MIKE O'SULLIVAN The CEO of Supermarine Aircraft

Our New Baby (Spitfire Mk26b V8)

with underwing Radiators & air intake scoop

you can see her fly @ http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=mNJIDHdvHWQ

The new Underwing Radiator Package

Forum now up and running

here are the details:

http://groups.google.com.au/group/supermarineaircraft

just send us an email asking to join (you must be a builder)

For Sale

Mobile number: 0428 843 062 and ask for Rod

Supermarine Aircraft  Spitfire MK26b Kit build:

This spitfire is one(1) of five(5) currently sold this year 2008 and getting ready to be packed and sent overseas to its new home in Canada.

A look at the Supermarine Aircraft Factory in Australia:

Why not 100% scale Spitfire

Lately we have had some people ask why we do not build a full size, 100% spitfire.   We have been building 80% and 90% Spitfires for around 16 years and we have sold 92 to date, so we know that building a 100% Spitfire is not as easy as one would think.

That extra 10% seems small until you start to do the numbers, real number.

The extra 10% for our 90% Spitfire uses approximately 40% extra material.  The undercarriage has to be totally rebuilt and upgraded as do the wheels, brakes and axles to name only a few of the components.  Main and wing spars must be re engineered and inline with the original and strong enough to carry the now bigger undercarriage.

Engine – This is where the cost, time and money really goes.  As there are no Merlin engines any more we need to build one or convert a small V8 or V12, hot rod it up to get 800-1000hp, that is if you want anything like the real Spitfire performance.  Don’t forget 100% is a BIG aircraft.

Performance – Now all our customers are NOT ex military pilots so don’t be fooled into thinking 10% isn’t that much extra, it is a much bigger aircraft in power and weight.  This is suddenly a very big dangerous aeroplane compared to our much lighter Spitfire Mk26b and unstressed V6-V8 engine.

Safety – Authorities around the world have realised that a stall speed of 45kts is a generally safe speed to land when things go wrong.  It is known that the higher the landing speed in an engine out situation is NOT a good thing and is NOT always survivable.  An aircraft with a high stall speed needs to be landing on a prepared runway not an unprepared field as our 90% Spitfire can.

We at Supermarine Aircraft Pty Ltd and all governments want people to fly on weekdays and Saturdays then be able to mow their lawns and enjoy their families on Sunday not be in hospital or worse.

Pilot – As I said the people buying our Mk26b are in the mature age group 40-80 years, yes 80, this is not a misprint.  I have been told many, many times they could buy 2 genuine Spitfires – full size, but they do not want the danger of it all going wrong or plain and simply running costs as an engineer would be needed full time and 2-3 people to pull the aircraft in and out of the hangar.  Remember now you only get one aircraft in the hangar NOT 2.

Instead of a kit price of $AUD$175,000.00/$USA192,300.00(depending on currency exchange) you are suddenly looking at paying $AUD800,000.00/$USA868,000.00(depending on currency exchange) plus engine $AUD100,000.00/$USA920,000.00(depending on currency exchange) and instruments, paint, etc, etc.

Then the paper war starts.

We at Supermarine Aircraft Pty Ltd spent over 10 years and quite a few million dollars just to get our 80% and 90% worked out, flying and approved by various countries.

I would be out of business if I was to now build a 100% Spitfire as there seems to be very, very few buyers due flying and maintenance costs for such a large aircraft. Our 90% Spitfire is affordable for many, many people and for the more astute flyer wanting a manageable and affordable war bird.  Make no mistake our 90% flies like “the real deal” according to test pilots.  For me the bottom line is companies need to make sales to stay in business enabling them to supply parts etc., and I don’t think I could if I was to build a 100% Spitfire…………….Well not for long?  

Please feel free to comment.

Airshow 2007 pics:

A beautiful day for a beautiful Aircraft (Supermarine Aircraft SPITFIRE)

Reliving yesteryear in today reproduction Spitfire

"Living the Dream"

photos taken by: Colin Sheehan

NATFLY 2007

The Mk26b is proving to be quite a hit. Mike O'Sullivan flew the Mk26b to NATFLY as its first major outing, covering some 3000kms of trouble free flying in the process. This is equivalent to flying three quarters of the way across Australia. His confidence in this new aircraft saw him flying for hours over the Australian outback without the slightest hesitation. The reception at Narromine was overwhelming with a constant flow of people enquiring about the aircraft from sun up to sun down. We were all glad of a beer by the days end!!!!!

To top the show off we were awarded BEST AUTOMOTIVE ENGINE CONVERSION out of approx 800 homebuilt and kit aircraft in attendance at the show. Thankyou to Cummins Spinners for making this award available and to the Judges who had to sort through a number of worthy recipients.

Mike O'Sullivan managing director of Supermarine Aircraft and designer of the Mk26 80% and new Mk26B 90% replica Spitfires successfully flew our latest addition to the Supermarine lineup. He lifted off at 7.24am EST Australia for an uneventful 15 minute sortie. After landing and taxiing back to the hanger he stepped out of FUN and said everthing was spot on and that this Spitfire was so easy to land and taxi and even more stable in the air than the smaller MK26. Absolutely no changes were made to the aircraft and it was then test flown for a further 45 mins. The second test pilot made the same remarks as Mike, "This thing is so easy to land!!" He put the Spitfire through a full regime of stalls clean and dirty, spins,tight turns, dives, loops, rolls and could not fault it. We are thrilled with its performance and are very confident of the integrity and flight characteristics of the new MK26B. (Click on images below for larger pics)