A yacht ( / j ɒ t / ) is a sail - or motor -propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a yacht , as opposed to a boat , such a pleasure vessel is likely to be at least 33 feet (10 m) in length and may have been judged to have good aesthetic qualities.
163-531: Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II . It also built a range of seaplanes and flying boats , winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three wins in a row in 1927, 1929 and 1931. After the war, the company produced a series of jet fighters . The company was founded in 1913 as Pemberton-Billing Ltd on
326-739: A large yacht as one that is 24 metres (79 ft) or more at the waterline and is in commercial use for sport or pleasure, while not carrying cargo or more than 12 passengers and carrying a professional crew. The code regulates the equipping of such vessels, both at sea and in port—including such matters as crew duty times and the presence of a helicopter on board. The code has different levels of standard for vessels above and below 500 gross tons . Such yachts may be considered superyachts and are more commonly at 40 metres (130 ft) or more in length. Other countries have standards similar to LY2. Whereas commercial large yachts may carry no more than 12 passengers, private yachts are solely for
489-644: A Member of Parliament (MP) in 1916, Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager and longtime associate Hubert Scott-Paine who renamed the company Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. The company became famous for its successes in the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes, especially its run of wins in 1927–1931. In 1928 Vickers-Armstrongs took over Supermarine as Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd and in 1938 all Vickers-Armstrongs aviation interests were reorganised to become Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, although Supermarine continued to design, build and trade under its own name. The phrase Vickers Supermarine
652-483: A steam auxiliary engine . Early examples, driven with paddle wheels, had a railed platform from which the person conning the vessel could walk across the vessel above the main deck, the origin of the bridge . In the late 18th century, steam engines became more efficient, spars were removed and screw propellers became standard. Steam yachts evolved with the development of the steam engine . Ultimately, engines employed pistons driven by steam within cylinders, connected to
815-431: A 600-foot (180 m) yacht, REV Ocean , was under construction, which when launched would replace the 590-foot (180 m) Azzam as the longest superyacht. As superyachts have grown size, the distinction between a yacht and a ship (perhaps converted for personal use) has become unclear. A proposed definition for calling a vessel a yacht rather than a ship would if it was constructed solely for personal use and has
978-767: A business for profit. As of 2020, there were more than 15,000 yachts of sufficient size to require a professional crew. The term, yacht , originates from the Dutch word jacht (pl. jachten ), which means "hunt", and originally referred to light, fast sailing vessels that the Dutch Republic navy used to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries . The history of pleasure boats begins with rowed craft in Pharaonic Egyptian times, and other vessels in
1141-665: A category, apart. Design considerations for a cruising yacht include seaworthiness, performance, sea kindliness, and cost of construction, as follows: Multihulls offer tradeoffs as cruising sailboats, compared with monohulls . They may be catamarans or trimarans. They rely on form stability—having separate hulls far apart—for their resistance to capsize. Their advantages include greater: stability, speed, (for catamarans) living space, and shallower draft. Their drawbacks include: greater expenses, greater windage , more difficult tacking under sail, less load capacity, and more maneuvering room required because of their broad beam. They come with
1304-635: A close match for them. After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire superseded the Hurricane as the principal aircraft of RAF Fighter Command , and it was used in the European , Mediterranean , Pacific , and South-East Asian theatres. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire operated in several roles, including interceptor, photo-reconnaissance, fighter-bomber, and trainer, and it continued to do so until
1467-632: A combined occupancy of less than 100, including crew. The United States Coast Guard classifies motorboats—any vessel less than 65 feet (20 m), propelled by machinery—in four classes by length: A motor yacht's style can both be functional and evoke an aesthetic—trending towards the modern or the traditional. Among the styles, mentioned in the literature, are: There are three basic types of motor yacht hull: full-displacement , semi-displacement , and planing , which have progressively higher cruise speeds and hourly fuel consumption with increased engine power: A typical semi-displacement yacht has
1630-530: A contest between the yacht, America , and its English competitors. Both countries had rules by which to rate yachts, the English by tonnage and the American by length. In the late 19th century, yacht owners would base their choice of vessel upon preferred lifestyle and budget, which would determine the size and type of vessel, which would most likely be a fore-and aft, two-masted sailing vessel. A treatise on
1793-407: A crank shaft, which drove a propeller. Near the end of the 19th century, compound engines came into widespread use. Compound engines exhausted steam into successively larger cylinders to accommodate the higher volumes at reduced pressures, giving improved efficiency. These stages were called expansions, with double- and triple-expansion engines being common, especially in shipping where efficiency
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#17327801841961956-434: A few aerobatic tests to determine how good or bad she was. The production test was usually quite a brisk affair; the initial circuit lasted less than 10 minutes and the main flight took between 20 and 30 minutes. Then, the aircraft received a final once-over by our ground mechanics, any faults were rectified, and the Spitfire was ready for collection. I loved the Spitfire in all of her many versions, but I have to admit that
2119-573: A good relationship with the Air Department and gain any further orders it was necessary for the company to distance itself from Billing. As a result, Billing sold his shares in the company for about £12,500 to Hubert Scott-Paine and the other directors who renamed the company Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd and officially registered it under that name on 27 June 1916. As well as Scott-Paine, the other directors were Alfred Delves de Broughton and solicitor Charles Cecil Dominy. The first product of
2282-518: A higher-aspect ratio fin keel with hydrodynamically efficient bulbs for ballast. On some racing yachts, a canting keel shifts angle from side to side to promote sailing with less heeling angle (sideway tilt), while other underwater foils take care of leeway (sideways motion). Motor yachts range in length from 33–130 feet (10–40 m) before they are considered super-yachts or mega-yachts , which are 130 feet (40 m) and longer. They also vary by use, by style, and by hull type. As of April 2020
2445-491: A hired crew and have higher construction standards. Further classifications for large yachts are commercial : carrying no more than 12 passengers; private : solely for the pleasure of the owner and guests, or by flag , the country under which it is registered. A superyacht (sometimes megayacht ) generally refers to any yacht (sail or power) longer than 131 ft (40 m). Racing yachts are designed to emphasize performance over comfort. Charter yachts are run as
2608-498: A jig and the eight horizontal tail formers were riveted to them. A combination of 14 longitudinal stringers and four main longerons attached to the frames helped form a light but rigid structure to which sheets of alclad stressed skinning were attached. The fuselage plating was 24, 20, and 18 gauge , decreasing in order of thickness towards the tail, while the fin structure was completed using short longerons from frames 20 to 23, before being covered in 22 gauge plating. The skin of
2771-424: A lack of orders, 80 per cent of the staff were fired, leaving only 14 employees. On 14 November 1914 Broughton used his resources to pay off the company's debits which allowed the company to continue in business. Some work was obtained repairing aircraft subcontracting from Sopwith. Broughton then enlisted which left Scott-Paine in charge. At some point in 1914 Carol Vasilesco died suddenly of a heart attack, which left
2934-483: A large penalty for their fuel injection. When the fuel is fed before the supercharger, as on the Merlin, it evaporates and cools the air by 25°C. This cooling enhances the performance of the supercharger, and increases the power of the engine, with a corresponding increase in aircraft speed, particularly at high altitude." However, the early Merlin engine's lack of fuel injection meant that Spitfires and Hurricanes, unlike
