Supermarine Sparrow

The Supermarine Sparrow, later called the Sparrow I, was a British two-seat light biplane designed by R. J. Mitchell and built at Supermarine's Woolston works in Southampton, and it was the company's earliest landplane. It was a wooden two-seat sesquiplane powered by a 35 horsepower Blackburne Thrush, with foldable wings of different cross sections and a high angle of attack to allow short take-offs and landings. It first flew on 11 September 1924 but behaved erratically in tests, and it was eliminated from the 1924 Two-Seater Light Aeroplane Competition after engine failures. Rebuilt in 1926 as a parasol monoplane and redesignated the Sparrow II, it was heavier and slower and was eliminated from the 1926 competition at Lympne after a forced landing near Beachy Head. Mitchell then used it to test new aerofoil designs for the Air Ministry, and it was sold to a flying club and scrapped in 1933.