Supermarine
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. The company built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three consecutive victories. After the war, the company produced a series of jet fighters.
The company was located on the River Itchen close to Woolston, Southampton, on ground purchased by the British aviator and inventor Noel Pemberton Billing. He designed two prototype quadruplanes designed to shoot down Zeppelins—the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk. Pemberton Billing sold the company to his longtime associate Hubert Scott-Paine in 1916, when it was renamed Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd..
In 1928, Vickers-Armstrongs took over Supermarine as Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. and in 1938 all Vickers-Armstrongs aviation interests were reorganised to become Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, although Supermarine continued to design, build and trade under its own name. The first Supermarine landplane design to go into production was the Spitfire, which caught the popular imagination and became the aircraft associated with the Battle of Britain. The aircraft went on to play a major part during the Second World War, in a number of variants and marks. Other company planes from the period include the Seafire. Supermarine developed the Spiteful and Seafang, the successors of the Spitfire and the Seafire respectively, and the Walrus flying boat. The Supermarine main works was heavily bombed in 1940. This caused work on their first heavy bomber design, the Supermarine B.12/36, to be abandoned.
Supermarine built 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. This 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. After Vickers-Armstrongs became a part of the British Aircraft Corporation, its individual manufacturing heritage names, including that of Supermarine, were dropped. All these heritage companies are now part of BAE Systems.
Pemberton-Billing Ltd
Founding
In 1909 Noel Pemberton-Billing purchased a number of engineering workshops on 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, 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 on the River Itchen, upstream of Woolston. To manage the business, Pemberton-Billing hired his friend 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 the business was soon profitable, which allowed Billing 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, 500. Herkomer's background 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 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 the company, was; Supermarine, Southampton.
Early aircraft
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 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 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.
World War I
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 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 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 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 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 the water, which were eventually resolved. This led to 34 being built, though none saw service.
Supermarine Aviation Works
In March 1916 Billing was elected as an Member of Parliament. 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 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 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 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 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 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 in early 1917, the company designed what later was called the Supermarine Baby. Three were subsequently built.
Post World War I
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 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 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 the completion of his duties for the Royal Naval Air Service NZAS James Bird 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 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 the company was able to sell 19 overseas, to customers including Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.