Supermarine (Jump to photos)
Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It was set up by Noel Pemberton-Billing as Pemberton-Billing Ltd in 1913 to produce sea-going aircraft. Upon election as an MP in 1916 he sold the company to Hubert Scott-Paine who renamed the company Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. The company became famous for its successes in the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes, especially the three wins in a row of 1927, 1929 and 1931.
In 1928 Vickers Aviation took over Supermarine. In 1938 Supermarine and Vickers were taken over by Vickers-Armstrong.
The first Supermarine landplane to go into production was the famous Spitfire, which proved to be a successful design and, along with the Hawker Hurricane, entered into legend after its role in the Battle of Britain.
Other well-known planes from World War II were the Seafire (a naval version of the Spitfire) and the Walrus flying boat.
Supermarine also developed the Spiteful/Seafang (successor of the Spitfire/Seafire).
The Supermarine main works was in Woolston, Southampton which led to the city being heavily bombed in 1940.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine
