Seafire XV restoration story.......

I’m willing to bet you are a Warbirds veteran!

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I’m willing to bet you are a Warbirds veteran!

;-)

Pulled some all-nighters back in the day.

We had a Battle of Britain event one time, I was flying over the cliffs of Dover in a Spitfire MK IX and a few thousand feet below saw a bunch of RAF fighters badgering a Junkers JU88. I turned as I got a certain distance behind him, dove down below and came up vertically below him, guns blazing. I cut him in half.

That was a lot of fun. Ultimately, I needed to get my life back, though...

I love the sound of those Rolls-Royce airplane engines.

Great report. Thanks!

Sea fire is a carrier version of the Spitfire..has font wings and arresting hook..

CRANK IT UP.........*smiles*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6c3v9iihgw&list=FLopSmq3DBSSU3Q6YI3uljKw

They ARE the same design, as was done with the Hawker Tempest/Typhoon, as well.

The Supermarine Spitfire design was originally a seaplane racer of great records, in the 1930’s.

I believe the Seafires utilized a different engine, the Rolls Royce Griffon. The propeller spun in the opposite direction and the Supercharger was optimized for lower altitude work than the early Mark Spitfires.

Eventually the Spitfires traded their Merlins for Griffon’s in later Marks as the missions became low/medium level. Chasing down V-1’s and Ground-Attack

Not really, they just converted regular Spitfire variants into the carrier version. When the later Spitfires used the Griffon engine, the equivalent Seafire versions did too.

Wiki has a good description of the variants -

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

An older friend who flew Royal Navy Seafires talked about his 21st birthday, and losing his wingman attacking Truk.

If I remember correctly, the first Griffon-engined Spitfires was the Mk. XII, which had the 1,730 bhp Griffon IIB engine. It was designed specifically for very fast low level fligbt to take on modified Focke-Wulf Fw 190 variants that were attacking British targets on the English Channel coast at speeds approaching 385 mph at low altitude. Through some modifications, these Spitfire Mk. XII's were also involved in a lot of interception of V-1 flying bombs.

The really "hot" Spitfire that saw extensive war service was the Mk. XIV, which used the Griffon 61 or 65 engine. The Mk. XIV first saw service shooting down V-1's, and later in the war shot down a number of Me 262 jet fighters at low altitude, too.

The Merlins were used though the Seafire Mk III. The Mk XV debuted the Rolls Griffon engine that was used through the end of production. From Wikipedia:

In late 1941 and early 1942, the Admiralty assessed the Spitfire for possible conversion. In late 1941 48 Spitfire Mk Vb were converted by Air Training Service Ltd. at Hamble to become “hooked Spitfires”. This was the Seafire Mk Ib and would be the first of several Seafire variants to reach the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. This version of the Seafire was mainly used to allow the Royal Navy to gain experience in operating the Spitfire on aircraft carriers. The main structural change was made to the lower rear fuselage which incorporated an A-frame style arrestor hook and strengthened lower longerons. It was soon discovered that the fuselage, especially around hatches, was too weak for carrier operations. In an attempt to alleviate this condition, reinforcing strips were riveted around hatch openings and along the main fuselage longerons. A further 118 Seafire Mk Ib’s incorporating the fuselage reinforcements were modified from Spitfire Vbs by Cunliffe-Owen at Eastleigh and Air Training Service. These aircraft were equipped with Naval HF radio equipment and IFF equipment as well as a Type 72 homing beacon. In these and all subsequent Seafires the instruments were re-calibrated to read kn and nmi rather than mph and mi. The fixed armament was the same as that of the Spitfire Vb; two 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano Mk II cannon with 60 rpg fed from a “drum” magazine and four .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns with 350 rpg. Provision was also made to carry a 30 gal (136 l) “slipper” fuel tank under the fuselage.

One front line unit, 801 Squadron operated this version on board HMS Furious from October 1942 through to September 1944.

The second semi-naval variant of the Seafire and the first to be built as such, was the Seafire F Mk IIc which was based on the Spitfire Vc. The Vc had several refinements over the Spitfire Vb. Apart from the modifications included in the main batch of Seafire Ibs this version incorporated catapult spools, and a single slinging lug on either side of the fuselage, just behind the engine bulkhead. Three subtypes were produced, the F Mk IIc and FR Mk IIc (fighter reconnaissance), powered by a Merlin 46, and the L Mk IIc powered by a low altitude Merlin 32 specifically manufactured for naval use. This version of the Merlin used a “cropped” supercharger impellor to provide greater power at low altitudes than the standard engines; delivering 1,585 hp at 2,750 ft. Both engine models drove a four bladed 10 ft 9 in diameter Rotol propeller. Because this version used the “C” wing the Hispano cannon were fed from a 120-round belt magazine, otherwise the armament was the same as that of the Ib; the FR also carried two F24 cameras. After trials of Rocket Assisted Take Off Gear (RATOG) apparatus (small rocket engines which could be attached to the fuselage or wings of aircraft to help shorten the take-off run) in February 1943, this equipment became a standard fitting available for all Seafires.

