The Supermarine Scapa was a British general reconnaissance

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

built by

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 cons ...

that was used by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

between 1935 and 1939. It was developed from the

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and formed the basis of the Supermarine Stranraer.

Development

After experimenting with a three-engine design of

, the Nanok,

's chief designer R. J. Mitchell decided that the

hydrodynamic In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in moti ...

design developed in the twin-engined Supermarine Southampton, would be suitable for the next aircraft. A prototype, designated the Southampton IV, was built. It had a hull that exceeded expectations in tests. An Air Ministry Specification was received in November 1931. The test pilot Joseph "Mutt" Summers took first flew the prototype on 8 July 1932, by which time the name of the type had been changed to Scapa. After 15 Scapas were built, production was changed to a more powerful development, the Supermarine Stranraer.

Design

The Scapa's hull was an all-metal structure, while the wing and tail surfaces had metal structure with fabric covering. The two Rolls-Royce Kestrel

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-Cylinder (engine), cylinder Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V engine, V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more c ...

s were mounted in

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...

s underslung from the upper wing, and there were two fins, each placed at the mid semi-span of the

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

. Similar to the Southampton, there were three gun positions: one in the nose, and two staggered in the rear fuselage. Each provided with a single .303 British (7.7 mm) caliber Lewis Mk.I machine guns.

Operators

; *

** No. 202 Squadron RAF ** No. 204 Squadron RAF ** No. 228 Squadron RAF ** No. 240 Squadron RAF

Specifications (Scapa)

Development

Design

Operators

Specifications (Scapa)

See also

References

Sources

Further reading