3097-521: A larger role, the new Spitfire caught the popular imagination and became the aircraft associated with the battle. It went on to play a major part in the remainder of the war, in a number of variants and marks, and it was the only Allied fighter aircraft to be in production through the entirety of the Second World War . Other company planes from the period include the Seafire (a naval version of
3260-507: A maximum rate of 320 per month, making CBAF the largest Spitfire factory in the UK and the largest and most successful plant of its type during the 1939–45 conflict. During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe made concerted efforts to destroy the main manufacturing plants at Woolston and Itchen , near Southampton. The first bombing raid, which missed the factories, came on 23 August 1940. Over
3423-738: A metallurgy department headed by Arthur Black (who joined the company at the end of 1925) and established metal production facilities at their Woolston works. The resulting metal hulled version of the Southampton entered service as the Mk II. The Southampton series was very successful with a total of 83 of all types being built. As a result of the success of the Seagull and Southampton between 1923 and 1927 sales rose from £137,683 to £403,868 and profits from £58,002 to £111,935. While it had been Scott-Paine' love of speed and competitive nature that had been
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#17327801841963586-462: A monoplane seaplane called the S.4 which was used to set a new world air speed record over Southampton Water of 226.75 mph (364.9 kmh). However the sole example crashed during testing prior to the event, forcing the company to withdraw from the event. With sponsorship from the Air Ministry, Mitchell began to design a new streamlined monoplane aircraft designated the S.5 . Compared with
3749-486: A more prevalent type of power plant in the 20th century thanks to their low cost of operation and reliability. The Recreational Craft Directive requires that all vessels sold in the European Union and United Kingdom satisfy one of four design categories, based on the wind force and seas that they are designed to encounter: The Large Commercial Yacht Code (LY2) of Great Britain and its dominions defines
3912-610: A navigation station that allows planning the route. Onboard systems include: Modern yachts employ a suite of electronics for communication, measurement of surroundings, and navigation. Sailing yachts for cruising versus racing embody different tradeoffs between comfort and performance. Cruising yachts emphasize comfort over performance. Racing yachts are designed to compete against others in their class, while providing adequate comfort to their crews. Cruising yachts may be designed for near-shore use or for passage-making. They may also be raced, but they are designed and built with
4075-407: A new category of pleasure craft. The power plants started with the steam engine and transitioned to the internal combustion engine. Whereas sailing yachts continued to be steered from the after portion of the vessel, power yachts adopted the bridge in a forward cabin structure that afforded better forward and sideways visibility. The history of steam yachts starts with large sailing yachts with
4238-622: A number of possible acquisitions. Blackburn Aircraft was in poor condition, Saunders was potentially too costly as a consortium headed by A.V. Roe was proposing to purchase them, while Short was too big and diverse. That left Supermarine. Aware that Supermarine's ability to modernise and expand was limited by a lack of financial resources, Bird and the other directors agreed to sell to Vickers in 1928. Vickers paid £390,000 and renamed it as Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd . Subsequently, in December 1938, following both Air Ministry's and
4401-615: A part of the British Aircraft Corporation and the individual manufacturing heritage names were lost. In 1909 Noel Pemberton-Billing purchased a number of engineering workshops on 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of land at South in Sussex which he intended to develop as an airfield . At the same time, he built a number of unsuccessful aircraft of his own design. To promote the venture, he founded his own magazine Aerocraft . Despite attracting some aircraft constructors,
4564-589: A piecemeal basis. The British public first saw the Spitfire at the RAF Hendon air display on Saturday 27 June 1936. Although full-scale production was supposed to begin immediately, numerous problems could not be overcome for some time, and the first production Spitfire, K9787 , did not roll off the Woolston , Southampton assembly line until mid-1938. In February 1936, the director of Vickers-Armstrongs, Sir Robert MacLean guaranteed production of five aircraft
4727-657: A pilot and three passengers in three open cockpits. Once the ban on civilian flying was lifted in May 1919 the ten aircraft were registered in June 1919, with three being granted civil certificates of airworthiness at the end of July of that same year. Services commenced in August from Southampton with typically three in service. To pilot the commercial services Scott-Paine employed ex-RNAS pilots Henri Biard , Francis Bailey, Philip Brend. John Hoare, Basil Hobbs and Herbert Horsey. Following
4890-638: A potential top speed greater than that of several contemporary fighter aircraft, including the Hawker Hurricane . Mitchell continued to refine the design until his death in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith took over as chief designer. Smith oversaw the Spitfire's development through many variants , from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined Mk 24, using several wing configurations and guns. The original airframe
5053-417: A result, he left in 1933. Trevor Westbrook, a 28-year-old and relatively inexperienced protégé of Robert McLean, was installed as Works Manager with a brief to improve the factory. His direct and forthright manner was not met with universal approval by the staff, but under his direction the factory was rebuilt, rationalised and extended, while the production methods were improved. In 1937 he was promoted within
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5216-649: A result, his return led to the company concentrating on designing the quadruplane P.B.29, which was designed to shoot down zeppelins . In May 1916 the company was awarded by the Air Department of the Admiralty a contract to build the flying surfaces for the AD flying boat and to undertake the detailed design and construction of the AD Navyplane . The AD Flying Boat was initially found to have poor performance in
5379-446: A similar fashion to a leaf spring ; two of these booms were linked together by an alloy web, creating a lightweight and very strong main spar. The undercarriage legs were attached to pivot points built into the inner, rear section of the main spar, and retracted outwards and slightly backwards into wells in the non-load-carrying wing structure. The resultant narrow undercarriage track was considered an acceptable compromise as this reduced
5542-419: A total of 2,360 Spitfires and Seafires, more than 10% of total production. Henshaw wrote about flight testing Spitfires: After a thorough preflight check, I would take off, and once at circuit height, I would trim the aircraft and try to get her to fly straight and level with hands off the stick ... Once the trim was satisfactory, I would take the Spitfire up in a full-throttle climb at 2,850 rpm to
5705-492: A variety of sleeping accommodations and (for catamarans) bridge-deck configurations. Gaff rigs have been uncommon in the construction of cruising boats, since the mid 20th century. More common rigs are Bermuda , fractional , cutter , and ketch . Occasionally employed rigs since then have been the yawl , schooner, wishbone , catboat . Sailboats employ standing rigging to support the rig, running rigging to raise and adjust sails, cleats to secure lines, winches to work
5868-548: A wedge-shaped bow, which promotes penetrating waves, that transitions to flatter, wider surfaces aft, which promotes lifting the vessel out of the water—the "deep vee" hull, designed by Ray Hunt, found in approximately 75% of modern power boats. Cruising motor yachts are available in a range of styles as two-engine catamarans , ranging in length from 40–150 feet (12–46 m) with top speeds ranging from 20–60 knots (37–111 km/h). Motor yachts typically have one or more diesel engines . Gasoline-powered motors and engines are
6031-502: A week, beginning 15 months after an order was placed. On 3 June 1936, the Air Ministry placed an order for 310 aircraft. Full-scale production of the Spitfire began at Supermarine's facility in Woolston, but the order clearly could not be completed in the 15 months promised. Supermarine was a small company, already busy building Walrus and Stranraer flying boats, and Vickers was busy building Wellington bombers. The initial solution
6194-409: A wing shape from an aircraft designed for an entirely different purpose." The elliptical wing was decided upon quite early on. Aerodynamically it was the best for our purpose because the induced drag caused in producing lift, was lowest when this shape was used: the ellipse was ... theoretically a perfection ... To reduce drag we wanted the lowest possible thickness-to-chord, consistent with
