Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Long-range patrol flying-boat

Power Plant:

One 179 kw (240 hp) Siddeley Puma six-cylinder in-line liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The Channel was built by the Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd at its Woolston facility at Southampton in the United Kingdom. The Channel I stemmed from the AD patrol flying boat built by Pemberton Billing, some 27 of which were completed for military use up to the time of the Armistice in 1918. Supermarine took over the business of Pemberton Billing and purchased a number of AD flying boats from the British Air Ministry, converting them for civil use and installing a 119 kw (160 hp) Beardmore engine.

These aircraft became known as the Supermarine Channel and ten are known to have been registered in the United Kingdom with registrations in the G-EAED to G-EAEM block.  These were operated on charter / barnstorming / pleasure type flights along the English south coast.  In 1920 three were shipped to Norway where they began services with Norske Luftreideri on mail and passenger services between Stavanger and Bergen, and another was operated by the Royal Norwegian Navy for operation as a dual-control trainer.

Later the Channel II appeared, this being fitted with the 179 kw (240 hp) Siddeley Puma engine.  Three examples were operated with Bermuda and Western Atlantic Aviation Co.  These had cameras mounted in the fuselage and were used in searches for oil in the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela. The type was seen in British Guiana where one was used for aerial survey work but sank in the Essequibo River after hitting floating timber.  Six Channel IIs were built for export, four of these being operated by the Japanese Navy, and the others went to Cuba and Chile.

In March 1921 a Mk II G-NZAI (c/n 1142) arrived in New Zealand, having been imported by the Walsh Brothers for their Flying School which was operating in the Auckland area.  There is some contention as to whether the registration was in fact every painted on the aircraft. However, although it was a Mk II, it had the 119 kw (160 hp) Beardmore engine. Whilst in New Zealand it performed sterling service, being used for unscheduled passenger, mail and goods services between Auckland and Onerahi.  It made the first flight of an aeroplane from Auckland to Wellington on 4 October 1921 in the hands of one of New Zealand’s most noted early aviators, George Bolt, on this occasion carrying two passengers, the journey being made in five hours and six minutes, with stops at Kawhia and Wanganui, eventually landing at Evans Bay, Wellington. It is also known to have been used at one stage by the Right Rev Dr H W Cleary, Catholic Bishop of Auckland, to tour his diocese.

In July 1921 it was shipped to Fiji and was used to make a survey of the main islands of the group for the colonial administration during June and July 1921, a period of about three weeks, making a survey of Viti Levu covering 1,601 km (1,000 miles).  The aircraft returned to Kohimarama, Auckland and was thereafter fitted with a 179 kw (240 hp) Siddeley Puma engine.  In September 1924 the Flying School of the Walsh Brothers was closed, the New Zealand Government obtaining the school’s assets.  The aircraft remained in service until 1924 when it was retired and sold for its scrap value as a purchaser could not be found.  The hull survived until the latter years of World War II, being used as a boat, but finally it was burnt.