Supermarine Type 224N " Sea Shrew"

[andrewj]

The Supermarine Type 224 was as we all know built to compete for Air Ministry specification F7/30 , for an aircraft to replace the Gloster Gauntlet . It was designed by the legendary R J Mitchell , but was considered a failure after it flew in 1934.
However , the Lords of the Admiralty saw some potential for the aircraft as a fleet fighter , to replace the biplane fighters then in service , they especially liked the short sturdy undrcarriage provided by the "gull wing".
By this time Supermarine and Mitchell were at full stretch with Spitfire development , so the project was passed to Mitchell's deputy Joe Smith.   Smith was also heavily involved in the development of the Spitfire , so progress was necessarily slow. Many elements of the new spitfire were introduced into the 224 , with the aim of having a degree of commonality, and the aircraft that eventually emerged although similar to the original prototype in concept was very different.
The Type 224N or "Sea Shrew " had a Merlin engine , folding gull wing , retractable U/C and a four cannon armament, a notable feature was the all round vision canopy similar to the early Hawker Typhoon. Later aircraft, as seen here , had a blown ,one piece canopy and were fitted with a RR Griffon engine.
The Sea Shrew was a formidable fleet fighter and served the Royal Navy throughout the war years and after , until replaced by jet fighters.

http://village.photos/images/user/421466a2-563c-4a9a-9a94-614458aad2d3/eb4fa152-0875-42d7-ab01-dca255aa8930.jpg

http://village.photos/images/user/421466a2-563c-4a9a-9a94-614458aad2d3/15847330-874f-49e9-a56f-255b01a95749.jpg

http://village.photos/images/user/421466a2-563c-4a9a-9a94-614458aad2d3/64124f85-4d3e-4f69-bbe8-4c6593f7a0a0.jpg

Some consider that the Sea Shrew also provided inspiration for the US Vought Corsair fighter, model is 1/48 scale

Andrew

[Old Wombat]

Nice! Like the look of that!

[Old Wombat]

Quick mod, just to get the images on the page:

[NARSES2]

Does look nice 

[Dizzyfugu]

This looks really good! 

Pilot's field of view is propably nil upon landing, but who cares?

[TomZ]

Looks very good.

This would have been fun to land, that's for sure.

TomZ

[andrewj]

Looks very good.

This would have been fun to land, that's for sure.

TomZ

Really ? It's a standard Spiteful fuselage with Corsair wings , would it be any worse to land than either of these ?

Andrew

[PR19_Kit]

As seen at the recent Avon Show, and awesome it was too. 

[63cpe]

Great model! very well though-out and very convincingmodelled...

Great work!

David

[Air21]

Really ? It's a standard Spiteful fuselage with Corsair wings , would it be any worse to land than either of these ?

Andrew
[/quote]

The Corsair was so awful to land that it only flew from land bases until very late in the war.

But this sexy skinny Corsair is beautiful!

[andrewj]

Really ? It's a standard Spiteful fuselage with Corsair wings , would it be any worse to land than either of these ?

Andrew

The Corsair was so awful to land that it only flew from land bases until very late in the war.

But this sexy skinny Corsair is beautiful!
[/quote]


Yes , it took the Royal Navy to operate it from carriers first and smaller carriers than the US ones too.

[DogfighterZen]

 

[rickshaw]

The Corsair was so awful to land that it only flew from land bases until very late in the war.

That was because of the "bounciness" of the undercarriage, not the visibility from the cockpit.  The British proved it could be done about IIRC 12 months before the USN did it.

Spitfires/Seafires were notorious because of their loooong noses in front of the pilot.  They developed a "side-slip" approach, with the aircraft nose off-centre to allow the pilot to see the carrier's deck before he straightened up to engage the arrestor wire.   I understand the Corsair did similar tricks for the same reason.

But this sexy skinny Corsair is beautiful!

"Beautiful"?  Not quite but an interesting aircraft, none-the-less!   

[CammNut]

Seamless

[Dizzyfugu]

Spitfires/Seafires were notorious because of their loooong noses in front of the pilot.  They developed a "side-slip" approach, with the aircraft nose off-centre to allow the pilot to see the carrier's deck before he straightened up to engage the arrestor wire.   I understand the Corsair did similar tricks for the same reason.

Yup. The RN pilots developed a kind of "crab walk" landing, appoaching the deck more or less sideways, so that the pilot could see along the side - otherwise the landing area was not visible at all.