6357-504: Is compromise, and an improvement at one end of the performance envelope is rarely achieved without a deterioration somewhere else. When the last Spitfire rolled out in February 1948, a total of 20,351 examples of all variants had been built, including two-seat trainers , with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s. The Spitfire was the only British fighter aircraft to be in continuous production before, during, and after
6520-526: The Blackburn F.3 and Westland F.7/30 and privately funded designs from Gloster. The 224 was an open-cockpit monoplane with bulky gull wings and a large, fixed, spatted undercarriage powered by the 600-horsepower (450 kW), evaporatively cooled Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine. It made its first flight in February 1934. Of the seven designs tendered to F7/30, the Gloster Gladiator biplane
6683-486: The NACA 2200 series , which had been adapted to create a thickness-to-chord ratio of 13% at the root, reducing to 9.4% at the tip. A dihedral of 6° was adopted to give increased lateral stability. A wing feature that contributed greatly to its success was an innovative spar boom design, made up of five square tubes that fitted into each other. As the wing thinned out along its span, the tubes were progressively cut away in
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6846-680: The River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton , on ground previously purchased by Noel Pemberton Billing to construct motor launches. It produced a couple of prototypes using quadruplane designs to shoot down zeppelins , the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk . The aircraft were fitted with the recoilless Davis gun and the Nighthawk had a separate powerplant to power a searchlight . Upon election as
7009-612: The Royal Navy 's first jet fighter, the Attacker , developed from the final Spitfire type. It served front line squadrons aboard aircraft carriers and RNVR squadrons at shore bases. The Attacker was followed by the more advanced Swift , which served in the fighter and photo-reconnaissance roles. The last of the Supermarine aircraft was the Scimitar . In the shakeup of British aircraft manufacturing, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) became
7172-531: The Southampton . A further orders soon followed. To manufacture the Southampton, which was much larger than their previous designs a new fabrication workshop were built in 1924 and an erection hangar in 1926. Still short of room, in early 1927 the company took out a lease on the Air Ministry's large wartime flying boat assembly and testing facilities at Hythe. Final erection and testing of the Southamptons
7335-412: The aerodrome , and the installation of the most modern machine tools then available began two months after work started on the site. Although Morris Motors, under Lord Nuffield (an expert in mass motor-vehicle construction), managed and equipped the factory, it was funded by the government. By the beginning of 1939, the factory's original estimated cost of £2,000,000 had more than doubled, and even as
7498-408: The angle of incidence decreasing from +2° at its root to -½° at its tip. This caused the wing roots to stall before the tips, reducing tip-stall that could otherwise have resulted in a wing drop, often leading to a spin. As the wing roots started to stall, the separating air stream started to buffet (vibrate) the aircraft, warning the pilot, allowing even relatively inexperienced pilots to fly it to
7661-579: The shadow factory plan , to boost British aircraft production capacity under the leadership of Herbert Austin . He was given the task of building nine new factories, and to supplement the British car-manufacturing industry by either adding to overall capacity or increasing the potential for reorganisation to produce aircraft and their engines. In 1938, construction began on the Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory (CBAF), next to
7824-466: The 1924 contest Mitchell began design work on a completely new flying-boat biplane design called the Sea Urchin, which would have been fitted with a Rolls-Royce engine. However, there was insufficient time to overcome a number of design issues which lead to Supermarine withdrawing from the event. In the early 1920s the company developed a series of similar one-off amphibians. The most notable of these
7987-614: The 1950s. The Seafire was an aircraft carrier–based adaptation of the Spitfire, used in the Fleet Air Arm from 1942 until the mid-1950s. In 1931, the Air Ministry released specification F7/30 , calling for a modern fighter capable of a flying speed of 250 mph (400 km/h) to replace the Gloster Gauntlet biplane. R. J. Mitchell designed the Supermarine Type 224 to fill this role in competition with
8150-427: The 1960s fiberglass became a prevalent material. These materials and others continue in use. Whereas yachts of 79 feet (24 m) and below may be constructed of fiberglass , larger yachts are more likely to be constructed of steel, aluminum or composite fiber-reinforced plastic . Depending on size, a cruising yacht is likely to have at least two cabins , a main salon and a forward stateroom . In smaller yachts,
8313-513: The Air Ministry for assistance and while he received no orders they were encouraging. At the same time Scott-Paine was close to forming the British Marine Air Navigation Company, which it was expected would place an order for aircraft with Supermarine. In expectation of receiving an order the directors decided not to reduce staff numbers. Meanwhile, to meet the requirements of the expected order Mitchell designed
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#17327801841968476-632: The Air Ministry for five Seagull IIs followed by two further orders in early 1923. Later orders for what was called the Seagull III were received in 1925 from the Royal Australian Navy. Partly due to Scott-Paine's preoccupation with developing the airline business the relationship between him and Bird began to breakdown. As a result, Bird assembled sufficient funds and on 16 November 1923 he confronted Scott-Paine who after negotiation accepted Bird's offer of £192,000 of his shares and left
8639-456: The Air Ministry put forward a plan that its production be stopped after the initial order for 310, after which Supermarine would build Bristol Beaufighters . The managements of Supermarine and Vickers were able to convince the Air Ministry that production problems could be overcome, and a further order was placed for 200 Spitfires on 24 March 1938. The two orders covered the K, L, and N prefix serial numbers. The first production Spitfire came off
8802-544: The Bf 109E, were unable to simply nose down into a steep dive. This meant a Luftwaffe fighter could simply "bunt" into a high-power dive to escape an attack, leaving the Spitfire behind, as its fuel was forced out of the carburettor by negative "g" . RAF fighter pilots soon learned to "half-roll" their aircraft before diving to pursue their opponents. Yacht The Commercial Yacht Code classifies yachts 79 ft (24 m) and over as large . Such yachts typically require
8965-673: The Castle Bromwich plant to his ministry. Beaverbrook immediately sent in experienced management staff and workers from Supermarine, and gave control of the factory to Vickers-Armstrongs. Although resolving the problems took time, in June 1940, 10 Mk IIs were built; 23 rolled out in July, 37 in August, and 56 in September. By the time production ended at Castle Bromwich in June 1945, a total of 12,129 Spitfires (921 Mk IIs, 4,489 Mk Vs, 5,665 Mk IXs, and 1,054 Mk XVIs ) had been built, at
9128-424: The English crown, Charles was presented with a yacht and later commissioned a series of royal yachts, which included at least one experimental catamaran . The first recorded yacht race between two vessels occurred in 1661, followed by the first open sailing competition in 1663 in English waters. Starting in 1739, England found itself in a series of wars—a period that saw a decline in yachting. In Ireland, however,
9291-552: The Goshawk led to the adoption of a cooling system which used 100% glycol . The radiators were housed in a new radiator-duct designed by Fredrick Meredith of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough, Hampshire . This used the cooling air to generate thrust , greatly reducing the net drag produced by the radiators. In turn, the leading-edge structure lost its function as a condenser, but it
9454-471: The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine at £2,000, followed by the wings at £1,800 a pair, guns and undercarriage, both at £800 each, and the propeller at £350. In 1935, the Air Ministry approached Morris Motors Limited to ask how quickly their Cowley plant could be turned to aircraft production. In 1936, this informal request for major manufacturing facilities was replaced by a formal scheme, known as
9617-405: The S.4 which was completely fabricated from wood, the new design had metal floats and fuselage. This was a major risk as at the time Supermarine had no prior experience in metal construction and had still to commission their new metalworking department. Unfortunately as neither the S.5 nor any other design from a British company was ready in time Britain did not enter the 1926 contest. Once the design
