ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 233259
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| Date: | Monday 21 September 1931 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Supermarine S.6B |
| Owner/operator: | High Speed Flt RAF |
| Registration: | S1596 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Solent Estuary, off Calshot Pier, Hampshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Solent Estuary, off Calshot Pier, Hampshire |
| Solent Estuary, off Calshot Pier, Hampshire | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Two Supermarine S.6Bs were built; S1596 was the second of the two. The Supermarine S6b was a British racing seaplane designed to compete in the Schneider Trophy in the 1930s. It was a fantastically powerful and fast aircraft.
The Schneider Trophy was an annual air-speed competition for seaplanes and flying boats and was an extremely popular spectator sport with thousands of people lining the shores to watch these incredibly fast aeroplanes.
The Supermarine S6b was developed by R.J. Mitchell, later to be the designer of the Supermarine Spitfire. Although, technically, those produced were civilian racing aircraft, they were only ever flown by experienced RAF pilots or ex-RAF pilots. Clearly, as seaplanes, these aircraft 'taxied' on the water to get into position for their take off run.
On 21 September 1931, whilst preparing for a test run in Supermarine S6b S1596, Flight Lieutenant George Stainforth was taxiing on Southampton Water, just off Calshot, when he had a little mishap and parked S1596 on the seabed. He managed to safely escape - the aircraft was located by divers the next day and recovered. George Stainforth was lucky to escape alive, but on the 29th September 1931 he went on to break the world speed record in the only other S6B that was ever built, numbered S1595. The latter may now be seen in the Science Museum in Kensington, while the original Rolls Royce 'R' engine is in the Rolls Royce Museum in the Silk Mill, Derby.
As the above shows, Supermarine S.6B was written off (damaged beyond repair). However, in 1942, for the feature film "First of the Few" (starring David Niven) Supermarine S.6A N248 was repainted to represent the destroyed S.6B S1596 for footage in the film re-telling the story of the Supermarine S.6A and S.6B in the Schneider Trophy races in 1929 and 1931.
For the next 40 years (until 1983) Supermarine S.6A N248 continued to pretend to be S.6B S1596 until it was handed over to the Solent Sky Museum in Southampton. During restoration, the "fake" identity of this aircraft was discovered, and "S1596" has now been returned to its real identity as N248
Sources:
1. Hampshire Telegraph - Friday 18 September 1931
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_S.6B
3. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/570646-s-1596-a.html
4. http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14545.0
5. http://www.stainforth-history.co.uk/galleries/georgegall/pages/5gins6b.html
6. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/airfields/schneider1931.html
Media:
Supermarine S.6B S1596 at Calshot in 1931
.jpg)
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Feb-2020 17:13 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 13-Jun-2020 19:26 | harry | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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