You want an odd looking fighter? I give you an odd looking fighter.

The Supermarine Sea Spectre F.1

This is a bit of an oddball, what with the wing sitting all the way down there and the engine being a tad "unconventional"... I just hope that the wing is "pedestal" enough.

Intro

Seeing as I haven't built anything really in the last couple of years (insert various job / family / reasons here), I was looking out for a nice challenge to get my teeth into.

This one called to both my love of oddball aircraft and building original / fictional stuff.

Many thanks to RAF1 for such an interesting build challenge. Also sorry to TonnkatuTonnkatuThePig - I have jumped into your universe a little...

The Airframe

The year is 1945. The war isn't won yet and the Allies are pushing ever nearer the Japanese home islands. The harsh conditions, long flight times and naval nature of combat in the Pacific / SEA theater has exposed the limitations of the Supermarine Seafire.

She lacks the range (thanks to her origins as a defensive interceptor) and the punch to make much of a dent in the defenses of the IJA / IJN. A replacement is needed. Supermarine is determined that it will be another Supermarine kite, not a Hawker, a Westland or a Blackburn type... But... maybe Blackburn were on to something with that "pedestal wing"... A bigger prop... better airflow... hmmm...

The Engine

At the same time, the venerable Rolls Royce Merlin is also reaching the end of its development life and the more powerful Griffon is now the engine of choice. BUT - there are rumors of more powerful, special motors coming out of the Rolls Royce "special development" shed... Something turbo... Something a bit "hot"... The Turbo Griffon.

The Result

In late Spring 1945, Supermarine rolled out the first prototype of the Sea Spectre. The family resemblance is clear. The lines of the forward fuselage mirroring the late Griffon engined Spitfires (although a little slimmer). She uses a very low (pedestal) mounted wing, based closely on the proposed Supermarine Spiteful wing and the tear drop canopy first used on the late model Spits. The cockpit layout would be familiar to a Battle of Britain veteran, too.

But the mid / aft fuselage is different. There is a large bifurcated intake where the wing leading edge should be. the wings leading edge relegated to a position under the fuselage. If one looks further aft, one will see a large exhaust port, similar to the air outlet of a Packard powered Mustang. But this one is soot blackened', charred, almost...

Once she is fired up, all is clear. This is a very different beast. The Rolls Royce Turbo Griffon is a mechanical wonder - a compound thrust engine utilising a portion of the exhaust gasses to drive a compressor turbine, driving a small turbojet, positioned under the cockpit (hence the very low wing position). The 474lbs of thrust are a substantial addition to the already prodigious 3500hp spinning up the three blade, 150 inch counter-rotating prop.

The result is a fighter that can exceed 500 mph at sea level. This thing is fast. She climbs like a scalded cat, too.

She is armed with 4 20mm Hispano cannon, with 100 rounds per gun and has a mid line stores point for drop tanks or up to a single 500lb bomb. She can run AND she can fight.

NOTE She has a very slight auto roll. I'm going to blame it on torque from all the spinny bits and not on my building skill in any way, oh my no...

Controls

Fairly simple, this;

AG1 folds the wings.
AG2 Drops the arrestor hook
AG3 Unlocks the tail wheel
AG4 Turns the lights on / off.
VTOL for flaps (push VTOL up)
Landing Gear does what it says on the tin, in addition to turning the landing lights on and off. Oh, by the way - landing is not easy... it is possible, though.
Trim to trim the pitch
AG8 closes the canopy (as per FAA rules, the canopy should remain open during take off / landing to allow rapid egress in the event of incident).

Wrapping Up

Just want to say thanks to RAF1 for a very interesting challenge. Very nicely done, old chap.

I also want to say how awesome the new building tools are! they make building stuff a joy, not a chore at all!

Pip pip, chaps.