TWO UNABASHEDLY NAUTICAL FLYING BOATS

THE BRITISH Supermarine Sea Eagle and Walrus, first flown in 1923 and 1936, respectively, were both flying boats with the emphasis on the second word. Each looked strikingly nautical. However, aircraft they were, with significant histories in Imperial Airways passenger service and admirable rescue missions during World War II.

Supermarine Sea Eagle built for the British Marine Air Navigation Co. Ltd., c. 1924. This and the other multi-view images from Flying Boats and Seaplanes since 1910, by Kenneth Munson, Blandford Press, 1971.

The Sea Eagle was an amphibian with a nose proudly displaying nautical intent. Its pilot and mechanic traveled amidships in an open cockpit, considered optimal in the early 1920s for offering proper awareness of conditions. Six passengers sat below toward the bow, with a forward hatch. Two fixed ladders, one forward, the other amidships, provided access.

G-EBGR, one of the three Sea Eagles produced, remained in service until 1929. Image by Allan C. Green.

Supermarine was the British company destined to produce the S4/S5/S6 series of Schneider Trophy sea planes as well as the World War II Spitfire, all designed by the firm’s R.J. Mitchell. The Sea Eagle was one of his first designs, produced in a series of three craft for the British Marine Air Navigation Co. Ltd.

Set up in late 1922, British Marine provided passenger service between Southampton, England, the Channel Islands and Le Havre, France. (One source claims this was the world’s first regularly scheduled passenger service by sea plane. However, the St. Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line beat it by almost nine years.)

Her Majesty’s Post in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, Channel Islands, celebrated the Sea Eagle.

One of the three Sea Eagles produced, licensed G-EBFK, competed in England’s 1923 King’s Cup air race, though it was to crash within a year of the event. The other two craft were handed over to the newly formed Imperial Airways in June 1924. G-EBGS sank in January 1927 after being holed by a ship in Guernsey Harbour. G-EBGR remained in service until 1929.

Imperial Airways Sea Eagle G-EBGS prior to its Guernsey mishap. Image from British Flying-Boats and Amphibians, 1909-1952, by G. R. Duval, Aero Publishers, 1966.

There were rather more Walrus flying boats, 740 of them built between 1936 and 1944. Both Supermarine and Saunders Roe took part in their construction, though the former’s R.J. Mitchell designed the craft initially to a 1929 Royal Australian Air Force requirement for a sea plane capable of shipboard catapult-launch and retrieval.

Saunders-Roe-built Walrus II of No. 711 Squadron Fleet Air Arm, c. 1941.

The Walrus was constructed of aluminum alloy with stainless-steel hardware, chosen to avoid the rapid deterioration of wood structures in tropical climes. Like the Sea Eagle, its single engine was mounted up high propelling a pusher prop, this to propel the craft with least involvement of its aquatic environment. What’s more, an intrepid mechanic could access the engine while underway.

A Fleet Air Arm Walrus. Image by Allan C. Green.

Walruses saw shipboard as well as land-based action during World War II. The craft was the first in British Fleet Air Arm service to have fully retractable undercarriage (Brit for landing gear) and completely enclosed crew accommodation. A Walrus carried a crew of three or four, plus room for rescued personnel.

World War II action with the Supermarine Walrus. Video from Aviation Bomber Guy. There’s an air sea rescue episode beginning around 2:27 of the video.

Classically nautical though it may have appeared, a Walrus would have been a welcome sight indeed for a pilot downed at sea. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2015