The IIc was the first of the Seafires to be deployed operationally in large numbers, with Supermarine building 262 and 110 being built by Westland, who also built 30 Seafire Mk III (Hybrid) (Mk IIIs without folding wings). Although developed for aircraft carrier use, this version still lacked the folding wings needed to allow them to be used on board some Royal Navy carriers, some of which had small aircraft elevators unable to accommodate the full wingspan of the Seafires.

The Seafire F Mk III was the first true carrier adaptation of the Spitfire design. It was developed from the Seafire Mk IIC, but incorporated manually folding wings allowing more of these aircraft to be spotted on deck or in the hangars below. Supermarine devised a system of two straight chordwise folds; a break was introduced immediately outboard of the wheel-wells from which the wing hinged upwards and slightly angled towards the fuselage. A second hinge at each wingtip join allowed the tips to fold down (when the wings were folded the wingtips were folded outwards). This version used the more powerful Merlin 55 (F Mk III and FR Mk III) or Merlin 55M (L Mk III), driving the same four-bladed propeller unit used by the IIC series; the Merlin 55M was another version of the Merlin for maximum performance at low altitude. Other modifications that were made on the Spitfire made their way to the Seafire as well including a slim Aero-Vee air filter and six-stack ejector type exhausts. The shorter barreled, lightweight Hispano Mk V cannon were introduced during production as were overload fuel tank fittings in the wings. This Mark was built in larger numbers than any other Seafire variant; of the 1,220 manufactured Westland built 870 and Cunliffe Owen 350. In 1947 12 Mk IIIs were stripped of their naval equipment by Supermarine and delivered to the Irish Air Corps.

After the Mk III series the next Seafire variant to appear was the Seafire F Mk XV, which was powered by a Griffon VI (single-stage supercharger, rated at 1,850 hp at 2,000 ft driving a 10 ft 5 in Rotol propeller. Designed in response to Specification N.4/43 this appeared to be a naval Spitfire F Mk XII; in reality the Mk XV was an amalgamation of a strengthened Seafire III airframe and wings with the wing fuel tanks, retractable tailwheel, larger elevators and broad-chord “pointed” rudder of the Spitfire VIII. The engine cowling was different to that of the Spitfire XII series, being secured with a larger number of fasteners and lacking the acorn shaped blister behind the spinner. The final 30 Mk XVs were built with the blown “teardrop” cockpit canopy and cut down rear fuselage introduced on the Spitfire Mk XVI. On the first 50 aircraft manufactured by Cunliffe-Owen a heavier, strengthened A-frame arrestor hook was fitted to cope with the greater weight. On subsequent Mk XVs a new form of “sting” type arrestor hook was used; this version was attached to the reinforced rudder post at the rear of the fuselage and was housed in a fairing below the base of the shortened rudder. A vee-shaped guard forward of the tailwheel prevented arrestor wires getting tangled up with the tailwheel.

Some 390 Seafire XVs were built by Cunliffe-Owen and Westland from late 1944. Six prototypes had been built by Supermarine.

One problem which immediately surfaced was the poor deck behaviour of this mark, especially on take-off. At full power the slipstream of the propeller, which swung to the left (as opposed to the Merlin, which swung to the right), often forced the Seafire to swing to starboard, even with the rudder hard over on opposite lock. This sometimes led to a collision with the carrier's island. The undercarriage oleo legs were still the same of those of the much lighter Merlin engined Spitfires, meaning that the swing was often accompanied by a series of hops. As an interim measure it was recommended that pilots avoid using full power on take-off (+10 lb “boost” maximum was recommended). There were also problems involved with this swing being strongly accentuated in the event of an asymmetric firing of the RATOG equipment. In the event none of the “first generation” Griffon-engine Seafires were to use RATOG at sea unless they were ranged forward of the first crash barrier on deck.

