Supermarine Seafire

Seafire
275px
Seafire XV in Royal Canadian Navy service.
Type	Naval fighter
Manufacturer	Supermarine
Primary user	Fleet Air Arm
Number built	2,334

The Seafire was a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire, specially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. The name Seafire was arrived at by collapsing the longer name Sea Spitfire.

Development

The first Seafire to reach the Royal Navy was the Seafire Ib, essentially a "hooked" Spitfire Vb. It was soon discovered the fuselage, especially around hatches, was too weak for sustained carrier operations. In an attempt to alleviate this condition, reinforcing strips were riveted around hatch openings and along the main fuselage longerons. Further modifications included catapult spools and other specialised equipment resulting in the Seafire II based on the Spitfire Vc. However, like the Spitfire, the Seafire had a narrow undercarriage track, which meant that it was not well suited to deck operations. The many modifications had shifted the centre-of-gravity aft, making low-speed control difficult, and the aircraft's gradual stall characteristics meant that it was difficult to land accurately on the carrier, resulting in a very high accident rate. Other problems included the basic Spitfire's short range and endurance (fine for an interceptor fighter, but not for carrier operation), limited weapons load and dangerous ditching characteristics. Nor was the wing fitted for folding.

Seafire F.III was the first true carrier adaptation of the Spitfire design. It was developed from the Seafire II, but incorporated folding wings for improved handling in carrier hangars. Most Mk.IIIs were produced as the LF variant, designed for low-altitude operations and using the Merlin 55M engine.

Service

File:Seafire F XVII SX 336 wings up.jpg

Seafire F.XVII (SX336) with wings folded.

Compared with other naval fighters, the Seafire II was able to outperform the A6M5 (Zero) at low altitudes when the two types were tested against each other in World War II. Contemporary Allied carrier aircraft, such as the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair, however, were considerably more robust and powerful. Late-war Seafire marks equipped with the Griffon engines enjoyed a considerable increase of performance compared to their Merlin-engined predecessors.

The first use of Seafires in sustained carrier operations was Operation Torch. Seafires saw most service in the Far East Pacific campaigns, serving with No. 887 and 894 Squadrons, Fleet Air Arm, aboard HMS Indefatigable and joining the British Pacific Fleet late in 1944. Due to their good high altitude performance and lack of ordnance-carrying capabilities (compared to the Hellcats and Corsairs of the Fleet) the Seafires were allocated the vital defensive duties of Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over the fleet. Seafires were thus heavily involved in countering the Kamikaze attacks during the Iwo Jima landings and beyond. The Seafires' best day was 15 August 1945, shooting down eight attacking aircraft for a single loss. During the campaign 887 FAA claimed 12 kills, and 894 FAA claimed 10 kills (with two more claims earlier in 1944 over Norway).

The top scoring Seafire pilot of the war was Sub.Lt. R.H. Reynolds DSC of 894, who claimed 4.5 air victories in 1944–5.

The Irish Air Corps operated Seafires for a time after the war, despite having no naval air service or indeed any aircraft carriers. The aircraft were operated from Baldonnel (Casement Aerodrome) much in the same way as a normal Spitfire, but retaining the folding wings. An attempt to recycle the Merlin engines was made in the 1950s, by replacing the ailing Bedford engine in a Churchill Tank with an engine from a scrapped Seafire. The project collapsed from lack of funds.

Operators

Template:Country data Canada

Royal Canadian Navy

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Aeronavale

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Irish Air Corps

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Fleet Air Arm

Specifications (LF Mk III)

Data from British Aircraft of World War II and The Virtual Aviation Museum

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Length: 30 ft 2½ in (9.21 m)
• Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
• Height: ft in (m)
• Wing area: 241.97 ft² (22.48 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,204 lb (2,814 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 7,640 lb (3,565 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Merlin 55M liquid-cooled V-12, 1,585 hp (1,182 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 348 mph (560 km/h) at 6,000 ft (1,830 m)
• Cruise speed: 218 mph (350 km/h)
• Range: 513 mi (825 km) with drop tanks
• Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,315 m)
• Rate of climb: 1.9 min to 5,000 ft (1,525 m)
• Wing loading: lb/ft² (kg/m²)
• Power/mass: hp/lb (kW/kg)

Armament

• 2× 20mm cannon
• 4× .303 cal machine guns
• 1× 500 lb (227 kg) bomb

External Links

• Spitfire/Seafire Serial Numbers, production contracts and aircraft histories

See also

Related development

• Supermarine Spitfire
• Supermarine Seafang

Comparable aircraft

• Hawker Hurricane
• Messerschmitt Bf 109
• Focke Wulf Fw 190
• P-51 Mustang
• Yak-9

Related lists

• Supermarine Spitfire variants

See also

• British military history of World War II
• Rolls-Royce Merlin and Griffon
• Supermarine

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Supermarine Seafire".