The Supermarine Scapa was a British general reconnaissance flying boat built by

Supermarine Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of jet-powered fighter aircraft after World War II. ...

that was used by the

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) an ...

between 1935 and 1939. It was developed from the

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, 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, S ...

and formed the basis of the later Stranraer flying boat.

Development

After experimenting with a three-engine design of flying boat, (the

Nanok Nanok East Greenland Fishing Company (1929–1990), generally known as Nanok, was a Danish company in Greenland, mainly active in the hunting and trading of arctic foxes for their fur. A cultural organization with the objective of propagating kn ...

/Solent/Southampton X), Supermarine's chief designer,

R.J. Mitchell Reginald Joseph Mitchell (20 May 189511 June 1937) was a British aircraft designer who worked for the Southampton aviation company Supermarine from 1916 until 1936. He is best remembered for designing racing seaplanes such as the Supermarine ...

, decided that the good

hydrodynamic In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and ...

design that had been developed in the twin-engined Southampton, would be the platform for the next aircraft. A prototype designated the Southampton IV was built. It had a hull that performed even better in the tank tests. An Air Ministry Specification was received in November 1931. The test pilot Joseph "Mutt" Summers took the first flight on 8 July 1932. The name had then been changed to the Scapa. 15 Scapas were built before production was changed to a more powerful development, the Stranraer.

Design

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

Rolls-Royce Kestrel The Kestrel or type F is a 21 litre (1,300 in³) 700 horsepower (520 kW) class V-12 aircraft engine from Rolls-Royce, their first cast-block engine and the pattern for most of their future piston-engine designs. Used during the interwar p ...

V-12 engines were mounted in

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

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 stabiliser, is a small 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 and gyroplan ...

. 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 The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

(7.7 mm) caliber Lewis Mk.I machine guns.

Operators

; *

No. 202 Squadron RAF No. 202 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the maritime and mountains training element of the No.1 Flying Training School, operating the Airbus Helicopters H145 Jupiter. It previously operated the Sea King HAR3 in the search and rescue role ...

** No. 204 Squadron RAF **

No. 228 Squadron RAF No. 228 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force active at various times between 1918 and 1964. It spent the greatest part of its existence flying over water, doing so in First, and Second World Wars and beyond, performing anti-submarin ...

** No. 240 Squadron RAF

Specifications (Scapa)

Development

Design

Operators

Specifications (Scapa)

See also

References

Further reading