Seafire Mk XV Aéronavale : a French Griffon Seafire

Suggestions Aircraft
1
[Would you like to see this in-game?]
  • Yes
  • Yes, with the Seafire Mk III already in the tech tree
  • Yes, as a premium or event aircraft
  • No
0 voters

Supermarine Seafire mk XV of the French Aéronavale

A Griffon Seafire for the French navy

About this aircraft and its interest in War Thunder

Although the fighter branch of the French tech tree could very well be fleshed out with indigenous prototypes (the Arsenal VG39 or the Dewoitine 55X, for example), the further we go into WW2, the rarer they get. As a gap filling measure, Gaijin decided to rely on the Indochina era, which saw many foreign WW2 equipment being used by the French airforce and navy, the Hellcat and the Bearcat… Or the Seafire Mk III. Adding the Seafire Mk XV, which saw a (very) short service in the French navy would be a good addition to the WW2 fighter line in my opinion.

About the Seafire itself

The Supermarine Seafire Mk.XV was the first Griffon powered Seafire. Sharing the same fuselage as the Seafire Mk III, it had some modifications added from other Spitfire such as the wing-root fuel tanks from the Spitfire IX and the enlarged fin and rudder and retractable tail wheel of the Spitfire VIII. The Griffon installation came from the Spitfire Mk XII The folding wings were taken from the Seafire III. Although it came to late to participate to WW2, it had a career in the years that followed. What interests us is its French career.

The Seafire Mk XV in French service.

After WW2, the French navy wanted to recreate its Aéronavale, and for that it needed new aircrafts that the still smoldering French industry couldn’t really provide. That’s why, after an accord signed with the UK in november 1945, The British navy provided them with Seafire mk III. In 1949, in order to be able to participate in NATO exercises with somewhat capable aircrafts, they bought 15 Seafire MK XV to upgrade their fleet. They were used in the Flottilles 1F, 12F and 54S. Their career was quite short, and marred with several technical incidents that condemned them only 2 years later, in 1951, as Hellcats started replacing them.

General Characteristics :

Empty Weight: 2 858 kg
Loaded Weight: 3 610 kg
Wingspan: 11,23 m
Length: 9,70 m
Height: 3,25 m
Engine: Griffon VI (1950HP)
Maximum Speed: 616 km/h at 4000 m
Climb Rate: 24m/s (1448m/min)

Armament : 4 x .7.7mm mgs, 2 x 20mm HS Mk II canons (240 rounds)
Bomb load : 1 x 250lb bomb or 1 x 500lb bomb, 2x2 MK VIII rocket projectors

Photos :




Sources :

Spoiler

Supermarine Seafire Mk.XV
aviapassion maquette montage SEAFIRE
Supermarine Seafire Mk III/ XV [in french]
Les Ailes de Gloire n°17
Seafire F XV Aéronautique Navale Revell 1/32 - Page 4

3 Likes
2

more french low-mid tier aircraft in general, hell yeah

1 Like
3

+1 would really like to see more prop aircraft added to France

1 Like
4

It’s a Spitfire and a Griffon engine. What else need to be said? +1

5

This pic shows that the French navy did fly them with bombs as well, which is always nice to have.

4 Likes
6

Lovely machine.

7

gib

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i’d say yes/+1, but under the condition that they add domestic french designs to Rank IV of the French air tree.

Rank IV is already -by necessity- filled to the brim with imports, and the only french aircraft at is locked behind a paywall

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+1 need another french navy aircraft rank IV

But I don’t know this fighter aircraft battle rating 5.0 (same Seafire LF Mk III) or 5.3 (like Seafire F Mk.XVII)

10

I mean i’d love that, but it is very hard to find rank IV French made fighters, for obvious reason… rank IV is dedicated to the very pinnacle of WW2 tech, the 1943/45 top creations of each nation… obviously, that was a problem for France… I can think of many designs, but none are rank 4 material:

Dewoitine 551-2-3-4 is rank 3 material at most, br. 3.0-4.0 max… same goes for the Arsenal VG 39… Caudron 760/770 are 2.0/3.0 material tops… SNCASE SE 100 heavy fighter can reach 4.0 tops… And post-war, we already got the VB10 and Narval in the game, after that it’s all jets, VG 90, SNCASO Espadon, etc… those are rank V.

Only one I can think of would be the Sud Est 580 but this is an unfinished prototype, not sure it’s valid.

So yeah, there are lots of foreign aircrafts at rank IV because there’s not much else, unfortunately.

3 Likes
11

three best bets i can come up with off the dome, though they all have cons to consider :

  • The SO.8000 Narval, which implies either another/copy as a researchable, or replace the premium one entirely.

  • The SE.116 Voltigeur, but information is sparce and it might still not be good enough

  • the Fouga CM.170 series of light attack trainers (including 170-1, 170-2 and 175 for the major service variants), but gaijin has yet to add a researchable light-attack jet at rank IV

Edit : i know well that the amount of imports in the tech tree at rank IV is a necessity, i’m just ever so slightly miffed that the only domestic aircraft we do have, is a premium

3 Likes
12

Yeah, I am as well. But I mean, what can you expect from the people who put the Bloch 151 and 152, you know, the second most produced French fighter of WW2, as event prizes of all things.

As for your propositions… yeah, a second Narval could be it but it would be almost identical to the first one, and I don’t see them doing the job here. The Voltigeur is definitely much closer to a Ground attack plane… heavily armed but far too slow and heavy for fighter performances

As for the Magister… well I made a suggestion for it, so yeah, it would be more or less acceptable but…

The thing is a balancing nightmare. It is fast and nimble, but a pair of 7.62mm is incredibly difficult to balance at this tier so… yeah, complicated.

Not much left after that, that’s for sure. The Breguet Vultur, maybe, but it’s also more of an attack plane and its perfs are dangerously close to tier V because of its hybrid propulsion.