Supermarine Sea Lion I

The Supermarine Sea Lion I, originally called simply the Sea Lion, was a British racing flying boat that Supermarine designed and built for the Schneider Trophy contest at Bournemouth in September 1919. It was based on a version of the Supermarine Baby, the first British single-seat flying boat fighter, and was registered G-EALP. It competed against an Avro 539 to win a place as a British entrant. On 10 September, the day of the race, thick fog hid the route and its pilot Basil Hobbs made an unscheduled landing on the water; on taking off again the hull was accidentally ripped, and later in the race the aircraft inverted and sank. The contest ended in chaos and its results were annulled, and the Sea Lion, damaged beyond repair, was scrapped. Reginald Mitchell was probably involved in preparing it for the race.