9780-612: The Sea King in late 1922 to carry six passengers in an enclosed cabin. After receiving confirmation that subsidies would be available from the British government Scott-Paine was able together with Southern Rail and the Asiatic Petroleum to establish the British Marine Air Navigation Company in 1923. They subsequently ordered three Sea Kings, which were used to commence a daily service on 25 September 1923 between Southampton and Guernsey. Then late in 1922 orders were received from
9943-730: The Second World War. In the mid-1930s, aviation design teams worldwide began developing a new generation of fighter aircraft. The French Dewoitine D.520 and the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 , for example, were designed to take advantage of new techniques of monocoque construction, and the availability of new, high-powered, liquid-cooled, in-line aero engines. They also had refinements such as retractable undercarriages, fully enclosed cockpits, and low-drag, all-metal wings. These advances had been introduced on civil airliners years before, but were slow to be adopted by
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#173278018419610106-496: The Southampton area. To this end, the British government requisitioned the likes of Vincent's Garage in Station Square, Reading , which later specialised in manufacturing Spitfire fuselages, and Anna Valley Motors, Salisbury , which was to become the sole producer of the wing leading-edge fuel tanks for photo-reconnaissance Spitfires. A purpose-built works, specialising in manufacturing fuselages and installing engines,
10269-684: The Spitfire). Supermarine also developed the Spiteful and Seafang , the successors of the Spitfire and Seafire, respectively, and the Walrus flying boat. The Supermarine main works was heavily bombed in 1940. This curtailed work on their first heavy bomber design, the Supermarine B.12/36 which was replaced by the Short Stirling . After the end of the war, the Supermarine division built
10432-482: The Type 300. On 1 December 1934, the Air Ministry issued contract AM 361140/34, providing £10,000 for the construction of Mitchell's improved Type 300 design. In April 1935 Ralph Sorley spoke to Mitchell about the new specification F10/35 which called for armament of at least six and preferably eight guns while at the same time removing bomb carry requirement and reducing fuel capacity. Mitchell foresaw no problem adding
10595-559: The UK over the North Sea , and Germany did not have any single-engine fighters with the range to accompany them. To carry out the mission of home defence, the design was intended to allow the Spitfire to climb quickly to intercept enemy bombers. The Spitfire's airframe was complex. The streamlined, semi-monocoque , duralumin-skinned fuselage had a number of compound curves built up over a skeleton of 19 formers , also known as frames. These started from frame number one, immediately behind
10758-487: The Vickers board's concerns over delays to the Spitfire and Wellington manufacturing programmes, all Vickers-Armstrongs aviation interests were reorganised to become Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd , with both Vickers and Supermarine now under a single management team. Both subsidiaries were then formally wound up, although Supermarine continued to design, build and trade under its own name. The phrase Vickers Supermarine
10921-470: The Vickers group and left Supermarine. He was succeeded at Supermarine by H.B. Pratt. In response to the onset of the Depression in 1929, with completion of contracts for Southampton running down and no new aircraft orders being received it was necessary to reduce construction staff numbers by a third over the winter of 1930. Vickers supported Supermarine by contracting it to build the wings and undertake
11084-564: The age of 24 was promoted to succeed him as chief designer. In 1920, Mitchell's role was expanded to include that of chief engineer. In 1927, he was offered and accepted a position on the board as Technical Director. Other than the income from operating commercial flights, the main income between 1919 and 1921 came from selling Channels with a modified design known as the Channel II being developed. As well as sales within Great Britain
11247-471: The aircraft made a short hop but other sources state that the PB.1 never flew. The sole P.B.1 was subsequently dismantled and no other examples were constructed. Another early design was the P.B.7, a flying lifeboat with detachable wings. The next significant design was the P.B.9 that used a set of wings which had been obtained from Radley-England. One example was built and while it flew it was felt that production
11410-569: The aircraft won the contest and thus stopped the Italians from winning the trophy outright. With it looking likely that no British company would be entering an aircraft in the 1923 Schneider Trophy contest Scott-Paine was persuaded by the British organizers to enter. As Supermarine being in a poor financial state, Mitchell was restricted to modifying the Sea Lion II, the result which was designated Sea Lion III and proved to be uncompetitive. For
11573-656: The airfield venture failed within a year and about the same time he sold Aerocraft . In 1911, Pemberton-Billing purchased facilities to provide a base for a motor launch and yacht trading business at White's Yard off Elm Road (later renamed Hazel Road) on the River Itchen , upstream of Woolston, Southampton . To manage the business, Pemberton-Billing hired his friend Hubert Scott-Paine , whom he had first met while involved in property speculation in Shoreham, Kent . Pemberton-Billing, his wife and Scott-Paine lived on Pemberton-Billing's yacht Utopia . Under Scott-Paine's management
11736-482: The altered aerodynamics, culminating in those of the Mk 22/24 series, which were 25% larger in area than those of the Mk I. As the Spitfire gained more power and was able to manoeuvre at higher speeds, the possibility that pilots would encounter aileron reversal increased, and the Supermarine design team set about redesigning the wings to counter this. The original wing design had a theoretical aileron reversal speed of 580 mph (500 kn; 930 km/h), which
11899-423: The assembly line in mid-1938 and was flown by Jeffrey Quill on 15 May 1938, almost 24 months after the initial order. The final cost of the first 310 aircraft, after delays and increased programme costs, came to £1,870,242 or £1,533 more per aircraft than originally estimated. A production aircraft cost about £9,500. The most expensive components were the hand-fabricated and finished fuselage at roughly £2,500, then
12062-454: The bending loads on the main-spar during landing. Ahead of the spar, the thick-skinned leading edge of the wing formed a strong and rigid, D-shaped box, which took most of the wing loads. At the time the wing was designed, this D-shaped leading edge was intended to house steam condensers for the evaporative cooling system intended for the PV-XII. Constant problems with the evaporative system in
12225-410: The board of Vickers-Armstrongs. Faced with Mitchell's threat to resign if Wallis remained, they backed down and Wallis was recalled back to Weybridge . Shortly after Wallis's departure Major Harold Payn, an engineer from Vickers design department was appointed by Vickers as Mitchell's deputy. A former pilot with experience from World War I, as well as testing aircraft despite little design experience it
12388-842: The business was soon profitable, which allowed Billing (with the assistance of Scott-Paine) to design a series of flying boats with detachable propeller and wings so that with them removed it could be used as a motor launch. Pemberton-Billing submitted a patent application for his design in October 1913. After obtaining his aviator's certificate on 17 September 1913 following a £500 bet with Frederick Handley-Page that he could obtain it within 24 hour of commencing flight training, he decided to build his own aircraft. In partnership with Alfred Delves de Broughton, Billing established Pemberton-Billing Ltd on 27 June 1914 with capital of £20,000. Billing had 6,800 shares, Broughton 3,700 and works engineer Lorenz Hans Herkomer (1889–1922), 500. Herkomer's background
12551-464: The comfort and amenities necessary for overnight voyages. Qualities considered in cruising yachts include: performance, comfort under way, ease of handling, stability, living comfort, durability, ease of maintenance, affordability of ownership. Cruising sailboats share the common attribute of providing overnight accommodations. They may be classified as small (easy to haul behind a trailer), near-shore and off-shore . Multihull sailing yachts are
12714-402: The company in the Southampton area. Quill devised the standard testing procedures, which with variations for specific aircraft designs operated from 1938. Alex Henshaw , chief test pilot at Castle Bromwich from 1940, was placed in charge of testing all Spitfires built at that factory. He co-ordinated a team of 25 pilots and assessed all Spitfire developments. Between 1940 and 1946, Henshaw flew
12877-515: The company to continue in this specialist field. To this end Supermarine joined the Society of British Aircraft Constructors in late 1919 and purchased from the government about 16 surplus AD Flying boats and the two completed Supermarine Babys. Supermarine modified 10 of the AD Flying boats to produce the commercial "Type C" Channel flying boats. The reconfigured aircraft provided accommodation for
