S.6B Banking over Calshot

A Supermarine S.6B is shown banking gently over the Solent at the time of the 1931 Schneider Trophy race, the distinctive profile of Calshot Spit visible below — its Tudor castle, enormous RAF seaplane hangars and slipways all rendered against the chalky Solent green of Southampton Water.

The S.6B, designed by R.J. Mitchell at Supermarine's works in Woolston, Southampton, was the culmination of a decade of Schneider Trophy development. It won Britain's third consecutive contest on 13 September 1931, thereby claiming the trophy outright under the competition rules. Later that month, Flight Lieutenant George Stainforth set the world absolute air speed record of 407.5 mph in the same aircraft type — a speed not exceeded for another eight years. The aerodynamic and engine-cooling lessons learned from the S.6B programme fed directly into Mitchell's design for the Spitfire.

RAF Calshot, on its narrow spit at the entrance to Southampton Water, served as the High Speed Flight's base throughout the Schneider Trophy campaigns of 1929 and 1931. The painting places the viewer above the water looking down at the base, with the S.6B sweeping past. This painting exhibited with the Guild of Aviation Artists in 2026 and was part of a set of work that collectively won the Bonham Trophy. It's signed and dated in the lower corners, with 'S6B over Calshot' written in the lower centre.