Supermarine Type 224

Infobox Aircraft
name=Type 224


caption=
type= Fighter
manufacturer=Supermarine
designer=R. J. Mitchell
first flight=
introduced=
retired=
status=Abandoned project
primary user=
more users=
produced=
number built=
unit cost=
variants with their own articles=The Supermarine Type 224 was a design submitted by Reginald Mitchell for a Royal Air Force (RAF) competition to select a new fighter in 1934.

The design was an all-metal monoplane with a fixed undercarriage and an open cockpit. It featured an interesting cooling system using a steam condenser mounted along the wings which gave the craft continuous reliability problems. In the competition in February 1934 the Type 224 did not perform well compared to the other biplane and monoplane designs. It displayed a maximum speed of only 367 km/h (228 mph) and took 9.5 minutes to climb to 15,000 feet (8 m/s).

By comparison the winner of the competition, the Gloster entrant (a biplane which would soon become the Gloster Gladiator), displayed a top speed of 390 km/h (242 mph) and a much better climb rate, achieving 15,000 ft in 6.5 minutes.

Specifications (Supermarine type 224)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=Fact|date=February 2008
crew=One
length main=29 ft 5 in
length alt=8.97 m
span main=45 ft 10 in
span alt=13.97 m
height main=
height alt=
area main=
area alt=
empty weight main=
empty weight alt=
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main=4,743 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 2,151 kg
engine (prop)=Rolls-Royce Goshawk
type of prop=inline piston engine
number of props=1
power main=680 hp
power alt=kW
max speed main=228 mph at 15,000 ft
max speed alt=367 km/h at 4,575 m
ceiling main=
ceiling alt=
range main=
range alt=
climb rate main=1,578 ft/min
climb rate alt=8 m/s
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
guns=4× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers Mk IV machine-guns

References