upham and on its return was fitted with a 240 h.p. Puma and remained in service until 1926. Its hull was still used as a boat in 1943.
   Six more Channel Ils received certificates of airworthiness in 1920-21 for export without markings, including four for the Imperial Japanese Navy taken out by the British Aviation Mission, and one each for Cuba and Chile.

SPECIFICATION
   Manufacturers:
   The Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd., Woolston, Southampton, Hants.
   Power Plants:
   (Channel Mk.I) One 160 h.p. Beardmore.
   (Channel Mk.Il) One 240 h.p. Siddeley Puma.
   Dimensions:
   Span, 50 ft. 4 in.
   Length, 30 ft. 7 in.
   Height, 13 ft. 1 in.
   Wing area, 479 sq. ft.
   *Weights:
   All-up weight 3,400 lb.
   *Performance:
   Maximum speed 100 m.p.h.
   Ceiling 10,000 ft.
   Duration 5 hours.
   * Channel Mk.I.
   Production:
   (a) Channel Mk.I Ten aircraft of British registry listed in Appendix E.
   (b) Channel Mk.Il Two aircraft of British registry and the following for export: (c/n 1037), unregistered, C. of A. 13.7.20, British Controlled Oil Field Co., Trinidad; (1142), G-NZAI, 17.12.20; (1148), Imperial Japanese Navy, 3.1 2.21; (1149), unregistered, 24.8.21, Cuba; (1150 and 1155), Imperial Japanese Navy, 17.12.21; (1156), Imperial Japanese Navy, 20.12.21.

J.Forsgren Swedish Military Aircraft 1911-1926 (A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes 68)

Supermarine Channel II

  Only one Supermarine Channel II was used in Sweden. In 1921, the Swedish Navy dispatched two high-ranking officers to Great Britain was to examine flying boats suitable for the MFV. The Vickers Viking IV was briefly considered, but at the suggestion of Carl Clemens Bucker (a former German naval pilot who in 1921 had founded the company Svenska Aero AB) one three-seat Supermarine Channel II was ordered for comparative trials with the Caspar S.I (redesignated on December 1, 1922 as the Heinkel HE 1). Taken on charge in July 1921, the Supermarine Channel was assigned the serial number Fb 46. Before the proper commencement of the trials the Channel was written off in a crash at Harsfjarden on September 22, 1922.
  Two days later, on Sunday September 24, the newspaper Dagens Nyheter published a brief account of the crash.
  "Flying Boat crashes from an altitude of 30 metres
  On Friday, a nasty accident occurred at Harsfjarden, when one of the Navy’s flying boats crashed from an altitude of almost 30 metres, being severely damaged, with the pilot and passenger escaped without injuries.
  The flying boat in question, number 46, was piloted by Lieutenant Runius of the Coastal Artillery, presently attached to the gunnery school’s air detachment, who during a training flight all of a sudden suffered engine failure. Before the pilot was able to “get (the machine) upwards, it crashed at a terrifying speed towards the water surface. The accident was observed from the armoured ship Dristigheten (Boldness), which was located some 2,000 metres away from the site of the crash. The steam launches of Dristigheten sped to the rescue. However, it all ended better than originally feared by the spectators. When the site of the crash was reached, the pilot, Lieutenant Runius, as well as the observer, a naval corporal, were uninjured. The machine had been filled with water, but was still afloat, with the pair of aviators having suffered an involuntary cold bath.
  The Flying boat was then towed to Dristigheten, and subsequently hoisted aboard a barge, which transported it to the Harsfjarden air station. During the initial examination, it was discovered that the wings and hull had been severely damaged, while the engine was not at all damaged. Damage to the airplane was estimated at SEK 15,000, which was beyond economical repair.”
  The cause of the crash was due to engine trouble during take-off. The reason for this was assumed to be layers of soot on the spark plugs, or water-contaminated fuel. The high winds made the ensuing forced landing more difficult. Another view of the cause of the crash was that the change of centre of gravity which occurred when it was flown without the gunner/observer (or ballast) in the front cockpit. In any event, the pilot, Lieutenant Runius, received no blame for the crash.
  The 240 h.p. A.S. Puma engine (c/n 11432) was salvaged and fitted to a Heinkel HE 1 (Fb 40). This particular airplane later became S 2 serial number 240.

