Would you like to see the Seamew in-game?
- Yes
- No
0
voters
Should it be in the tech tree or a premium?
- Tech Tree
- Premium
- Event
- I said no
0
voters
What BR do you think it should occupy?
- 1.3
- 1.7
- 2.0
- 2.3
- I said no
0
voters
Short Seamew XA213 landing on HMS Bulwark during trials, 1955
Development and Design (or lack-thereof)
The Seamew was designed to fufill Admiralty Specification M.123D for a lightweight and simple anti-submarine platform to replace the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve’s Grumman Avenger AS 4s, which were beginning to show their age by 1951. Additionally, the specification was called for due to concerns about the Soviet Union’s alarming increase in submarine capabilities since the Second World War. From lessons learnt during the war against German U-Boats, if any war were to break out against the Soviets then submarines would play a critical role in destroying supply lines to Britain, and thus the Admiralty quite rightly was worried. Although a more advanced ASW design was already in development (in the equally as sightly Fairey Gannet) the Seamew was intended to be a cheaper and simpler design, that would possibly be able to be operated from less-developed allied countries to Great Britain in the event of a war against the Soviets.
The specification called 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.” Particularly it was desired that the aircraft be capable of operations from Escort Carriers, which Britain had large numbers of left over from the Second World War. Despite being designed for naval operations from carriers, the Seamew was also considered for land-based use from hastily prepared, often poor quality airstrips by the RAF in the Seamew MR Mk.2.
In April of 1952 the first three prototypes were ordered, and around a year later, on the 31st of August, 1953 the first Seamew (XA209) took flight, at the hands of Walter J. “Wally” Runciman. Three weeks later this same aircraft was displayed at the Farnborough Airshow, once more at the hands of Runciman. Once again in 1954 and 1955 XA209 and XA213 took part in the world-famous airshow, in 1955 flying in formation with the first two production AS.1 models (XE171 and XE172 respectively). Throughout 1956 XE175 performed a series of sales tours around Italy (March), Yugoslavia (April) and West Germany (May), the hands of Runciman for the final time. It was in XE175 where Runciman would tragically meet his untimely fate, during the Sydenham (Belfast) Air Display on 9 June 1956. The aircraft supposedly entered a slow roll at 100 feet, before the nose fell and the pilot seemed to be trying to finish with a half loop. However, with insufficient height, the aircraft struck the runway nose first and Runciman was likely killed immediately.
Short Brothers’ test pilot Wally J Runciman climbing into the cockpit of XA209 for it’s maiden flight, 1953
The rather “unique” appearance of the Seamew was caused largely by it’s design, the crewmen essentially sat atop the engine, an Armstrong-Siddley Mamba turboprop, which in turn was mounted above a ASV Mk. 19B Radar Scanner, meaning that the cockpit was ultimately perilously high up, which meant it also had to be rather ludicrously far forward so that the pilot could actually see when taking off or landing. The positioning of the cockpit did however mean both airmen had an excellent field of vision when in level flight, making it easy to spot surface vessels.
A fixed tailwheel gear layout was used for simplicity’s sake, additionally the lack of a nosewheel prevented the radar’s frontal field from being obscured whilst in flight. The severe stroke of the front undercarriage was necessary to allow for hard landings without damaging the delicate radar components, and also ensured that the radar and propeller had adequate clearance when on the deck. This of course resulted in the Seamew’s rather unusual stance, which necessitated that the tailwheel be able to extend when landing, to provide pilots with a more even and stable platform.
As for the Seamew’s armament, the large, broad-chord wings featured pylons allowing the carriage of rockets, depth charges, flares and small bombs. Additionally a 14x3ft weapons bay lay behind the radar scanner, and the omission of said scanner (such as on the MR Mk.2 model) allowed for an increase to a size of 17x3ft. (What “rockets, depth charges and small bombs” the Seamew could carry I can’t seem to find, save the bombs which all my sources describe as “275lb Anti-Ship bombs”, but given it’s timeframe I would wager these to be similar ordnance to that found on the Gannet or Wyvern, if anyone is actually able to find out please let me know and I will edit this accordingly)
The Seamew had handling characteristics that were described as “vicious”, with the only person having a good word to put in about the aircraft being Wally Runciman, with Arthur Pearcy writing “only Short Brothers’ test pilot Wally Runciman seemed able to outwit its vicious tendencies and exploit its latent manoeuvrability to the limit.” The prototypes were modified extensively with fixed leading-edge slats, slots added in the trailing-edge flaps, alterations to the ailerons and slats added to the tailplane roots yet even this made little improvement over inital models. On the whole the Seamew’s flight performance was never more than wholly unsatisfactory, though Runciman described take-off and landings as “simple and straightforward”, “it is, in fact, impossible to bounce the Seamew” and stated that it performed “outstandingly” in a crosswind.
Interestingly, the Seamew had originally been called to use the famous Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, however by this time the Royal Navy had made it policy to phase out piston engines, in order that large quantities of highly flammable high-octane aircraft fuel need not be carried on ships. The vibrations from the Merlin or other piston engines would have also required that either the engine or cockpit be mounted further back, due to vibrations causing discomfort for crewmen. The inclusion of a piston engine ignition system would have interfered with the radar scanner mounted below the engine, so the Mamba turboprop was chosen instead.
