THE SPEEDBIRDS COLLECTIONS


SB-01      Supermarine S. 6B, S1595  The Schneider Trophy 1913-1931,  Winner 1931 
Scale 1:35  (2 pcs)      US$198



The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider,
commonly called the Schneider Trophy or Schneider Prize
(sometimes it is incorrectly referred to as the Schneider Cup,
which is entirely different prize),
was a trophy awarded annually to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flying boats.
The Schneider Trophy is now held at the Science Museum,
South Kensington, London.

Announced by Jacques Schneider,
a financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast,
in 1912, the competition offered a prize of approximately £1,000.
The race was held twelve times between 1913 and 1931.
It was intended to encourage technical advances in civil aviation but became a contest
for pure speed with laps over a (usually) triangular course (initially 280 km, later 350 km).
The contests were staged as time trials,
with aircraft setting off individually at pre-agreed times,
usually 15 minutes apart.
The contests were very popular and some attracted crowds of over 200,000 spectators.
An earlier trophy, also presented by Jacques Schneider in 1910,
in France, was the Schneider Cup, which is held in the RAF College Cranwell.

If an aero club won three races in five years,
they would retain the trophy and the winning pilot would receive 75,000 francs
for each of the first three wins.
Each race was hosted by the previous winning country.
The races were supervised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
and the aero club in the hosting country.
Each club could enter up to three competitors with an equal number of alternatives.

The race was significant in advancing aeroplane design,
particularly in the fields of aerodynamics and engine design,
and would show its results in the best fighters of WW2.
The streamlined shape and the low drag,
liquid-cooled engine pioneered by Schneider Trophy designs
are obvious in the British Supermarine Spitfire,
the American North American P-51 Mustang,
and the Italian Macchi C.202 Folgore.

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.

The last in the line developed by Supermarine,
it followed the S.4, S.5 and the S.6. Mitchell
and his team's experience in designing high speed Schneider Trophy floatplanes
greatly contributing to the development of the later Supermarine Spitfire,
an iconic fighter and Britain's most successful interceptor of World War II.

The winning Schneider flight was piloted by Flt. Lt. John N. Boothman
in aircraft serial number S1595 at a speed of 340.08 mph (547.19 km/h),
flying seven perfect laps of the triangular course over the Solent,
between the Isle of Wight and the British mainland.

Seventeen days later,
Flt Lt. George Stainforth in S.6B serial S1596 broke
the world air speed record reaching 407.5 mph (655.67 km/h).



** PLEASE NOTE THE MODEL CAN BE DISPLAYED ON ITS OWN TROLLEY,
OR WITH A JJD FLIGHT STAND**



**PLEASE NOTE AT THIS TIME NO FIGURES WILL BE PRODUCED FOR THIS SERIES**





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