13040-410: The company was able to sell 19 overseas, to customers including Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. In 1919 Scott-Paine decided to enter an aircraft from Supermarine in the upcoming 1919 Schneider Trophy seaplane race. A suitable aircraft was produced by heavily modifying N61, the youngest of the two Babys that the company had purchased from the government. Fitted with a Napier Lion engine it
13203-399: The company without a designer. In early 1915 the company obtained work building 12 Short S.38 seaplanes under licence. Work continued on the company's own designs with the next to see the light of day being the P.B.23. The prototype was delivered in September 1915 with tests conducted at Heldon indicating that the design had some promise. As a result, a revised version designated the P.B.25
13366-498: The company, was; Supermarine, Southampton . The first aircraft built by the new company was the Pemberton-Billing P.B.1 a single-seat open cockpit biplane flying boat. Following modifications, the P.B.1 entered testing, but failed to achieve flight. Billing, who had designed the aircraft, claimed he "wanted a boat which would fly rather than an aircraft that would float". Though no proof can be found, Billing claimed that
13529-508: The company. In 1925 in an attempt to obtain additional funds with which to expand the business the original company was wound up with all creditors paid in full and a new public limited company with the same name was established and listed on the Stock Exchange with a capitalisation rising from £13,500 to £250,000. In 1926 existing Chief Draughtsman Frank Holroyd was promoted to become Assistant Chief Engineer, while Joseph "Joe" Smith
13692-608: The completion of his duties for the Royal Naval Air Service NZAS James Bird (1883–1946) was invited in 1919 by Scott-Paine to join Supermarine as a director. A qualified marine architect he had previously been supervising contracts being undertaken by various companies in the Solent area for the RNAS. In the summer of 1919 William Hargreaves left to work for Vospers and later in the year Mitchell at
13855-405: The driving force behind the company's entry's in the early Schneider Trophy contests, Bird was happy to continue Supermarine's involvement as he wanted to use it to enhance the company profile. After the failure of their 1924 entry, and realizing that other countries designs were far superior, Mitchell reached the conclusion that racing flying boats were no longer competitive. As a result, he designed
14018-405: The end of each main wing assembly. When the Spitfire took on a role as a high-altitude fighter (Marks VI and VII and some early Mk VIIIs), the standard wing tips were replaced by extended, "pointed" tips which increased the wingspan from 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m) to 40 ft 2 in (12.24 m). The other wing-tip variation, used by several Spitfire variants, was the "clipped" wing;
14181-489: The existing Vickers aircraft manufacturing division which was restructured as a semi-independent subsidiary called Vickers (Aviation) Ltd under the management of Robert McLean . McLean was tasked with expanding the new company which he undertook by improving the capability of the existing factory and looking for new facilities. Identifying that a manufacturer of flying boats would be good fit with their existing expertise designing and constructing land-based aircraft they evaluated
14344-513: The fabric covering of the ailerons "ballooned" at high speeds, adversely affecting the aerodynamics. Replacing the fabric covering with light alloy dramatically improved the ailerons at high speed. During the Battle of Britain, pilots found the Spitfire's ailerons were far too heavy at high speeds, severely restricting lateral manoeuvres such as rolls and high-speed turns, which were still a feature of air-to-air combat. The Spitfire had detachable wing tips which were secured by two mounting points at
14507-567: The final approach and for landing, and the pilot was to retract them before taxiing. The ellipse also served as the design basis for the Spitfire's fin and tailplane assembly, once again exploiting the shape's favourable aerodynamic characteristics. Both the elevators and rudder were shaped so that their centre of mass was shifted forward, reducing control-surface flutter. The longer noses and greater propeller-wash resulting from larger engines in later models necessitated increasingly larger vertical, and later, horizontal tail surfaces to compensate for
14670-573: The final completion of two Vickers Viastra airliners and then employing it to construct a special version called the Viastra X, for the Prince of Wales . The other notable work was the design of the Type 179 , a six-engined flying boat, which led to the company being awarded a contract to build a prototype. Construction proceeded as far as the construction of the hull before the contract was cancelled. For
14833-434: The first Spitfires were being built in June 1940, the factory was still incomplete, and suffering from personnel problems. The Spitfire's stressed-skin construction required precision engineering skills and techniques that were beyond the capabilities of the local labour force, and some time was required to retrain them. Difficulties arose with management, who ignored Supermarine's tooling and drawings in favour of their own, and
14996-523: The focal points for these workshops: Southampton's Eastleigh Airport; Salisbury and the High Post and Chattis Hill aerodromes; Trowbridge and RAF Keevil ; and Reading's Henley and Aldermaston aerodromes. Completed Spitfires were delivered to the airfields on Commer " Queen Mary " low-loader trailers, there to be fully assembled, tested, then passed on to the RAF. An experimental factory at Newbury
15159-428: The four main fuselage longerons to the rest of the airframe. Behind the bulkhead were five U-shaped half-frames which accommodated the fuel tanks and cockpit. The rear fuselage started at the 11th frame, to which the pilot's seat and (later) armour plating were attached, and ended at the 19th, which was mounted at a slight forward angle just forward of the fin. Each of these nine frames was oval, reducing in size towards
15322-477: The fuselage, wings, and tailplane was secured by dome-headed rivets, and in critical areas such as the wing forward of the main spar where an uninterrupted airflow was required, with flush rivets. From February 1943 flush riveting was used on the fuselage, affecting all Spitfire variants. In some areas, such as at the rear of the wing and the lower tailplane skins, the top was riveted and the bottom fixed by brass screws which tapped into strips of spruce bolted to
15485-528: The gentry enjoyed yachting and founded the first yacht club in Cork as the Cork Harbour Water Club in 1720. English yacht racing continued among the English gentry who founded England's oldest yacht club in 1775 to support a fleet at Cumberland . With maritime peace, starting in 1815, came a resurgence of interest in yachting. Boatbuilders, who had been making fast vessels both for smugglers and
15648-406: The government revenue cutters , turned their skills again to yachts. The fast yachts of the early 19th century were fore-and-aft luggers , schooners , and sloops . By the 1850s, yachts featured large sail areas, a narrow beam, and a deeper draft than was customary until then. Racing between yachts owned by wealthy patrons was common, with large wagers at stake. The America's Cup arose out of
15811-497: The guns and welcomed the reduction which would reduce weight. A specification for an eight gun fighter, F5/34 had come from a recommendation by Squadron Leader Ralph Sorley of the Operational Requirements section at the Air Ministry. In the redesign the change was made from Vickers machine guns to .303 in (7.7 mm) Brownings) , and the fuel tankage dropped to 75 gallons from 94. On 5 March 1936,
15974-418: The hope of gaining orders for flying boats forged a strong relationship with the RNAS through their local liaison officer James Bird. In early 1916 William Abraham Hargreaves was hired as chief designer. By 1917 realizing that he needed to strengthen the company's technical capability Scott-Paine advertised for a personal assistant. The successful applicant was R. J. Mitchell , who so impressed Scott-Paine he
16137-646: The later marks, although they were faster than the earlier ones, were also much heavier, so did not handle so well. You did not have such positive control over them. One test of manoeuvrability was to throw her into a flick-roll and see how many times she rolled. With the Mark II or the Mark V one got two-and-a-half flick-rolls, but the Mark IX was heavier and you got only one-and-a-half. With the later and still heavier versions, one got even less. The essence of aircraft design
16300-571: The limits of its performance. This washout was first featured in the wing of the Type 224, and became a consistent feature in subsequent designs leading to the Spitfire. The complex wing design, especially the precision required to manufacture the vital spar and leading-edge structures, caused some major delays in the production of the Spitfire at first. The problems increased when the work was put out to subcontractors, most of whom had never dealt with metal-structured, high-speed aircraft. By June 1939, most of these problems had been resolved, and production
