Supermarine Seagull (the last one): “Johnny came too late”.

The incomparable Spitfire apart, Supermarine’s other main contribution to British effort were their pedestrian yet efficient Walruses and Sea Otters catapult-launched recon/spotter amphibians. Supermarine became bolder with their successor. The ultimate Seagull -there was a previous 1920s Seagull- was a astonishingly interesting beast powered by a powerful RR Griffon engine and equipped with a clever variable angle of incidence wing (pivoting at the front spar) endorsed with high lifting devices. Those featured gave the Seagull a very low stall speed and also a high maximum speed; so fast it even achieved an amphibian air-speed record.
First flown three years after the end of WW2, this jewel didn’t have a chance; the hideous helicopters were already there to stay. Only two were built.

Gorgeous J.H. Clark’s  cutaway of the first prototype. A third fin in the center was later added after instability in yaw showed its ugly face during early tests.

Uhmmmm, that engine configuration again…