Short Seamew
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The Short SB.6 Seamew was a highly curious looking aircraft designed in 1951 by David Keith-Lucas of Shorts as a lightweight anti-submarine platform. It was intended to replace the Grumman Avenger AS.4 in the service of the Fleet Air Arm and although it first flew on August 13 1953, poor performance coupled with shifting defense doctrine meant that it never reached service; only 19 being built before the project was cancelled.
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[edit] History
The Short Seamew was selected to fulfil Admiralty Specification M.123, for a simple, lightweight anti-submarine aircraft capable of unassisted operation from any of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers in all but the worst of conditions. It was to be suitable for mass production and operation by the Air Branch of the RNVR. This specification was in response to the alarming increase in capabilities of the Soviet submarine forces following World War II
[edit] Design
The pilot and observer were located in tandem cockpits located high up in the front of the deep, narrow fuselage. They sat atop the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprop in front and the weapons bay to the rear of them. The design had originally called for the tried and tested Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 piston engine but the Royal Navy had made it policy to phase out piston engines, in order that supplies of highly flammable high octane aviation fuel need not be carried in large quantities on ships. The turboprop engine also caused less airframe vibration and would therefore impact less on the performance of the radar scanner mounted below the engine housing.
For simplicity, and so that a nose-wheel would not obscure the forward field of the radar scanner, a fixed tail-wheel undercarriage was fitted. The long stroke necessary to clear the radar scanner and propeller from the ground resulted in an alarming attitude on the ground and the cockpits seemingly mounted at a perilous height. The pilot sat very far forward in order that he could have a reasonable field of downward vision for takeoff and landing.
The large, broad-chord wings featured power folding and pylons for the carriage of rockets, depth charges, flares and small bombs. The large, slab-like tail-plane was mounted high on the vertical stabiliser, requiring the rudder to be split into upper and lower pieces.
[edit] Handling Characteristics
The handling characteristics of the Seamew were poor. The prototypes were heavily modified with fixed leading-edge slats, slots added in the trailing-edge flaps, alterations to the ailerons and slats added to the tailplane roots. Although something of an improvement over the initial models, the handling was never wholly satisfactory and prototype XE175 crashed on June 9th 1956 killing its test pilot during a flying display. Arthur Pearcy wrote "only Short Brothers test pilot Wally Runciman seemed able to outwit its vicious tendencies and exploit its latent manoeuvrability to the limit."
[edit] Specifications (Seamew AS.1)
[edit] General characteristics
- Crew: two
- Length: 41 ft (12.50 m)
- Wingspan: 55 ft 0 in (16.77 m)
- Height: ft in ( m)
- Wing area: 550 ft² (51 m²)
- Empty: 9,795 lb (4,443 kg)
- Loaded: 14,400 lb (6,530 kg)
- Maximum takeoff: 14,969 lb (6,790 kg)
- Powerplant: 1x Armstrong Siddeley Mamba, 1,590 shp (1.19 MW)
[edit] Performance
- Maximum speed: 236 mph (380 km/h)
- Range: 750 mi (1,200 km)
- Service ceiling: ft ( m)
- Rate of climb: ft/min ( m/min)
- Wing loading: 26 lb/ft² (127 kg/m²)
- Power/Mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.18 kW/kg)
[edit] Armament
- depth charges or bombs in weapons bay
- underwing rockets
[edit] Related content
Related development:
Comparable aircraft:
Designation sequence:
- Seamew AS.1 : carrier-based anti-submarine aircraft for FAA. Long-stroke undercarriage, power folding wings, arrestor hook
- Seamew MR.2 : land-based anti-submarine aircraft for RAF. Short-stroke undercarriage, manaul folding wings
[edit] Bibliography
- Fly Navy: Aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm since 1945, Ray Williams, Airlife Publishing, 1989, ISBN 1-85310-057-9
- Pilot's Flying Log Book, Squadron Leader W.J.Runciman A.F.C., D.F.M. Original held by his family, a copy held by P. Sortehaug 4, William St., Dunedin, NZ
- Short Seamew, Arthur Pearcy published in Aviation News 6-19 July 1990
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