The Supermarine Seamew was a British twin engined
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
, built by the
Supermarine
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that is most famous for producing the Supermarine Spitfire, Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of Jet engine, jet-powered figh ...
company, intended as a small, shipborne aircraft.
Design and development
The British
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
placed an order for two Seamews in 1925, to meet
Specification 29/24.
[London 2003, pp. 92, 94.] The Seamew featured a wooden hull and two bay folding biplane wings with mainplanes utilizing a wood and metal composite construction with fabric covering and braced tail unit with twin fins and rudders. The aircraft was powered by two geared
Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IV
The Armstrong Siddeley Lynx is a British seven-cylinder aero engine developed by Armstrong Siddeley. Testing began in 1920 and 6,000 had been produced by 1939. In Italy Alfa Romeo built a licensed version of this engine named the Alfa Romeo ...
radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...
s mounted between the wings, driving two-bladed
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
propellers. As an amphibian, it had a retractable main undercarriage with fixed tailskid. The crew of three had a single pilot in the nose cockpit, a forward gunner behind the pilot but forward of the lower wing and rear gunner aft of the lower wing.
[Andrews and Morgan 1987, pp. 112–114.][London 2003, p. 94.]
Development of the Seamew was slow, as Supermarine were busy with other projects, including the
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 ...
flying boat and the
S.4 and
Supermarine S.5 racing floatplanes for the
Schneider Trophy
The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded annually (and later, biennially) to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flying ...
.
[Andrews and Morgan 1987, p. 113.] The Seamew first prototype ''N212'' made its maiden flight on 9 January 1928.
[Andrews and Morgan 1987, p. 114.]
Operational history
Testing showed several major problems with the Seamew. The aircraft was nose heavy in flight, and water spray during take-off damaged the diameter propellers. The second prototype was fitted with reduced () diameter, four-bladed propellers in an attempt to reduce the spray damage problem, but these gave a poor rate of climb.
[Andrews and Morgan 1987, pp. 115–116.] Another problem was corrosion of stainless steel fittings. These required replacing at considerable expense and as the type was unsatisfactory, the two prototypes were instead scrapped in 1930.
[Andrews and Morgan 1987, p. 115.]
Operators
;
*
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Specifications (Seamew)
Notes and references
;Notes
;Bibliography
* Andrews, C.N. and Morgan, E.B. ''Supermarine Aircraft since 1914, Second edition''. London: Putnam, 1987. .
* London, Peter. ''British Flying Boats''. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton Publishing, 2003. .
Further reading
*
*
{{Supermarine aircraft
1920s British military reconnaissance aircraft
Flying boats
Seamew
Biplanes
Amphibious aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1928
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft