Supermarine Seafang - version overview
Supermarine Seafang F Mk.31
Supermarine Seafang F Mk.32
Brief history:
In May 1945, the British Navy expressed its interest in a deck-based fighter aircraft that would be similar to the Supermarine Spiteful land-based fighter. It was a fairly logical interest; the British Navy was happy with the Spitfire - Seafire - as the Seafire was a fairly successful aircraft. The Navy therefore issued specifications N.5/45, calling for a Griffon-powered, airborne fighter equipped with laminar flow wings. These wings offered the possibility of decent performance gains due to less aerodynamic drag.
The first contract was for 150 Type 382s. The Supermarine factory already had a project ready for the Navy, it was a nazalized form of Spiteful. The Nazalization consisted of the installation of a landing hook in the tail, a reinforced landing gear, and the installation of suspension points on the wings for ejection takeoff.
The Navy adopted the new fighter under the designation Supermarine Seafang F Mk.31. Eventually, only nine production aircraft and one previously built prototype were produced, starting in January 1946. These aircraft were powered by Griffon 69 engines with a five-bladed propeller. Performance was similar to, or only slightly below, that given by the Spiteful F Mk.XIV. The next stage of development was an aircraft with the Type 396 factory designation, the Navy designated it the Supermarine Seafang F Mk.32. Although it was a very powerful aircraft, only two prototypes were eventually built. These fighters were powered by Griffon 89 fuel injected engines, these engines spun opposed three-bladed Rotol propellers, thus ridding the aircraft of all the bad characteristics caused by the cranking moment of the heavy five-bladed propeller. The outer parts of the wings could be folded up, this made it easier to store the aircraft in aircraft carrier hangars.
The Supermarine factory, after rejection by its own navy, tried to offer them to the newly built Dutch naval air force, which eventually preferred the Hawker Sea Fury.
This sleek and high-performance aircraft was the evolutionary culmination of the Supermarine factory's propeller-driven deck fighters. The series began in 1942 with the emergency modification of the Spitfire Mk.VB for naval aviation use to the Hooked Spitfire, and four years later the high-performance but out-of-production Seafang F Mk.32 was at the end of the line.
Sources used:
Pavel Berger and Zdenek Svoboda, Spitfire fighter aircraft with Griffon engine, Our Army, 1994, ISBN 80-206-0489-8
L+K 14/2002, Aircraft 39 - 45, Supermarine Spiteful - M. Balous 14/950
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seafang.jpg
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/seafang.html
www.aviastar.org
author's archive
Supermarine Seafang F Mk.31
Supermarine Seafang F Mk.32
Brief history:
In May 1945, the British Navy expressed its interest in a deck-based fighter aircraft that would be similar to the Supermarine Spiteful land-based fighter. It was a fairly logical interest; the British Navy was happy with the Spitfire - Seafire - as the Seafire was a fairly successful aircraft. The Navy therefore issued specifications N.5/45, calling for a Griffon-powered, airborne fighter equipped with laminar flow wings. These wings offered the possibility of decent performance gains due to less aerodynamic drag.
The first contract was for 150 Type 382s. The Supermarine factory already had a project ready for the Navy, it was a nazalized form of Spiteful. The Nazalization consisted of the installation of a landing hook in the tail, a reinforced landing gear, and the installation of suspension points on the wings for ejection takeoff.
The Navy adopted the new fighter under the designation Supermarine Seafang F Mk.31. Eventually, only nine production aircraft and one previously built prototype were produced, starting in January 1946. These aircraft were powered by Griffon 69 engines with a five-bladed propeller. Performance was similar to, or only slightly below, that given by the Spiteful F Mk.XIV. The next stage of development was an aircraft with the Type 396 factory designation, the Navy designated it the Supermarine Seafang F Mk.32. Although it was a very powerful aircraft, only two prototypes were eventually built. These fighters were powered by Griffon 89 fuel injected engines, these engines spun opposed three-bladed Rotol propellers, thus ridding the aircraft of all the bad characteristics caused by the cranking moment of the heavy five-bladed propeller. The outer parts of the wings could be folded up, this made it easier to store the aircraft in aircraft carrier hangars.
The Supermarine factory, after rejection by its own navy, tried to offer them to the newly built Dutch naval air force, which eventually preferred the Hawker Sea Fury.
This sleek and high-performance aircraft was the evolutionary culmination of the Supermarine factory's propeller-driven deck fighters. The series began in 1942 with the emergency modification of the Spitfire Mk.VB for naval aviation use to the Hooked Spitfire, and four years later the high-performance but out-of-production Seafang F Mk.32 was at the end of the line.
Sources used:
Pavel Berger and Zdenek Svoboda, Spitfire fighter aircraft with Griffon engine, Our Army, 1994, ISBN 80-206-0489-8
L+K 14/2002, Aircraft 39 - 45, Supermarine Spiteful - M. Balous 14/950
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seafang.jpg
http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/seafang.html
www.aviastar.org
author's archive