Category Archives: Supermarine

March 22, 2012 · 3:00 pm

The oldest ‘Flying’ Flying Boat in the World! -Another Flying Fact from Diana

Having watched in awe as the Bleirot took off and hovered above the ground at Shuttleworth in 2009, 100 years since it first flew in 1909, my interest in old aircraft took off, if you’ll excuse the pun!

Following this, my researched honed in on early development of flying boats, mainly due to my links with Woolston and Supermarine and so I was excited to visit Duxford last autumn to climb aboard the Catalina and then watch the old bird glide above us like a giant albatross. It was while watching this spectacle that I started my quest to find the answer to this question:

What is the oldest, airworthy, flying boat in the world?

Now, on their interesting Catalina website, it tells you that the Catalina XPY-1 first flew in January 1929 in Maryland. Quite impressive!

But is it the oldest?  

I was enamoured to see an old Southampton, well, what remains of it, originally built by Supermarine in 1925 but now in Hendon museum; with its carefully built wooden hull, crafted and varnished to perfection, but however impressive it is to look down into this aircraft, of course it cannot fly.

In the end I asked the same question on the Flying Boat Forum, a place where you will meet enthusiasts; experts in the unusual history of this unique craft. You see, there’s nothing quite like a Flying Boat. A sea plane or float plane looks good, but there’s something very special about a flying boat. My next blog will be more about the differences and why these aircraft were so special, especially when they were first conceived.

I had some speedy responses which narrowed it down to a Sikorsky  Type S39, an interesting looking craft, camouflage painted in brown and white no N50V. You can click on the following photo below by Nick Dean to see many more on the site where it came from.N50V @ IA27 - / - by Nick Dean

This Sikorsky can be found in Florida, owned by Kermit Weeks and I’m told is part of The Fantasy of Flight museum collection.

Imagine my delight when another member sent a response of a link to a video where an Sikorsky S38 is on an amazing flight. It tells us in the introduction that the aircraft first flew in 1928, so I think I have my answer. Thanks guys! I’ll have to think of some more questions.  

This is truly a pleasure to watch. Enjoy!

Video of the 1928 Sikorsky

You can find more information on Seawings, The Flying Boat website.

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Filed under Early Flight, Flying Boats and Sea Planes, Frivolous Flying Facts, Supermarine, The Shuttleworth Collection, Woolston

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March 5, 2012 · 10:55 am

Trains and Boats and Flights! A Day to Remember

We often spent a week in the summer holidays with out grandma in Woolston and I must have been about eight years old when she took my sister and I on a little adventure. We waited excitedly for the bus at the end of Newtown Road, Woolston and climbed to the top deck for the first leg of our journey to the Floating Bridge, which then took us over the River Itchen next to where the Hoverport was situated, just opposite the site of the Supermarine Works. (long gone by that time) 

It was our first ride on a hovercraft and I remember the noise and anticipation as the craft lifted up on its skirts and glided down the slipway and on to the river. It was quite a different feeling many years later on a cross channel ‘flight’ when I likened the experience more to going up and down in a lift as we traversed the waves in the Channel from Ramsgate. This time though, as we sped along Southampton Water, we watched the familiar sights of Weston Shore and Calshot Spit pass us by and soon The Isle of Wight was in front of us, filling our horizon.

At Cowes we walked a while to find a quieter spot to have a picnic before making our way to catch a bus to Ryde where, never being people to shirk exercise, we walked alongside the train to the end of Ryde Pier where we caught the ferry, this time back to Portsmouth. Although it was nothing like the speed of the catamarans today, we were soon on the mainland once more and heading for the railway station. The ride back to Woolston took us behind Newtown Road and I can only just remember sitting with my Grandad on a style to watch the steam trains go by maybe four years earlier before he popped into the The Gardeners Arms where he played dominoes each day with his friends.

Happy memories eh? It was lovely that my last post stirred several memories for readers too. It would be lovely to hear from you if you have other stories to tell; either post a comment here, send me a tweet, say hello on Facebook or send me an email

dianaridina@yahoo.com

Riduna on Twitter

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Filed under Family History, Southampton, Supermarine, Woolston

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March 1, 2012 · 9:56 am

When was the last flight from the River Itchen, Woolston, Southampton?

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http://www.bartiesworld.co.uk/

As Woolston is regenerated from a forgotten backwater, passed without a second thought by drivers taking the Itchen Bridge which was opened back in 1977, I hope it will remember its fascinating history. As I research Woolston, this little suburb of Southampton, the more fascinating the history becomes in my mind.

I’m not old enough to remember the first flight of the Spitfire, like my father, or the famous Schneider Trophy winners taking off from Woolston and practicing off Calshot along Southampton Water watched by my grandfather and great grandmother, but I do remember the hovercraft. In fact the last flight out of Woolston, from the River Itchen was neither a flying boat nor a sea plane, but a hovercraft. 

There was a regular hovercraft service from Woolston to Cowes in the Isle of Wight which began in 1962, with its terminal just over the Floating Bridge linking Portsmouth Road Woolston with Southampton before the Itchen Bridge was built, but there is still a hovercraft service from Southsea, Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight today.

 The fact which most excited me recently was finding out that there is a company who works in the development of hovercrafts still thriving in Woolston called Griffon Hoverwork Ltd, based at Hazel Road close to the site of the original Supermarine Works. 

If you would like to know more about this strange mode of transport with a skirt where you fly on water, it’s worth visiting the only Hovercraft Museum in the world only along the coast towards Portsmouth at Lee on Solent. Amongst more serious craft you will see the hovercrafts used by James Bond in ‘Die another Day’ in 2002.

 

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Filed under Early Flight, Southampton, Supermarine, Woolston

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