Douglas Turbo Sea Dakota Mk2 with photos

[McColm]

The Admiralty were looking for a replacement for the Fairey Gannet and had at the time been promised two new aircraft carriers. Various designs were considered including the proposal from SJMcColm Engineering Ltd based on the Douglas Dart Dakota. Major changes would be needed for this aircraft to be able to take off and land on British Navy's aircraft carriers. SJMcColm Engineering Ltd had teamed up with Grumman for the twin engined Carlton and the four engined Charlton both based on the Avro Shackleton powered by turboprops.
Grumman at the time had had their E-2A Hawkeye cancelled by the USNAVY but would have the time to iron out the gremlins, the Sea Dakota would incorporate the wings and avionics from the Hawkeye and use a pair of Rolls-Royce Darts. The Sea Dakota had the option of a swing tail to allow for bulky loads to be carried as a C.O.D., tanker or specialist equipment.
Early sea trials on HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal proved to be successful with missions lasting upto six hours with two mishaps which included the left leg of the landing gear to collapse after a hard landing and failure to snag the arrestor wire although the aircraft managed to stop in time before going over the edge.
Nine Sea Dakotas became the flying prototypes during the trials phase, three C.O.D., three AEW and three tankers which meant that the practice of air-to-air refuelling could be conducted using the Sea Dakotas or helicopters. SJMcColm Engineering Ltd were hoping that even if they lost the AEW contract they could still use the Sea Dakota as a training aircraft for the Navy or the Royal Air Force. However the Admiralty didn't get the new aircraft carriers and a leasing agreement was signed for fifteen Sea Dakotas to be split between the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.
SJMcColm Engineering Ltd would provide AEW coverage for the fleet whilst at sea,  air-to-air flight refuelling and training, navigation training and electronic warfare training, they would also provide the maintenance and any updates.
The new through-deck aircraft carriers limited the storage of only two Sea Dakotas below decks, an air-bridge would be required when out of range and the use of a landbase runway. The Admiralty declared that the Sea Dakotas would only operate from RNAS, AEW coverage would be provided by helicopters, notably the Westland Sea Knight.
During the 1980s the Sea Dakotas would be used in the Aggressor Unit providing training for pilots, navigators/WSOs and EW.
Although the Sea Dakota never gained any orders they were evaluated by other countries with five of the AEW aircraft being used by HMRC Coast Guard and the monitoring illegal immigration.
The Sea Dakota can be used for the  containment of forest or brush fires, oil pollution and survey work.

I'm using the 1/72 Italeri Douglas C-47 Skytrain model which is being kitbashed with a pair of Rolls-Royce Darts,  the wings,  tail and spin top from a Grumman E-2C Hawkeye.

[kerick]

Interesting. At first I thought you might be putting a turbo Dakota on floats. That would be fun too.

[McColm]

Interesting. At first I thought you might be putting a turbo Dakota on floats. That would be fun too.

There's two 1/72 Douglas XC-47C float plane Skytrain Dakota kits if you can find the RVHP 7294 conversion set or the AMC  7206 kit.
There's also a 1/144 model.


Maybe the floats taken from a 1/72 Ju-52 floatplane/seaplane might be a alternative 🤔

[McColm]

The Dart engines have been replaced with the  turboprops from the same 1/72 Grumman E-2C Hawkeye,  however they have been fitted above the wings as the landing gear doors were glued shut. I'm now using parts from a 1/72 Fairchild A-10 which includes the landing gear and gun.