| Commercial Amphibian | |
|---|---|
| |
| Role | Passenger flying boat |
| Manufacturer | Supermarine |
| Designer | R.J. Mitchell |
| First flight | September 1920 |
| Retired | 1920 |
| Status | destroyed |
| Number built | 1 |
| Developed from | Supermarine Channel |
| Developed into | |
The Supermarine Commercial Amphibian (originally named the Supermarine Amphibian, later designated N147 by the British Air Ministry) was a passenger-carrying flying boat. The first aircraft to be designed by Supermarine's Reginald Mitchell, it was built at the company's works at Woolston, Southampton, for an Air Ministry competition that took place during September 1920. Based on the Supermarine Channel, the Amphibian was a biplane flying boat with a single engine, a wooden hull, unequal wingspans and a 350 horsepower (260 kW) Rolls-Royce Eagle engine. The pilot sat in an open cockpit behind two passengers.
The Commercial Amphibian finished second in the competition, but was judged the best of the three entrants in terms of design and reliability, and as a result the prize money of £4,000 (equivalent to £193,010 in 2023)[1] was doubled. In October 1920 it crashed and was damaged beyond repair, and no more Commercial Amphibians were built, but on the strength of the performance of the aircraft during the competition, Supermarine was commissioned to make a prototype three-seater Fleet Spotter Amphibian, later named the Supermarine Seal II.
- ^ United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth "consistent series" supplied in Thomas, Ryland; Williamson, Samuel H. (2024). "What Was the U.K. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 15 July 2024.