The Supermarine Type 224 was a design submitted by Reginald Mitchell for a Royal Air Force (RAF) competition to select a new fighter in 1934.

The design was an all-metal monoplane with a fixed undercarriage and an open cockpit. It featured an interesting cooling system using a steam condenser mounted along the wings which gave the craft continuous reliability problems. In the competition in February 1934 the Type 224 did not perform well compared to the other biplane and monoplane designs. It displayed a maximum speed of only 367 km/h (228 mph) and took 9.5 minutes to climb to 15,000 feet (8 m/s).

By comparison the winner of the competition, the Gloster entrant (a biplane which would soon become the Gloster Gladiator), displayed a top speed of 390 km/h (242 mph) and a much better climb rate, achieving 15,000 ft in 6.5 minutes.

Specifications (Supermarine type 224)

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General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 29 ft 5 in (8.97 m)
• Wingspan: 45 ft 10 in (13.97 m)
• Height: ()
• Max takeoff weight: 4,743 lb (2,151 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Goshawk inline piston engine, 680 hp (kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 228 mph at 15,000 ft (367 km/h at 4,575 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,578 ft/min (8 m/s)

Armament

• Guns: 4× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers Mk IV machine-guns

References

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