Pilot Impression

  One naval pilot to fly the Channel II was Albin Ahrenberg, who later wrote of his first, hair-raising flight in the flying boat in his memoirs Ett Flygarliv (A life in Aviation).
  “One day we went to Frihamnen (Stockholm harbour) to collect a huge packing crate, which contained the latest naval aircraft acquisition. It was a flying boat, a Supermarine, that had been purchased and test flown in England which we, according to available plans, would assemble. When the airplane was ready, I spoke to the officer who had been present in England when it was delivered, and asked if any particular pilot’s notes regarding the flying characteristics were available. He replied that he was not aware of any such information, but I nevertheless sat down and prepared to make taxiing runs, and then take-off in order to learn more about its performance.
  The construction of the hull was, from a maritime point of view, very appealing. It was extremely strong, built out of veneer, beautifully shaped and had the appearance of being seaworthy. The wings were located on the centre fuselage, with the engine being fitted between the wings. It was reminiscent of the Savoia (S 13) which I had flown previously, although the nose section in front of the wings was much longer, and contained three separate cockpits in a row. The pilot sat nearest the wings, ie most aft, with the radio operator in the middle seat and the gunner/observer up-front. As was common practice with all test flights, the pilot was the only one aboard. There wasn’t much fuel in the tanks, and she lifted off quickly, climbing seemingly with a mind of her own. I did not reflect about this state of affairs quickly enough, otherwise I would have cut the engine at the moment of lift-off. When I did begin to put my mind to it, I had already reached too great an altitude to safely cut the engine. It seemed as if the pusher engine was pressing the nose downwards. Attempting to experiment at low altitude would be life threatening. Better then to climb to have more room to manoeuvre. My thought was to cut the engine, and thus try to bring the nose down. At an altitude of about 500 metres the nose began to slowly turn downwards, and I eased off on the elevator. But, as I reduced the engine revs, the nose turned upwards. I flew around for about half-an-hour, thinking about how in the world I would bring this crate down without killing myself.
  Finally, I flew to Kanholmsfjarden, where the stretch of water was sufficiently long for the type of landing which I had arrived at as being the best, given the circumstances. I flew her down, close to the water, letting her touch the surface at full speed. The landing speed was likely to have been around 175 km/h, and I thanked God that the hull was so well constructed. The friction of the stem against the water provided a powerful braking effect, while the aeroplane at the same time risked turning over. I reduced the engine revs, finally cutting the engine when the speed had been reduced to around 80 km/h. The whole experience had been quite frightening, and I steered for land, attached the mooring rope, and proceeded to fill the front cockpit with rocks equating the weight of two grown men. I then took-off again, finding to my delight that she was one of the nicest machines I had ever flown.
  Following my experience during the test flight, I was able to issue instructions regarding the distribution of weight prior to a flight. The aeroplane was then assigned to serve in the Coastal Fleet, but despite a red warning note in front of the pilot’s nose, clearly warning to fly it without being properly loaded. The pilot panicked when he immediately following lift-off could not get the aeroplane to fly horizontally. He then cut the engine, which resulted in the nose pointing upwards, and the aeroplane falling over one wing from an altitude of 20 metres into the water. This rather strange landing made the hull break into three pieces”.

Supermarine Channel II Technical Data and Performance Characteristics
   Engine: 1 x 240 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Puma
   Length: 9,14 m
   Wingspan: 15,36 m
   Height: 3,96 m
   Wing area: 42,07 m2
   Empty weight: 1,068 kg
   Maximum weight: 1,600 kg
   Maximum speed: 148 km/h
   Armament: -