16463-466: The lower ribs. The removable wing tips were made up of duralumin-skinned spruce formers. At first, the ailerons, elevators, and rudder were fabric-covered, but once combat experience showed that fabric-covered ailerons were impossible to use at high speeds a light alloy replaced the fabric, enhancing control throughout the speed range. In 1934, Mitchell and the design staff decided to use a semi-elliptical wing shape to solve two conflicting requirements;
16626-536: The main spar, preventing the wings from twisting. Mitchell has sometimes been accused of copying the wing shape of the Günter brothers -designed Heinkel He 70 , which first flew in 1932, but as Beverley Shenstone , the aerodynamicist on Mitchell's team, explained: "Our wing was much thinner and had quite a different section to that of the Heinkel. In any case, it would have been simply asking for trouble to have copied
16789-457: The military, who favoured the biplane's simplicity and manoeuvrability. Mitchell's design aims were to create a well-balanced, high-performance fighter aircraft capable of fully exploiting the power of the Merlin engine, while being relatively easy to fly. At the time, with France as an ally , and Germany thought to be the most likely future opponent, no enemy fighters were expected to appear over Great Britain. German bombers would have to fly to
16952-566: The more numerous Hurricane flew more sorties resisting the Luftwaffe , but the Spitfire captured the public's imagination as the main RAF fighter, in part because the Spitfire was generally a better fighter aircraft than the Hurricane. Spitfire units had a lower attrition rate and a higher victory-to-loss ratio than Hurricanes, most likely due to the Spitfire's higher performance. During the battle, Spitfires generally engaged Luftwaffe fighters—mainly Messerschmitt Bf 109E –series aircraft, which were
17115-403: The necessary strength. But near the root the wing had to be thick enough to accommodate the retracted undercarriages and the guns ... Mitchell was an intensely practical man ... The ellipse was simply the shape that allowed us the thinnest possible wing with room inside to carry the necessary structure and the things we wanted to cram in. And it looked nice. The wing section used was from
17278-564: The new company was the P.B.31E Nighthawk which was a carryover from Billing's time for a quadruplane heavily armed and searchlight-equipped home defence fighter. Fitted with a recoilless Davis gun, it had a separate powerplant to power the searchlight . Only the prototype was built, which was found to have insufficient performance to be of any use against Zeppelins. After completion of the Nighthawk Scott-Paine dropped Billing's fixation with anti-Zeppelin defence fighters, and in
17441-617: The new wing could give an increase in speed of 55 mph (48 kn; 89 km/h) over the Spitfire Mk 21. The new wing was initially fitted to a Spitfire Mk XIV. Later, a new fuselage was designed, with the new fighter becoming the Supermarine Spiteful . The Rolls Royce engine's designers deliberately chose a carburettor for the Merlin engine: Sir Stanley Hooker explained in his autobiography that "the Germans paid
17604-511: The next contest Mitchell created the all-metal S.6 which featured the smallest possible airframe that he could design around a Rolls-Royce engine instead of the Napier engines used in the S.4 and S.5. This design won the 1929 contest. For the 1931 contest Mitchell created the S.6a, a derivative of the S6. This won the contest and as Britain had won the trophy three times in a row it confirmed Britain as
17767-439: The next month, other raids were mounted, until, on 26 September 1940, both factories were destroyed, with 92 people killed and a large number injured. Most of the casualties were experienced aircraft-production workers. Fortunately for the future of the Spitfire, many of the production jigs and machine tools had already been relocated by 20 September, and steps were being taken to disperse production to small facilities throughout
17930-447: The opinion that as well as wages being higher than at Vickers, it was also not being run efficiently, had poor record keeping, stock control, and was poorly equipped to build all-metal aircraft, with the ratio of unskilled to skilled labour at 1:3 compared with Vickers' 3:1. They therefore saw numerous opportunities to improve the profitability. One measure Vickers undertook was to send their experienced engineer Barnes Wallis to overhaul
18093-585: The outright and final winner of the Schneider trophy. Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II . It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts. Around 70 remain airworthy , and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout
18256-454: The pleasure of the owner and guests do not carry the passenger restriction. Yachts may be identified by flag—the country under which a yacht is registered. An industry publication categorizes superyachts by size, by speed, as "explorer" yachts, as sailing yachts, and classic yachts. Originally, all yachts were made of wood, using a wooden keel and ribs, clad with planks. These materials were supplanted with iron or steel in steam yachts. In
18419-399: The propeller unit, to the tail unit attachment frame. The first four frames supported the glycol header tank and engine cowlings. Frame five, to which the engine bearers were secured, supported the weight of the engine and its accessories. This was a strengthened double frame which also incorporated the fireproof bulkhead, and in later versions of the Spitfire, the oil tank. This frame also tied
18582-485: The prototype ( K5054 ) , fitted with a fine-pitch propeller to give more power for takeoff, took off on its first flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome (later Southampton Airport). At the controls was Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers , chief test pilot for Vickers, who is quoted as saying, "don't touch anything" on landing. This eight-minute flight came four months after the maiden flight of the contemporary Hurricane. K5054
18745-514: The prototype for the RAF. He had been given orders to fly the aircraft and then to make his report to the Air Ministry on landing. Edwardes-Jones' report was positive; his only request was that the Spitfire be equipped with an undercarriage position indicator. A week later, on 3 June 1936, the Air Ministry placed an order for 310 Spitfires, at a cost of £ 1,395,000. before the A&;AEE had issued any formal report. Interim reports were later issued on
18908-416: The provenance of outboard motors and racing boats , due to their power-to-weight ratios . Two engines add expense, but provide reliability and maneuverability over a single engine. Motor yachts in the 42-foot (13 m) range might have the following hull, horsepower, cruise speed, and hourly fuel consumption characteristics: Superyachts may employ multiple 9,000-horsepower (6,700 kW) diesels or
19071-404: The radiator under the starboard wing was halved in size and the intercooler radiator housed alongside. Under the port wing, a new radiator fairing housed a square oil cooler alongside of the other half-radiator unit. The two radiator flaps were now operated automatically by a thermostat . Another wing feature was its washout . The trailing edge of the wing twisted slightly upward along its span,
19234-432: The rated altitude of one or both supercharger blowers. Then I would make a careful check of the power output from the engine, calibrated for height and temperature ... If all appeared satisfactory, I would then put her into a dive at full power and 3,000 rpm, and trim her to fly hands and feet off at 460 mph (740 km/h) IAS (Indicated Air Speed). Personally, I never cleared a Spitfire unless I had carried out
19397-407: The salon is likely to have convertible berths for its crew or passengers. Typically the salon includes a dining area, which may have a folding, built-in table. The salon is typically contiguous to the galley . A cruising yacht is likely to have a head (bathroom) with a marine toilet that discharges waste into a holding tank. Larger yachts may have additional staterooms and heads. There is typically
19560-445: The sheets, and more than one anchor to secure the boat in harbor. A cruising yacht's deck usually has safety line to protect the crew from falling overboard and a bow pulpit to facilitate handling the jib and the anchor. In temperate climates, the cockpit may have a canvas windshield with see-through panels, called a "dodger". Steering may be either by tiller or wheel. Cruising yachts have an auxiliary propulsion power unit to supplement
19723-488: The standard wing tips were replaced by wooden fairings which reduced the span by 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m). The wing tips used spruce formers for most of the internal structure with a light alloy skin attached using brass screws. The light alloy split flaps at the trailing edge of the wing were also pneumatically operated via a finger lever on the instrument panel. Only two positions were available; fully up or fully down (85°). Flaps were normally lowered only during
