3D model
Turn it over
A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as N248 in its restored 1931 scheme. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1021 KB)
History
The S.6A
R.J. Mitchell designed the S.6 for the 1929 Schneider Trophy, a seaplane race that had become a contest of national prestige. Rolls-Royce built the R engine for it, a supercharged V-12 of nearly 1,900 hp, and Mitchell wrapped it in the smallest metal airframe he could, cooling it through double-skinned radiators that formed the wings and float surfaces.
N247 won the 1929 contest and N248 set world closed-circuit records. For 1931 both were rebuilt as S.6As with new floats and more cooling, while two new S.6Bs won the Trophy outright for Britain; S1596 then set a world speed record of 407.5 mph.
The lessons fed straight into the Spitfire, and the R engine into the Merlin. N248 is the only S.6A to survive.
This airframe
S.6A N248
N248 was disqualified from the 1929 race for turning inside a marker pylon but still set world records for 50 and 100 km. Rebuilt in 1931 as the reserve machine, it later appeared in “The First of the Few” and was displayed for years as “S1596”. Restored from 1983 in its 1931 colours, it is displayed at Solent Sky in Southampton, close to where it was built.
Where to see one
In the gazetteer
The gazetteer records the S.6A in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.