Supermarine Seafire

Supermarine Seafire

about the video: Seafire deck operations...Royal Navy, circa 1943 A Royal Navy
partially-dramatised presentation showing Seafire IIC fighters operating from an
escort carrier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Seafire

The Supermarine Seafire was a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire adapted
for operation from aircraft carriers. In concept, it is relatively comparable to
the Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised version of the Spitfire's stablemate, the
Hawker Hurricane. The name Seafire had been derived from the abbreviation of the
longer name Sea Spitfire.

The idea of adopting a navalised carrier-capable version of the Supermarine
Spitfire had been mooted by the Admiralty as early as May 1938. Despite a
pressing need to replace various types of obsolete aircraft that were still in
operation with the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), some opposed the notion, such as Winston
Churchill, although these disputes were often a result of an overriding priority
being placed on maximising production of land-based Spitfires instead. During
1941 and early 1942, the concept was again pushed for by the Admiralty,
cumulating in an initial batch of Seafire Mk Ib fighters being provided in late
1941, which were mainly used for pilots to gain experience operating the type at
sea. While there were concerns over the low strength of its undercarriage, which
had not been strengthened like many naval aircraft would have been, its
performance was found to be acceptable.

From 1942 onwards, further Seafire models were quickly ordered, including the
first operationally-viable Seafire F Mk III variant. This led to the type
rapidly spreading throughout the FAA. In November 1942, the first combat use of
the Seafire occurred during Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North
Africa. In July 1943, the Seafire was used to provide air cover for the Allied
invasion of Sicily; and reprised this role in September 1943 during the
subsequent Allied invasion of Italy. During 1944, the type was again used in
quantity to provide aerial support to Allied ground forces during the Normandy
landings and Operation Dragoon in Southern France. During the latter half of
1944, the Seafire became a part of the aerial component of the British Pacific
Fleet, where it quickly proved to be a capable interceptor against the feared
kamikaze attacks by Japanese pilots which had become increasingly common during
the final years of the Pacific War.

The Seafire continued to be used for some time after the end of the war. The FAA
opted to promptly withdraw all of its Merlin-powered Seafires and replace them
with Griffon-powered counterparts. The type saw further active combat use during
the Korean War, in which FAA Seafires performed hundreds of missions in the
ground attack and combat air patrol roles against North Korean forces during
1950. The Seafire was withdrawn from service during the 1950s. In FAA service,
the type had been replaced by the newer Hawker Sea Fury, the last piston engine
fighter to be used by the service, along with the first generation of
jet-propelled naval fighters, such as the de Havilland Vampire, Supermarine
Attacker, and Hawker Sea Hawk.

The Spitfire's original role, in which it proved formidable, was that of
short-range land-based interceptor. As a carrier based fighter, the design was a
compromise and suffered many losses through structural damage that was inflicted
by heavy landings on carrier decks: a problem that continued even with the
strengthening introduced by the Mk II. 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 many accidents. 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
that it was dangerous in ditching. The first Seafire variant to overcome many of
these problems was the Mk XVII with its new undercarriage design, reinforced
structure and extra fuel tanks, although there were still some compromises and
it entered service well after the war was over.

The low point of Seafire operations came during Operation Avalanche the invasion
of Salerno in September 1943. Of the 106 Seafires available to the British
escort carriers on 9 September only 39 were serviceable by the dawn of D-Day
plus Two (11 September). Part of this was attributed to the flat, calm
conditions present, which meant that there had not been enough headwind in order
to adequately slow down the Seafires on landing. Many aircraft missed picking up
the arrestor wires and flew into the crash barriers while others had their
arrestor hooks pulled off the fuselage because they caught the wires at too high
a speed. In spite of these problems, the Seafires (especially the L Mk IIs and L
Mk IIIs, with their low altitude rated Merlin engines) were used to patrol the
vicinity of the carrier fleet as protection against low altitude attackers,
while the longer ranging fighters, such as the Grumman F6F Hellcat, took on a
similar role further out and at higher altitudes.


Role
Carrier-based fighter

Manufacturer
Supermarine

First flight
7 January 1942

Status
Retired

Primary users
Royal Navy
French Navy
Irish Air Corps
Royal Canadian Navy

Number built
2,646

Developed from
Supermarine Spitfire

During 1942 and into 1943, FAA squadrons progressively converted to the Seafire,
eventually replacing the Sea Hurricane in front-line service. In the Fleet Air
Arm, Spitfires and Seafires were used by a number of squadrons, the Spitfires
used by training and land based squadrons. Twelve 800 series squadrons used
Spitfires and Seafires (Numbers 801 NAS, 802 NAS, 808 NAS, 809 NAS, 879 NAS, 880
NAS, 884 NAS, 885 NAS, 886 NAS, 887 NAS, 897 NAS and 899 NAS). Several units of
the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve also flew Seafires postwar, including 1831,
1832 and 1833 squadrons.

In November 1942, the first combat use of the Seafire occurred during in
Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa, from the decks of several
escort and fleet carriers; unusually, Seafires flew with American star markings
during the operation, these were removed following their withdrawal from the
theatre. In July 1943, the Seafire was used to provide air cover for the Allied
invasion of Sicily; and reprised this role in September 1943 during the
subsequent Allied invasion of Italy, being used to maintain continuous air cover
of the beachheads, the type being almost entirely responsible for this task.
During the latter operation, around half of the taskforce's Seafires were
inoperable within four days, primarily due to landing accidents.

During the latter half of the war, the Seafire saw increasing service as part of
Britain's contribution to 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. As range quickly became a detrimental factor
in Pacific operations, Seafires in this theatre were often fitted with
additional fuel tanks previously used by Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. 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. During May
1945, Seafires were used to cover the Allied landings at Rangoon for Operation
Crimson. Seafires were thus heavily involved in countering the kamikaze attacks
during the Okinawa landings and beyond. The Spitfire was operational in the
Pacific Fleet right up to VJ Day, being used off the coast of Japan during the
final months of the war.

The Seafires' best day was 15 August 1945, shooting down eight attacking
aircraft for one loss. During the campaign 887 NAS claimed 12 kills and 894 NAS
claimed 10 kills (with two more claims earlier in 1944 over Norway). The top
scoring Seafire pilot of the war was Sub-Lieutenant R.H. Reynolds DSC of 894,
who claimed 4.5 air victories in 1944–5

Specifications (LF Mk III)

General characteristics
Crew: one
Length: 30 ft 2½ in (9.21 m)
Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.22 m)
Height: 11 ft 5 in (3.48 m)
Wing area: 242.1 ft² (22.5 m²)
Empty weight: 6,204 lb (2,814 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 7,640 lb (3,466 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Merlin 55M liquid-cooled V-12, 1,585 hp (1,182 kW)

Performance
Maximum speed: 359 mph (578 km/h) at 5,100 ft (1,554 m)
Cruise speed: 218 mph (351 km/h)
Range: 513 mi (825 km)
Service ceiling: 32,000 ft (9,754 m)
Rate of climb: 1.9 min to 5,000 ft (1,525 m)




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