BACKGROUND

In parallel with the development of the P51 "Mustang" in response to the British Purchasing Commission's requirement, North American and Supermarine worked together on a version which would serve on the British carriers, as a much needed replacement for some of the ageing open-cockpit biplanes still serving witht the Fleet Air Arm.

The cooperation was a success; North American's engineers, who were responsible for the great Mustang design, were complemented by Supermarine's experience with Schneider Trophy racers and, of course, the Spitfire. The requirements were many; the airplane should be comfortable in as many roles as possible. At the very least, it should be able to serve as a fighter as well as a (dive) bomber and attacker and -if at all possible- should be able to carry a torpedo as well, although the latter requirement was a nice-to-have rather than an absolute must.

The result was the "Seahorse", basically a slightly stretched Mustang airframe with the ability to seat a crew of 2 in a very cramped cockpit, and powered by a Rolls Royce Griffon driving two contra-rotating propellers.

ARMAMENT

In its several roles, the Seahorse can be equipped with a variety of armament. For this particular build;

• 4x 12.7 mm Browning machine guns in the wings
• 37 mm M4 autocannon with 30 H-ET round magazine, firing through the propeller hub
• 12x 5" FFAR's
• a single 500 kg general-purpose bomb

FLYING

Planes that are designed to do everything will rarely excel at anything -and the Seahorse is no exception. It could have been a great fighter, but because of its "multirole" design is outclassed by many other, more specialized planes.

Taking off with a full complement of weapons is a tricky business. The plane would have benefited from a tricycle landing gear, but was designed as a typical taildragger instead. Don't use full throttle to accelerate on takeoff; give it some flaps and elevator trim and go with 50% throttle, using the rudder to keep the plane going straight on the deck or runway. Just before rotating, throttle up to 100%.

In flight, there are few surprises; the plane will handle like a brick until it has released some or all of its weapons load, but will then turn into a quite nimble, properly quick fighter.

Landing, again, can be challenging -experiment with throttle and flaps for best results.

Controls:

• AG1 drops all the FFAR's without firing them
• AG2 for the landing hook
• VTOL down for flaps
• Trim slider for elevator trim

Happy hunting!