Ralph Pegram Boeken

Ralph Pegram relates the story of the Schneider Trophy competitions and describes the development of British high-speed seaplane designs.

The Schneider Trophy race was very significant in advancing design, particularly in the fields of aerodynamics and engines, 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 Supermarine Spitfire and the P-51 Mustang.

Remembered most fondly for his epochal Spitfire design, his other designs - many of them failures and disappointments - have largely been ignored. In Beyond the Spitfire Ralph Pegram brings Mitchell's previously unseen work to light in an attempt to evaluate the entire portfolio of one of Britain's most talented aeronautical designers.

Supermarine Aviation built the Spitfire but it had previously made its name building a range of seaplanes and flying boats - particularly racers such as the S.6 (from which the Spitfire was developed). Historian Ralph Pegram, who has spent years researching the company and its aircraft, has unearthed dozens of previously unknown designs created by the company and in this bookazine illustrated with his own line drawings he explores the company's top secret seaplane and floatplane designs - some straightforward, others bizarre-looking by today's standards. Vol. 2 will look at fighters and bombers.