page_title: Supermarine S.6B
section_title: Redesign and refinement
hierarchical_section_title: Supermarine S.6B / Development / Redesign and refinement
caption_attribution_description: Winner of the Schneider Trophy, 1931. Designed by Reginald J. Mitchell, it was a development of Mitchell's earlier S.4 which had won the 1925 Schneider Trophy race. The S.6B was powered by a supercharged Rolls-Royce 1900 hp engine. It marked the culmination of Mitchell's quest to "perfect the design of the racing seaplane" and represented the cutting edge of aerodynamic technology. It is one of the major technical achievements in British aviation between the two world wars. Not only did the aircraft win the 1931 Schneider Trophy, but also, two weeks later, became the fastest vehicle on earth, setting an absolute speed record of 407.5 mph It joined the Science Museum in 1932 and is now on display, still unrestored, in the ‘Flight’ Hall. Science Museum, South Kensington, London. 16-6-2015
context_page_description: The Supermarine S.6B is a British racing seaplane developed by R.J. Mitchell for the Supermarine company to take part in the Schneider Trophy competition of 1931. The S.6B marked the culmination of Mitchell's quest to "perfect the design of the racing seaplane" and represented the cutting edge of aerodynamic technology for the era.
  The S.6B was last in a line of racing seaplanes to be developed by Supermarine, followed on from the S.4, S.5 and the S.6. Despite these predecessors having twice won the Schneider Trophy previously, the development of the S.6B was troubled by wavering government support, being promised, withdrawn, and then issued once again following a high-profile public campaign encouraged by Lord Rothermere and a substantial donation by Lady Houston. Once government backing had been secured, there were only nine months remaining until the race, thus Mitchell decided to refine the existing S.6 rather than pursue a clean-sheet design, thus the type's designation of S.6B.
context_section_description: Mitchell, recognising that he only had seven months to prepare an entry, knew that there was not enough time left to viably design a whole new aircraft from scratch. Instead, he refined the design of the existing Supermarine S.6; the new variant being referred to as the Supermarine S.6B. According to aviation author John D. Anderson Jr, Mitchell retained the majority of the S.6's design, his efforts being principally focused on improving the prospective aircraft's heat dissipation; speaking on a radio broadcast, he later referred to the S.6B as a "flying radiator". Mitchell decided to make use of the aircraft's floats as an additional radiator area; these were considerably larger than those of the S.6, their design being supported by a series of wind tunnel tests performed at the National Physical Laboratory, which was also an area in which government support was helpful to the project. The floats were extended forward by some three feet (0.9 m); while being larger and longer than their predecessor's counterparts, they were streamlined and had a smaller frontal area.
  One obvious means of improving the S.6's performance was by obtaining more power from the R-Type engine. Engineers at Rolls-Royce's Derby facility had managed to increase the available power of the engine by 400 hp (298 kW), enabling it to now provide up to 2,300 hp (1,715 kW); however, this level of performance was only guaranteed for a fairly small timeframe. To improve the engine performance, the use of an exotic fuel mix was necessary, as well as the adoption of Sodium-cooled valves. Anderson states that the improvements to the engine and the floats were the only two major innovations of the S.6. Other modifications to the airframe design were mostly limited to minor improvements and some strengthening in order to cope with the increased weight of the aircraft. One cutting-edge feature used in the aircraft's manufacture was the use of flush riveting, a newer and more expensive form of riveting that had drag reduction benefits. Drag reduction was an important priority of Mitchell's refinements, this factor being greatly beneficial to any fast-moving aircraft.
caption: Supermarine S.6B displayed at the London Science Museum
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