Supermarine Seafang

History of Supermarine Seafang

In the storied career of the RAF's mythical Supermarine Spitfire, quite a few developments have revolved around this classic fighter, which debuted in the summer of 1940 in the Battle of Britain. In addition to fast variants and stable artillery platforms later in the war, a branch of related fighters emerged that would eventually take over the war's main force.

This first appeared in the Supermarine Spiteful, which failed as a potential successor, with only 19 examples completed, and the later Supermarine Seafang, a naval version of the Spiteful designed to follow the wartime Supermarine Seafire, a naval version of the land-based jet Fire Fighter.

The original Spiteful stemmed from a 1942 program to improve the performance of the Spitfire airframe, which culminated in diving tests in the 600 mph range. It was decided to design an all-new wing to replace the original iconic elliptical, and the straight tapered laminar flow method was approved.

The new wings were fitted to the existing Spitfire fuselage for testing, a combination that ultimately resulted in a completely different "malign".

This is a Spiteful F. Mk 15 model taken from the F. Mk 14's inventory, intended as the basis for the Seafang carrier-based fighter. The plane is powered by a 2,350-horsepower Rolls-Royce Griffon 89 engine with power-assisted folding wings to better provide British Airways with in-flight storage where space is at a premium.

A snap hook was added under the stern to catch the deck wires when landing. A pair of three-bladed counter-rotating propeller units were powered by Rolls-Royce engines to provide the required speed.

A pair of Seafang prototypes were ordered in March 1945. A simplified version of the Seafang was born as the Seafang F. Mk XXXI (Type 382), in which the Spiteful aircraft received safety gear and power from a 2,375 hp Rolls-Royce Griffon 61 engine driving a five-bladed propeller - goals, still in World War II Provides immediate solutions when raging. When the fighter came online, engineers focused on a more complex version - the Seafang F. Mk XXXII (Type 396).

The plane will be equipped with a 2,350-horsepower Rolls-Royce Griffon 89 engine driving a contra-rotating propeller.

Production orders for around 150 Mk XXXI interim fighter jets were placed in May - although the war in Europe was over and only nine of them were completed before the order was cancelled. However, development of the Mk XXXII continued for a short time, and the first flight of the prototype was recorded in June 1946.

In May 1947, a deck landing was carried out on the HMS Illustrious.

Project Seafang was only able to implement two prototypes as it was no longer needed during the war. Military aviation also embraced the jet fighter concept, essentially marking the last days of front-line service propeller fighters.

The Royal Navy eventually opted for jets like the de Havilland Vampire, and adopted the mighty Hawker Seafury as its last propeller-driven carrier mount - barely holding back The Hague and its evil development bright future relatives.

The Seafang F. Mk XXXII is equipped with a Griffon 89 engine, capable of a top speed of 475 mph, a range of 395 miles, a service ceiling of 41,000 feet and a rate of climb of 4,630 feet per minute. The proposed weapon is a 4 x 20mm Hispano Mk V cannon, two per wing element, and can carry 2 x 1,000lb bombs or 4 x 60lb rockets for ground attack.

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