19886-525: The strength and profitability of the group. The most notable was their merger in January 1928 with long term rival Armstrong Whitworth to form Vickers-Armstrongs , with the exception of the Armstrong-Whitworth aircraft division and Armstrong Siddeley motor car division, which were bought out by J. D. Siddeley , and so did not join the new group. The new Vickers-Armstrong entity retained
20049-433: The subject, A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing , provided detailed information on selecting, equipping, sailing, seamanship, management of the paid crew, and racing such vessels. It included a brief section on steam yachts, the recirculating coil steam engine just having made such yachts efficient enough for leisure travel on the water. While sailing yachts continued to exist, the development of reliable power plants created
20212-430: The tail, and incorporated several lightening holes to reduce their weight as much as possible without weakening them. The U-shaped frame 20 was the last frame of the fuselage proper and the frame to which the tail unit was attached. Frames 21, 22 and 23 formed the fin; frame 22 incorporated the tailwheel opening and frame 23 was the rudder post. Before being attached to the main fuselage, the tail unit frames were held in
20375-452: The theoretical aileron reversal speed was increased to 825 mph (717 kn; 1,328 km/h). Alongside the redesigned wing, Supermarine also experimented with the original wing, raising the leading edge by 1 inch (25 mm), with the hope of improving pilot view and reducing drag. This wing was tested on a modified F Mk 21, also called the F Mk 23, (sometimes referred to as "Valiant" rather than "Spitfire"). The increase in performance
20538-556: The top speed was just 330 mph (528 km/h), little faster than Sydney Camm 's new Merlin-powered Hurricane. A new and better-shaped, two-bladed, wooden propeller allowed the Spitfire to reach 348 mph (557 km/h) in level flight in mid-May, when Summers flew K5054 to RAF Martlesham Heath and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE). Here, Flight Lieutenant Humphrey Edwardes-Jones took over
20701-552: The use of sails. Such power is inboard on the vessel and diesel, except for the smallest cruising boats, which may have an outboard gasoline motor . A 31-foot (9.4 m) sailboat might have a 13-horsepower (9.7 kW) engine, whereas a 55-foot (17 m) sailboat might have a 110-horsepower (82 kW) engine. Racing yachts emphasize performance over comfort. World Sailing recognizes eleven classes of racing yacht. High-performance rigs provide aerodynamic efficiency and hydrodynamically efficient hulls minimize drag through
20864-470: The water and sideways motion. Racing yachts have a wide selection of weights and shapes of sail to accommodate different wind strengths and points of sail. A suite of sails on a racing yachts would include several weights of jib and spinnaker, plus a specialized storm jib and trysail (in place of the mainsail ). Performance yachts are likely to have full-battened kevlar or carbon-fiber mainsails. Underwater foils can become more specialized, starting with
21027-486: The water, which were eventually resolved. This led to 34 being built, though none saw service. In March 1916 Billing was elected as an MP . Once in parliament he was very vocal in his support of air power, constantly accusing the government of neglecting the issue. As he intended to run a campaign against the Royal Aircraft Factory and its products, it became apparent that if the company was to maintain
21190-485: The waters of Burma, India, Mindanao and Japan. Anglo-Saxon royal pleg-scips (play ships) of the 8th-century featured ornamented bows and sterns and had the capability of cooking on board. The history of sailing yachts begins in Europe in the beginning of the 1600s with the building of a pleasure vessel for the son of King James I of England . While other monarchs used naval ships for transportation and conquest, James I
21353-405: The wing needed to be thin to avoid creating too much drag , but it had to be thick enough to house the retractable undercarriage, armament, and ammunition. An elliptical planform is the most efficient aerodynamic shape for an untwisted wing, leading to the lowest amount of induced drag . The ellipse was skewed so that the centre of pressure, which occurs at the quarter- chord position, aligned with
21516-585: The work practices in the design department. He arrived while Mitchell was away on his 1929 Christmas holidays and after installing himself in Mitchell's office began to make changes. Mitchell returned in the New Year, expressed his outrage at Wallis's presumption and immediately moved him to a disused loft in a remote corner of the Woolston works with orders to his staff not to make the interloper comfortable. Wallis eventually complained to McLean, who raised it with
21679-454: The workforce continually threatened strikes or "slow downs" until their demands for higher wages were met. In spite of promises that the factory would be producing 60 per week starting in April, by May 1940, Castle Bromwich had not yet built its first Spitfire. On 17 May, Minister of Aircraft Production Lord Beaverbrook telephoned Lord Nuffield and manoeuvred him into handing over control of
21842-415: The world. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell , chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928. Mitchell developed the Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing (designed by Beverley Shenstone ) with innovative sunken rivets to have the thinnest possible cross-section, achieving
22005-415: Was accepted for service. The Type 224 was a big disappointment to Mitchell and his design team, who immediately embarked on a series of "cleaned-up" designs, using their experience with the Schneider Trophy seaplanes as a starting point. This led to the Type 300, with retractable undercarriage and a wingspan reduced by 6 ft (1.8 m). This design was submitted to the Air Ministry in July 1934, but
22168-612: Was also built of the Swan , a twin-engined biplane commercial amphibian to specification 21/22. Capable of carrying 12 passengers it was first flown in March 1924 and tested by the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE). The Air Ministry was so impressed with the results that they ordered a military derivative to specification 18/24. Six were ordered, subsequently entering service in 1925 as
22331-451: Was applied to the aircraft. Despite selling his shares to Vickers-Armstrongs, Bird stayed on as managing director of Supermarine while Mitchell continued as chief designer. He had signed a 10-year employment contract in 1923, that included a clause that said, if he left Supermarine he could not work for any other competitor without the directors written consent. While Supermarine was extremely profitable McLean and his management team were of
22494-489: Was applied to the aircraft. The first Supermarine landplane design to go into production was the famous and successful Spitfire . The earlier Hawker Hurricane and the Spitfire were the mainstay of RAF Fighter Command fighter aircraft which fought off the Luftwaffe bombing raids with fighter escorts during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. While the Hurricane was available in larger numbers and consequently played
22657-466: Was built at Star Road, Caversham in Reading. The drawing office in which all Spitfire designs were drafted was moved to Hursley Park , near Winchester . This site also had an aircraft assembly hangar where many prototype and experimental Spitfires were assembled, but since it had no associated aerodrome, no Spitfires ever flew from Hursley. Four towns and their satellite airfields were chosen to be
22820-530: Was called the Supermarine Baby . Three were subsequently built. The signing of the armistice agreement, with little prospect of any military contracts for some time, led to the company diversifying by employing its woodworkers in constructing everything from toilet seats to wooden framed bodies for Ford Model T cars. At the end of the war Supermarine was the only British aircraft constructor dedicated to building flying boats and Scott-Paine still wished
22983-494: Was designated as Chief Draughtsman. Looking to expand away from the market for small amphibians and flying boats which was becoming more competitive as Blackburn and Short Brothers entered the market, the company designed large multi-engine flying boats to Air Ministry specifications. As a result, one example was built of the Scylla , a torpedo bomber triplane flying boat to specification 14/21. No orders were forthcoming. One example
23146-434: Was designed to be powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine producing 1,030 hp (768 kW). It was strong enough and adaptable enough to use increasingly powerful Merlins, and in later marks, Rolls-Royce Griffon engines producing up to 2,340 hp (1,745 kW). As a result, the Spitfire's performance and capabilities improved over the course of its service life. During the Battle of Britain (July–October 1940),
23309-415: Was finished Supermarine received an order in late 1926 for two examples, with an order for a third following in early 1927. The S.5 dominated the 1927 contest, finishing first and second. The third example crashed killing its pilot while he was attempting to set a new air speed record over the Solent in 1928. In the late 1920s Vickers Ltd began a series of divestments and mergers as it attempted to improve
