Supermarine Air Yacht

The Supermarine Air Yacht was a British luxury passenger-carrying flying boat designed by Supermarine's chief designer R. J. Mitchell and built at Woolston, Southampton, in 1929. It was commissioned by the brewing magnate Ernest Guinness and was the first British flying yacht built to the order of a private owner, although only one was ever made. A high-wing flying boat with three engines on the leading edge of its rectangular wing, it resembled the Dornier Do J and had an enclosed cabin for the owner and a separate cabin for five other passengers. It first flew in February 1930 and handled well in trials at Felixstowe but was underpowered, so its engines were replaced. Guinness did not complete the purchase, and after a later owner ditched it in the Gulf of Naples in January 1933 it was too damaged to repair and was sold for scrap.