Below Radar

Video
Teaser post

The Surth T3M2 "Narwal" is a Torpedo bomber and Scout Plane capable of operating in both Aircraft Carriers and Land Bases, with this model being a land based variant.

Lore:

Developed betwen 1933 and 1935, with it's first flight taking place in mid 1935, the T3M2 was developed privately by the Surth Aviation Company in the UK. Meant to compete against the Fairey Swordfish and later Fairey Barracuda as the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm's main Torpedo Bomber and Scouting Aircraft.
It had some unique features for the time, like a Stall AOA indicator, Automatic Engine Shutdown in case of Overspeed and a Stall and Overspeed indicator. It was also built with very thin wing layout that removed some drag, allowing it to counter the drag generated by the fixed landing gear.
The plane was meant to be a low maintenence, long endurance aircraft capable of going long distances while carrying heavy 790kg Aerial Torpedos or armaments of similar weight and/or size.
When tested, the aircraft was looked upon favourably by British pilots, however, it was not needed by the Royal Navy, which meant Surth needed other possible customers.
In 1937, the Dutch Air Force and Dutch East Indies Air Force had interest in the Narwal to modernise their Anti-Shipping aircraft fleet after their previous upgrade attempt, the Douglas TBD Devastator, was found to be too expensive. In total, 37 Airframes were purchased by the Air Forces. They proved effective at times, sinking a German Destroyer, a Japanese Destroyer and two Japanese Corvettes in their service life, however, their losses were large as well.
At the end of the war in 1945, upgraded Narwals equipped with Radars where the torpedos were placed and more powerful engines like the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp or the Wright Cyclone (denominated T3M2-B1 for the R-2800 and T3M2-B2 for the Cyclone) were sold to various countries as Scouts, Coastal Patrol and Trainer aircraft, giving Surth a needed boost in income after their many failed experimental aircraft during the War.

Specs:

• Weight
  3190kg Empty
  4120kg Full Fuel Load
  4875kg Max Take-Off Weight (In-game version)
• Powerplant
  1x 900HP Surth-Gnome "Hallifax II" 9 Cylinder Turbo-Supercharged Radial Engine driving a 3 Blade Fixed Pitch Propeller
• Flight Characteristics
  Stall AOA: +30
  Take-Off and Stall Speed: 160Km/h
  Landing Speed: 190Km/h
  Cruise Speed: 310Km/h
  Max Speed: 380 Km/h
  Overspeed: +425km/h
  Range: 650Km at 75% Throttle
• Weaponry
  2x Nose Mounted .50 Caliber Machine Guns
  1x Turret Mounted .50 Caliber Machine Gun
  1x 790kg Aerial Torpedo or equivalent weight in Bombs, Rockets, Cannon Pods or Depth Charges
• Crew
  Pilot
  Observer/Radio Operator
  Defensive Gunner
  

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Controls:

Throttle: Brown Lever
Brakes: Red Lever
Yaw, Pitch & Roll: Flight Stick
Flaps (VTOL Down): Red Small Lever
Trim: White Small Lever
AG1 (Machine Guns): GUN Switch
AG2 (Torpedo): TRP Switch
AG7 (Open Canopy): Unlabelled Switch above pilot's head
AG8 (Toggle Engine): ENG Switch
-DRP Switch: Switch that drops the Torpedo when selected (meant for VR, but same control is in the Flight Stick)
-Red Light: Stall Speed or Overspeed warning
-Orange Light: Stall AOA warning

Reference Images

Credits

*Thanks to the folks at Avalon Industries and SPBC!
*Thanks to ZikkuHai for taking all the screenshots and for a great ammount of feedback that helped with the building process!
*Thanks to TheLegitPilot13 for feedback early in the building process!