The Supermarine Sea Eagle was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, passenger–carrying,

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

. It was designed and built by the Supermarine Aviation Works for its subsidiary, the British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd, to be used on their cross-channel route between

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Service

Three civilian aircraft were constructed, G-EBFK, G-EBGR and G-EBGS and the regular service between Southampton and

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

began on 25 September 1923 (the planned service to France was never implemented). This was Britain's first scheduled passenger air service by flying boat. However, G-EBFK crashed on 21 May 1924; in January 1927, G-EBGS was lost when it was rammed by a ship in the harbor of

St Peter Port, Guernsey St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St ...

. The third aircraft continued on the route until 1928 when it was replaced by a Short S.8 Calcutta. The wooden hull of the surviving Sea Eagle, G-EBGR, was retained by

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

until 1949, when they presented it to the

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

; BOAC burnt it in 1954 because of a lack of storage space.

Variants

The Supermarine Sheldrake used the hull of the Sea Eagle and the wings of the Seagull with a tractor engine installation. A single example was built. The Supermarine Scarab was a military flying-boat, based on the Sea Eagle and Sheldrake but with a pusher engine, specially designed for the Spanish Navy. Twelve were eventually built and delivery to the Spanish Naval Air Service for use in the bomber/reconnaissance role during the

Rif War The Rif War () was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by History of France, France in 1924) and the Berbers, Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco. Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians at ...

. It was fitted with a .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun and a bomb load of 1,000 lb 454 kg.

Operators

; *

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...

Spanish seaplane carrier Dédalo ''Dédalo'' was a steamship that was built in England in 1901 as the cargo ship ''Neuenfels'' for the German shipping company DDG „Hansa“. Spain seized her in 1918 and had her converted into a seaplane tender and balloon carrier, enteri ...

; * British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd *

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passenger ...

Specifications

References

;Bibliography *Andrews C.F. and Morgan, E.B. ''Supermarine Aircraft since 1914''. London:Putnam, 1987. . *Jackson, A.J. ''British Civil Aircraft 1919–1972:Volume III''. London:Putnam, 1988. . *London, Peter. ''British Flying Boats''. Sutton Publishers Ltd. 2003.
"The Supermarine 'Sea Eagle'"
''Flight'', vol. XV, issue 26, pp. 351–352, 28 June 1923.

External links

* ttp://www.unicover.com/EF4VH8BW.HTM Service {{Supermarine aircraft 1920s British airliners Flying boats Single-engined pusher aircraft

Sea Eagle A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the genus ''Haliaeetus'' in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Taxonomy and evolution The genus ''Haliaeetus'' ...