SUPERMARINE

Supermarine was a renowned British aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1913 to 1960, when it merged with British Aircraft Corporation. While it is best known for producing the iconic Spitfire fighter plane during World War II, it also designed and built a range of seaplanes, flying boats, and jet-powered fighter aircraft in the post-war period. Supermarine gained widespread recognition for its remarkable success in the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes, winning three consecutive races in 1927, 1929, and 1931. The company was founded as Pemberton-Billing Ltd in 1913 by Noel Pemberton Billing to construct motor launches on land close to Woolston, Southampton, and produced several prototypes such as the Supermarine P.B.29 and the Supermarine Nighthawk with quadruplane designs to shoot down enemy zeppelins. Pemberton-Billing sold the company to his factory manager, Hubert Scott-Paine, upon his election as a Member of Parliament in 1916, who renamed it Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. After Vickers-Armstrongs acquired the company in 1928, it operated as Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd. The first Supermarine landplane design to go into production was the Spitfire, which played a major role in the Battle of Britain and became the aircraft most associated with that important episode in British history. Supermarine continued to design, build and trade under its own name, and the phrase Vickers Supermarine was used to refer to the company’s aircraft.