23472-414: Was fitted with a new propeller, and Summers flew the aircraft on 10 March 1936; during this flight, the undercarriage was retracted for the first time. After the fourth flight, a new engine was fitted, and Summers left the test flying to his assistants, Jeffrey Quill and George Pickering. They soon discovered that the Spitfire was a very capable aircraft, but not perfect. The rudder was oversensitive, and
23635-583: Was given the name Sea Lion . Flown by Basil Hobbs the aircraft sank on 10 September 1919 after it struck flotsam while competing in the event. In early 1920 the company developed the Supermarine Sea King a single seat flying boat fighter resembling the Baby and the contemporary Sea Lion racing aircraft. While the prototype of which was exhibited at the Olympia air show but obtained no sales. This
23798-417: Was hired on the spot and given a range of roles within the company to expose him to every aspect of the business including within a year acted for a period as assistant works manager. In 1917 the company was contracted to build Short Type 184 torpedo bombers and Norman Thompson N.T.2B trainers. In response to the issue of Navy Air Board Specification N.1(b) in early 1917, the company designed what later
23961-491: Was hoped that he would be more diplomatic in bringing Supermarine's design office into agreement with Vickers work practices. That said the parent company provided the combined Vickers (Aviation) Ltd with £250,000 in 1929 to support research and development. As a consequence the capabilities of the design team at Supermarine were expanded by employing among others Alfred Faddy, William Munro (who had expertise in hydrodynamics and metal hull construction) and Beverley Shenstone who
24124-817: Was important to reduce the weight of coal carried. Steam engines remained the dominant source of power until the early 20th century, when advances in the design of the steam turbine , electric motors and internal combustion engines gradually resulted in the replacement of reciprocating (piston) steam engines. Large steam yachts were luxurious; their staff included a captain , engineer , and stewards, as well as deck hands. Nicolaus Otto and Gottlieb Daimler developed practical four-stroke gasoline engines, starting in 1876. Beginning in 1898 engines increased in horsepower from 25 horsepower (19 kW) to 500 brake horsepower (370 kW) by 1906. Some were destined for speedboats , other for motor yachts. Diesel power plants for boats were demonstrated in 1903. Diesels became
24287-417: Was in electrical engineering and automobiles. Romanian Carol Vasilesco was employed to prepare drawings and undertake the detailed design of airframes. On land at Oakbank Wharf on the river Itchen in Woolston, Southampton that Billing had previously purchased, the company established a factory with Hubert Scott-Paine as work manager. Its registered telegraphic address , used for sending telegrams and cables to
24450-526: Was later adapted to house integral fuel tanks of various sizes — a feature patented by Vickers-Supermarine in 1938. The airflow through the main radiator was controlled by pneumatic exit flaps. In early marks of the Spitfire (Mk I to Mk VI), the single flap was operated manually using a lever to the left of the pilot's seat. When the two-stage Merlin was introduced in the Spitfire Mk IX , the radiators were split to make room for an intercooler radiator;
24613-551: Was minimal and this experiment was abandoned. Supermarine developed a new laminar-flow wing based on new aerofoil profiles developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the United States, with the objective of reducing drag and improving performance. These laminar-flow airfoils were the Supermarine 371-I used at the root and the 371-II used at the tip. Supermarine estimated that
24776-484: Was no longer held up by a lack of wings. All the main flight controls were originally metal structures with fabric covering. Designers and pilots felt that having ailerons which required a degree of effort to move at high speed would avoid unintended aileron reversal, throwing the aircraft around and potentially pulling the wings off. Air combat was also felt to take place at relatively low speeds and high-speed manoeuvring would be physically impossible. Flight tests showed
24939-422: Was not accepted. It then went through a series of changes, including the incorporation of an enclosed cockpit, oxygen-breathing apparatus, smaller and thinner wings, and the newly developed, more powerful Rolls-Royce PV XII V-12 engine , which was later named the "Merlin". In November 1934, Mitchell, with the backing of Supermarine's owner Vickers-Armstrong , started detailed design work on this refined version of
25102-564: Was not worth pursuing. With no orders coming in, Billing had to sell one of his yachts and lease out part of the facilities to Tom Sopwith who used it for assembly and then testing of his Bat Boat . At the outbreak the First World War Billing enlisted in the Royal Navy Volunteer reserve, and thus he was no longer involved in day-to-day activities. With the business by now in serious financial trouble due to
25265-659: Was produced, for which an order for 20 was received from the Royal Naval Air Service . In late 1915 having completed serving with the RNVR and RNAS Billing returned to the company. As a result of his experience while involved in the organising of the air raid in November 1914 on the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance Billing believed that England was defenceless against attacks by Zeppelins. As
25428-451: Was somewhat lower than that of some contemporary fighters. The Royal Aircraft Establishment noted that, at 400 mph (350 kn; 640 km/h) indicated airspeed , roughly 65% of aileron effectiveness was lost due to wing twist. The new wing of the Spitfire F Mk 21 and its successors was designed to help alleviate this problem. Its stiffness was increased by 47%, and a new aileron design using piano hinges and geared trim tabs meant
25591-561: Was subsequently fitted with new wings and tail surfaces and fitted with a more powerful engine, which Supermarine designating it as the Sea King II. No sales were however forthcoming. For the 1922 Schneider Trophy contest, which was being held in Naples, Italy, the company modified the Sea King II by increasing the size of the rudder and fin and fitting a more powerful engine which gave a 50 percent increase in power. Designated Sea Lion II
25754-459: Was the Seal II, which was a three-seater fleet spotter paid for by the Air Ministry. After it performed well during its evaluation by the RAF, two examples of an improved version, named the Seagull were subsequently purchased by the Air Ministry in 1922. Once these were completed faced with no further orders the company considered closing down part of the factory and laying off staff. Bird approached
25917-488: Was the first English monarch to commission the construction of a yacht—for his son Henry, Prince of Wales in the early 1600s. Pleasure vessels acquired the name yacht after the time of Charles II , who spent time exiled in Europe and visited the Netherlands, where a variety of jachten were already well developed as pleasure boats for the elite classes since the beginning of the 17th century. Upon his restoration to
26080-633: Was the first academically trained aerodynamicist at Supermarine. As a consequence the services of Mitchell's deputy Frank Holroyd were no longer required and he was dismissed. By 1931 the restructuring of the company ended with Mitchell still technical director and reporting to him, the Technical Office under Alan Clifton and the Drawing Office under Joe Smith. Vickers' own pilots took over test flying, which led to Henry Biard's role as Supermarine's test pilot since 1919 coming to an end. As
26243-445: Was the subject of a Luftwaffe daylight raid, but the bombs missed their target and hit a nearby school. All production aircraft were flight tested before delivery. During the Second World War, Jeffrey Quill was Vickers Supermarine's chief test pilot, in charge of flight testing all aircraft types built by Vickers Supermarine. He oversaw a group of 10 to 12 pilots responsible for testing all developmental and production Spitfires built by
26406-526: Was then moved to Hythe, which was on the opposite side of the Solent from the Woolston works. While the Southampton Mk I had wooden hulls, the Air Ministry indicated that they wanted future flying boats to be metal hulled and paid for the construction of a prototype. Compared with wooden hulls, metal hulls were stronger, lighter and didn't become heavier over time as the wood soaked up water. To enable them to construct metal hulls Supermarine established
26569-419: Was to subcontract the work. Although outside contractors were supposed to be involved in manufacturing many important Spitfire components, especially the wings, Vickers-Armstrongs (the parent company) was reluctant to see the Spitfire being manufactured by outside concerns, and was slow to release the necessary blueprints and subcomponents. As a result of the delays in getting the Spitfire into full production,
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