Supermarine Type 508, 525 & Scimitar

By Tony Buttler

The Supermarine Scimitar was the first swept-wing, twin-engined, single-seat jet aircraft to serve with the Royal Navy and it was also the last all-new fighter type to be designed and built by Supermarine. It evolved from a straight wing design called the Supermarine Type 508, passed through a swept wing development called the Type 525 and then matured into a service aeroplane. When the aircraft entered service it was the largest and heaviest aircraft yet to land on a British aircraft carrier. In the end well under a hundred examples were built and the type's career was relatively quiet, but the Scimitar was an immensely strong and a spectacular-looking aircraft, an incredibly fast and noisy one as well, and it gave the Royal Navy a nuclear capability.