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The Supermarine Seagull was a British amphibious, military flying boat and the last to be built by the Supermarine company. Design started during the Second World War but it did not fly until three years after the war had ended and the project was cancelled without it being adopted for service. ==Development== In October 1940, the British Air Ministry issued Specification S.12/40 to Supermarine and Fairey for a catapult-launched, amphibian, reconnaissance and spotter aircraft to replace the Supermarine Walrus and Supermarine Sea Otter.〔London 2003, p. 230.〕 An order for three prototypes of Supermarine's aircraft was issued in March 1943.〔 There was an interruption in design due to the necessity of moving the Supermarine design office, after the bombing of the facility at Woolston. Further delays were caused by the extensive wind tunnel testing that was needed and the change from a Rolls-Royce Merlin to the more powerful Rolls-Royce Griffon. Also, the design specification was changed in 1944 to a new requirement, S.14/44 (later S.14/44/2〔) - the role of the aircraft being changed from ship-based reconnaissance and gunnery spotting to land-based Air-sea rescue.〔Gunston 1976, pp. 620–621.〕 This change removed the four-gun turret the design had featured.〔Andrews and Morgan 1981, p. 170.〕 The first prototype - Seagull serial ''PA143'' - first took off on 14 July 1948 from Southampton Water, flown by test pilot Mike Lithgow.〔 The second aircraft - PA147 - flew in September 1949, and was used for carrier trials on later in that year,〔 during which it demonstrated the capability to carry five passengers.〔 Experiments were also carried out with rocket assisted take-offs.〔 By the early 1950s, helicopters were taking over the air-sea rescue role. In 1952, the two completed prototypes and the partially built third aircraft, PA152, were scrapped.〔London 2003, p. 232.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Supermarine Seagull (1948)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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