Supermarine Southampton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Southampton

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

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 unusual. As
the Swan had acted in effect as a prototype, development time was short.

The Southampton was a twin-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 in range of
approximately 200 mi (320 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 Southampton Mk III.
There were three positions for machine guns, one in the nose and two staggered
in the rear fuselage.

The first flight of a production aircraft was made on 10 March 1925, and
delivery to the RAF started in mid-1925.

Role
Military reconnaissance flying boat

Manufacturer
Supermarine

First flight
10 March 1925

Introduction
1925

Primary user
Royal Air Force

Produced
1924–1934

Number built
83

Developed from
Supermarine Swan

Variants
Saunders A.14
Hiro H2H
Supermarine Scapa

Southamptons first entered RAF service in August 1925 with No. 480 (Coastal
Reconnaissance) Flight at RAF Calshot. In a series of "showing the flag"
flights, the type quickly became famous for long-distance formation flights; the
most notable was a 43,500 km (27,000 mi) expedition in 1927 and 1928. It was
carried out by four Southamptons of the Far East Flight, setting out from
Felixstowe via the Mediterranean and India to Singapore.

Further Southamptons 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 RAF
aircraft was loaned to Imperial Airways, with British Civil Registration G-AASH,
for three months from December 1929 to replace a crashed Short Calcutta on the
airmail run between Genoa and Alexandria. In all, 83 Southamptons were
constructed, excluding the three-engined Southampton MK X which was a single
prototype.

Specifications (Southampton II)

General characteristics
Crew: five (two pilots and three gunners)
Length: 49 ft 8½ in (15.15 m)
Wingspan: 75 ft (22.86 m)
Height: 20 ft 5 in (6.2 m)
Wing area: 1,448 ft2 (134.5 m2)
Empty weight: 9,697 lb (4,398 kg)
Loaded weight: 15,200 lb (6,895 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Napier Lion VA inline W-block, 500 hp (373 kW) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 83 kn (95 mph, 153 km/h) at sea level
Range: 473 nmi (544 mi, 876 km) at 86 mph (139 km/h) and 2,000 ft (610 m)
Endurance: 6.3 hours
Service ceiling: 5,950 ft (1,814 m)
Rate of climb: 368 ft/min (1.87 m/s)
Wing loading: 10.50 lb/ft2 (51.26 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.066 hp/lb (0.11 kW/kg)
Climb to 6,000 ft (1,829 m) 29 minutes 42 seconds

Armament

Guns: 3 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis guns, one in bows and two amidships.
Bombs: 1,100 lb of bombs under the wings.




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