Supermarine Southampton gallery

The Supermarine Southampton was 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.

History

The Southampton was designed by the team of RJ. Mitchell, better known as the designer of the 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 were sold to the Argentine, while Turkey & Australia brought one aircraft each. Japan also purched a single aircraft which was later converved 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.

Description and Versions

The Southampton was a two-engine biplane flying boat. 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 (duralinium) (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 twenty-four 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.
The fuselage can still be seen on the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon.

General characteristics (Southampton II)

Crew: Five (2 pilots and 3 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: 9,696.5 lb (4,398 kg)
Loaded weight: 15,200 lb (6,895 kg)
Powerplant: 2× Napier Lion VA , 500 hp (373 kW) each

Performance (Southampton II)

Maximum speed: 83 knots (95 mph, 153 km/h) at sea level
Range: 473 nm (544 mi, 876 km) at 86 mph (139 km/h) and 2,000 ft (610 m)
Service ceiling: 5,950 ft (1,814m)
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
Endurance 6.3 hours

Armament (Southampton II)

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