The Seafire F Mk XVII was a modified Mk XV; the most important change was the reinforced main undercarriage which used longer oleos and a lower rebound ratio. This went some way towards taming the deck behaviour of the Mk XV, reduced the propensity of the propeller tips “pecking” the deck during an arrested landing and the softer oleos stopped the aircraft from occasionally bouncing over the arrestor wires and into the crash barrier. Most production XVIIs had the cut down rear fuselage and teardrop canopy (the windscreen was modified to a rounded section, with narrow quarter windows, rather than the flat windscreen used on Spitfires) and an extra 33 gallon fuel tank fitted in the rear fuselage. The wings were reinforced, with a stronger mainspar necessitated by the new undercarriage, and they were able to carry heavier underwing loads than previous Seafire variants. Some 232 of this variant were built by Westland (212) and Cunliffe-Owen(20).

The Seafire F Mk 45 and FR Mk 45 was the next version of the Seafire to be built and the first to use a Griffon 60 series engine with a two-stage, two speed supercharger. The prototype TM379 had been modified from a Spitfire F Mk 21 prototype by Cunliffe-Owen and featured a “sting” arrestor hook. Because this version was considered to be an “interim” type the wing, which was unchanged from that of the Spitfire 21, was non-folding. The fuel capacity of this variant was 120 gal distributed in two main forward fuselage tanks: the lower tank carried 48 gal while the upper tank carried 36 gal, plus two fuel tanks built into the leading edges of the wings with capacities of 12.5 and 5.5 gal respectively. The Seafire F Mk 45 entered service with 778 Squadron in November 1946 and a few were modified to FR Mk 45s in March 1947 by being fitted with two F24 cameras in the rear fuselage. Fifty F Mk 45s were built by the Castle Bromwich factory.

The Seafire F Mk 46 and FR Mk 46 was a Spitfire F Mk 22 modified to naval standard and featured the cut down rear fuselage and “teardrop” canopy. Again the wing had not been modified to fold. The electrical equipment was changed from a 12 volt system to 24 volts. The fuel system was modified over that of the Seafire 45 to incorporate an extra 32 gal fuel tank in the rear fuselage, while the wings were plumbed to allow for a 22.5 gal combat tank to be carried underneath each wing. In addition a 50 gal drop tank could be carried under the fuselage. In April 1947, a decision was made to replace the Griffon 61s or 64s driving a five bladed Rotol propeller unit with Griffon 85s or 87s driving two three bladed Rotol contra-rotating propellers. All but the first few incorporated larger tail units from the Spiteful and Seafang. These two changes transformed the handling of the aircraft by eliminating the powerful swing to starboard of previous Griffon engined variants. 200 of the Mk 46s were ordered but only 24 were built, all by Supermarine.

The final version of the Seafire was the Seafire F Mk 47 and FR Mk 47. There was no true prototype, instead the first production aircraft PS944 and PS945 served as trials aircraft. As the “definitive” carrier based Seafire the Mk 47 incorporated several refinements over earlier variants. After the first four aircraft, with manually folded wings, the Mk 47 incorporated hydraulically powered wing folding, the outer wings folding upwards in one piece, without the folding wingtips of earlier marks. All Mk 47s adopted the Rotol contra-rotating propellers. The Mk 47 also featured a long supercharger air-duct, the intake of which started just behind the spinner and a modified curved windscreen, similar to that used on the Mk XVII. Other features unique to the Mk 47s were spring-loaded elevator tabs, a large inertia weight in the elevator control system and beading on the trailing edges of the elevators. These changes improved longitudinal stability, especially when the aircraft was fully loaded. The modified windscreen proved to be unpopular with pilots because of continual problems with misting and the thicker, repositioned frames obstructed visibility during deck landings. In spite of recommendations to change the windscreen back to a standard Spitfire 24 unit, this was never done. Performance tests showed that the Mk 47 was slightly slower than the Mk 46 in maximum and climbing speeds, mainly due to the long supercharger air intake, which was less efficient than the shorter type fitted to earlier Seafires. The Seafire 47 saw action with 800 Squadron on board HMS Triumph during the Malayan Emergency of 1949 and during the Korean War in 1950. However, in 1951 all Seafires were withdrawn from front-line service. In all 90 F Mk 47s and FR Mk 47s were built, all by Supermarine. The last aircraft of the 22,000 of the entire Spitfire/Seafire lineage VR971 left the production line at Supermarine on 28 January 1949.

beautiful... i'd of had to have gotten my wings before it was finished so i could fly it also

That is outstanding. Wish I had been in Oshkosh during the summer to see it. Oh well...

Next summer!