The disappointment

After the streamlined beauty of the R.J.Mitchells Schneider “S” series racers the Supermarine type 224 comes as a bit of a shock for those not familiar with it but she was not without a certain charm. She was though a big disappointment.

Built to Air ministry specification F.7/30 it was intended to be a 250 MPH day and night fighter of all metal construction and armed with 4 x machine guns. Also desirable was a low landing speed and long endurance along with good pilot visibility.

On just about all of the above she failed. She could only manage 228MPH and her rate of climb was poor. The main problem was with her Rolls-Royce Goshawk II twelve-cylinder steam-cooled V-engine. This was a development of the RR Kestrel that relied upon evaporative cooling in order to save the weight and aerodynamic disadvantages of radiators.

This cooling system was a constant source of trouble throughout her trials requiring constant attention. Test pilot Geoffrey Quill was dismayed at the constant red light temperature warning light flashing all the time and he ruffled Mitchells feathers by stating that the pilot needed to be a plumber in order to understand what was going on.

The low landing speed requirement was dealt with via a fuselage air brake but this failed to appease the air ministry who were concerned that her wing loading was too high. This resulted in the 45ft 10ins wingspan that gives the 224 that somewhat out of proportion look. The gull wing enabled Mitchel to use a reduced length undercarriage but the fairings gave rise to directional stability and so the fin surface area had to be increased. In profile the fin looks as almost disproportionate as the wings in plan form.

Supermarine type 224 “Spitfire” K2890 first flew February 1934 and after her disappointing trials period she spent some time at RAE Farnborough where she was used as an officers “hack”. At some point in 1937 she was flown to Martlesham heath and then to Orfordness where she ended her days as a gunnery target. The RR Goshawk remained a problem and only around 20 were built before it too was cancelled.

There were several designs for specification F.7/30 including designs by Hawkers, Bristol and Gloster whose biplane design, the Gladiator that was eventually chosen. It is interesting (well it was to me anyway) that while it seemed none of the designs offered by the British aircraft industry were meeting the needs of the specification, the Air Ministry actually considered purchasing the Polish PZ24 fighter which was faster than the 224.

K2890 may have been a disappointment but here name sake, the type 300, would more than make up for it.