Supermarine Type 324

The Supermarine Type 324 was a British two-engined fighter design, put forward in 1938 together with the Type 325 as a replacement for the Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane. Air Ministry specification F.18/37 asked for a fighter with a speed of more than 400 miles per hour at 15,000 feet and twelve .303 inch machine guns, and Supermarine submitted brochures describing the Type 324, under company specification 458, and the Type 325, one with a tractor and one with a pusher layout, using either Rolls-Royce Merlin or Bristol Taurus engines. The Type 324 was a low-wing twin-engined monoplane with the Spitfire's elliptical wing shape and a retractable tricycle undercarriage, with an expected maximum speed of 450 miles per hour. Neither it nor the revised cannon-armed Type 327 was accepted for development, and Hawker's designs, the Tornado and Typhoon, were ordered instead.