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Supermarine S.6

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The Supermarine S.6 was a 1920s British single-engined single-seat racing seaplane built by Supermarine.

Design and development

Following the success of the Supermarine S.5 in the 1927 Schneider Trophy Reginald Mitchell designed a successor, the Supermarine S.6. The S.5 had reached the limits of power for the Template:Convert Napier Lion VIIB engine; the S.6 used the new 1,900 hp (1,417 kW) Rolls-Royce R engine.

Two aircraft (serial numbers N247 and N248) were built at Woolston and operated by the RAF High Speed Flight.

Operational history

The two S.6 racers were entered into the 1929 Schneider Trophy at Calshot, England. N247 came first piloted by Flying Officer H.R. Waghorn at a speed of 328.63 mph (528.88 km/h). N248 was disqualified when it turned inside one of the marker poles.

The government withdrew support for the next race due to be held in 1931; all that could be done was to modify the S.6 to take a more powerful 2,350 hp (1,750 kW) version of the Rolls-Royce R engine and, following private financing, two were built as the Supermarine S.6B. The two S.6s were re-designated as S.6As and were brought up to a similar standard as the S.6Bs.

Although the British team faced no competitors, the RAF High Speed Flight brought six Supermarine Schneider racers to Calshot Spit on Southampton Water for training and practice. The aircraft were: S.5, N219, second at Venice in 1927, S.5, N220, winner at Venice in 1927, S.6A, N247, that won at Calshot in 1929, S.6A, N248, disqualified at Calshot in 1929, alongside the new and untested S.6Bs, S1595 and S1596.

The British plan for the Schneider contest was to have S1595 fly the course alone and if its speed was not high enough, or it encountered mechanical failure, then the more proven S.6A N248 would fly the course. If both S1595 and N248 failed in their attempts, N247 held in reserve would be used. The S.6B S1596 was then to attempt the World Air Speed Record. During training N247 was destroyed in a fatal takeoff accident, precluding any other plans with only the two S.6Bs and the surviving S.6 prepared for the final Schneider run. N248 remained as part of the team for the 1931 contest at Calshot but did not fly in the race.

Survivors

Serial Number N248 is on display at Solent Sky Museum in Southampton, England.

Operators

Template:UK

Specifications (N247)

Template:Aircraft specification

See also

Related development

Related lists

See also

References

Template:Supermarine aircraft

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Supermarine S.6".