Supermarine Southampton

The Supermarine Southampton was a 1920s British flying boat, one of the most successful flying boats of the between-war period. It was a development of the Supermarine Swan, which was used for a 10 passenger service between England and France.

Development

The Southampton was designed by the team of R. J. Mitchell, better known as the designer of the later Spitfire. Due to the success of the Swan, the Air Ministry ordered six Southamptons direct from the drawing board, which was very unusual. As the Swan had acted in effect as a prototype, development time was short. The first flight of a production aircraft was made on 10 March 1925, and delivery to the RAF started in the middle of 1925. Further aircraft were sold to a number of other countries. Eight new aircraft were sold to Argentina, with Turkey purchasing six aircraft and Australia buying two ex-RAF Mk 1 aircraft. Japan also purchased a single aircraft which was later converted into an 18 passenger cabin airliner. One aircraft was placed on the British Civil Register (G-AASH) and was operated by Imperial Airways. In all 83 Southamptons were constructed, excluding the three-engined Southampton MK X which was a single prototype.

Design

The Southampton was a two-engine biplane flying boat, with the tractor engines mounted between the wings. The Southampton Mk I had both its hull and its wings manufactured from wood. The Southampton Mk II had a hull with a single thickness of metal (duralumin) (the Mk I had a double wooden bottom). This change gave a weight saving of 900 lb (409 kg) allowing for an increase of range of approximately 200 miles (325 km). In 1929 24 of the Mk I were converted by having newly-built metal hulls replacing the wooden ones. Some of the later aircraft were built with metal wings and were probably designated as Mk III. There were three positions for machine guns, one in the nose and two staggered in the rear fuselage.

Variants

Different powerplants were fitted in variants:

Mk I

Napier Lion V engine, wooden hull. 23 built.

Mk II

Napier Lion Va, 39 built

Argentina

Lorraine-Deitrich 12E. Five wooden hulled + three metal hulled aircraft.

Turkey

Hispano-Suiza 12Nbr. Six built..

Bristol Jupiter IX and Rolls-Royce Kestrel in experiments

Operators

Military Operators

Argentina

Australia -

• Royal Australian Air Force
  • Coastal Reconnaissance Flight RAAF
  • No. 1 Flying Training School's Seaplane Squadron RAAF

Japan

United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force
  • No. 201 Squadron RAF
  • No. 203 Squadron RAF
  • No. 204 Squadron RAF
  • No. 205 Squadron RAF
  • No. 209 Squadron RAF
  • No. 210 Squadron RAF

Civil Operators

United Kingdom

• Imperial Airways

Specifications (Southampton II)

Data from Supermarine Aircraft since 1914

General characteristics

• Crew: Five (2 pilots and 3 gunners)

Performance

• Climb to 6,000 ft (1,829 m) 29 minutes 42 seconds
  
• Endurance 6.3 hours

Armament

• Guns:
  
  • Three Lewis guns, one in bows and two amidships.
• Bombs:
  
  • 1,100 lb of bombs under the wings.

See also

Related development

• Supermarine Scapa
• Supermarine Stranraer

Related lists

• RAF aircraft
• List of seaplanes and flying boats

References

Bibliography

• Andrews, CF (1987). Supermarine Aircraft since 1914 (2nd edition ed.). London: Putnam. ISBN 0 85177 800 3. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Thetford, Owen (1957). Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1918-57 (First Edition ed.). London: Putnam. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

External Links

• British Aircraft Directory