The Seamew was also modified into a variant known as the SC.2 Seamew MR.2, which was intended for use from land by the RAF Coastal Command, and thus had most naval and deck handling equipment stripped from the airframe, the installation of larger wheels and low-pressure tyres and absence of powered wing folding, though the mechanism was still in place should manual folding be required.
a Mamba engine on display at Hertha Ayrton STEM Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Operational History
Seamews in flight
In February 1955 an order for 60 Seamews was placed, with 30 going to the RNVR and 30 going to the RAF, these being the MR Mk.2 models. By December of 1955 XA213 had completed carrier trials on HMS Bulwark, and by November of the following year two Seamews with 700 Naval Air Squadron had completed naval service flight trials, which included catapult trials and around 200 takeoffs and landings on HMS Warrior.
By the construction of the 4th MR.2 Seamew the RAF had lost interest in the aircraft and thus 3 of the airframes were converted to an AS.1 standard, whilst the fourth (XE175) would be used for the Seamew’s ill-fated sales tour.
Meanwhile the FAA had decided that the Seamews would replace RNVR Avengers, but only 4 had been delivered by the time of the RNVR Squadrons being disbanded in March of 1957. Seven aircraft eventually delivered to the FAA were scrapped at RNAS Lossiemouth, with the other eleven complete Seamews awaiting delivery scrapped at the factory in Syndeham. The final surviving Seamew, XE180 was purchased by Shorts on 31 August 1959 for ground instruction at its Apprentice Training School, and ultimately was scrapped in 1967. The last piece of a Seamew to exist today is a Mamba engine taken from an AS.1, which is conserved at the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Coventry Branch.
And thus ends the short, untimely and little-known life of the Seamew. It was a strange and dated design from it’s conception, it ultimately failed to win over any air force it was displayed to and despite not seeing enemy action it still managed to kill the one person who had a nice word to say about it, and the one person who could actually fly the thing.
Specifications, Performance Data and Ordnance
Specifications
- Crew: 2, Pilot and Observer
- Length: 41 ft 0 in (12.50 m)
- Wingspan: 55 ft 0 in (16.76 m)
- (23 ft 0 in (7.01 m) folded)
- Height: 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m)
- (15 ft 7.5 in (4.76 m) with wings folded)
- Wing area: 550 sq ft (51 m2)
- Empty weight: 9,795 lb (4,443 kg)
- Gross weight: 14,400 lb (6,532 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 15,000 lb (6,804 kg)
- Payload: 1,844 lb (836 kg) of weapons
- Powerplant: 1 × Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turboprop, 1,590 shp (1,190 kW)
- Propellers: 4-bladed Rotol, 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m) diameter
##
Performance Data
-
- Maximum speed: 236 mph (205 knots, 380 km/h)
- Stall speed: 57mph (50 knots, 92km/h)
- Range: 750 mi (650 nm, 1,207 km)
- Endurance: 4 hours at 120 kt at 5,000 ft
- Rate of climb: 1,600 ft/min initial
- Wing loading: 26 lb/ft² (127 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (180 W/kg)
- Take off: 500 ft at 60.7 kt tas into 12 kt wind
##
Ordnance
Rockets: 6x RP-3 A.P. Mk.II (based on above picture)
Bombs:
- 275 lb A/S Bombs (unknown amount. based on max. payload up to 6?)
- 4x Depth Charges
- 1x Torpedo (I don’t know which. I guess whichever 50’s British torpedo is 13ft long.)
The Seamew’s Place In-Game
So, if the Seamew was such a failure, why do I want it in game?
Well, frankly, I think it’s bloody awesome. It’s such an ugly little weird aircraft that it’s kind of endearing, and I’d love to be able to potter about in it in low tier GRB battles, or Naval if I feel so inclined. Plus, it serves as one of the last examples of a traditional ASW plane produced by Great Britain, and one of the last military aircraft produced by the Short Brothers before they were sold to Bombardier. It’s a fascinating piece of history that few people seem to know about, and such I think it deserves a place in War Thunder.
However, when it comes to where the Seamew would actually sit in-game, a couple of issues arise- fairly common when discussing aircraft like it. The Seamew lacks any offensive or defensive armament save for it’s payload options, which even then are fairly limited. It’s flight performance also leaves a lot to be desired, and in it’s primary purpose of hunting submarines it falls completely short due to the lack of submarines in game (at time of writing). So, where should it go?
That’s the difficult question. Clearly it has to be either a Rank I or Rank II vehicle, that much is obvious based on it’s performance, but the actual BR it sits at is another matter. Personally I think it should go around 1.7-2.0ish, in the gap between the Blenheim/Beaufort and the Hurricane Mk.IV, seeing as it has better ordnance and handling than the Blenheim but is overall probably worse than the Hurricane. I really don’t think this should be a premium/event vehicle, due to the lack of effective CAS in low tier Britain, but perhaps it should be a foldered vehicle, maybe being foldered with something like the Avro Anson or the Blackburn Roc/Skua. This way all players can unlock it but they aren’t necessarily forced to use it to progress the tech tree. Either way it would be a very unique and interesting addition to low tier British CAS lineups.
Sources
(Short Seamew - Wikipedia)
Short Seamew | Military Wiki | Fandom
The Shorts Seamew; Lethal Ugly Ducking - Forgotten Aircraft - Military Matters
https://simpleflying.com/short-seamew-odd-little-raf-submarine-destroyer/
https://cdn.ecommercedns.uk/files/2/229812/3/6376523/contract-20190712-0042.jpg
