Supermarine Scimitar

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This refers to the aircraft, for other uses see Scimitar (disambiguation)

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Scimitar F.1

Supermarine Scimitar on board USS Intrepid
Type	Naval fighter
Manufacturer	Supermarine
Maiden flight	19 January 1956
Introduced	1957
Status	Out of service
Primary user	Fleet Air Arm
Number built	76

The Supermarine Scimitar was a fighter aircraft in the British Fleet Air Arm. The prototype for the eventual production version flew in January 1956 and production aircraft were delivered in 1957. It was the Royal Navy's first operational jet strike aircraft and saw service from 1958 until 1969. However, it was beset by design faults and was a poor aircraft compared to many of its contemporaries.

1 Design
2 Variants
3 Units Using the Scimitar
- 3.1 Fleet Air Arm
4 Specifications (Supermarine Scimitar)
5 References
6 External links
7 Related content

[edit] Design

The Scimitar started out as one of a number of designs from Supermarine for a naval jet aircraft. The Type 525 first flew on 27 April 1954. It later crashed but the design as the N113 was used for an order of 100. More work on the 525 gave the new Type 544 by which point the Navy had changed the specification and wanted a low level strike aircraft with nuclear capability. The first of the N113 flew on 19 January 1956; but the aircraft evolved more and the 3rd N113 was different with aerodynamic changes and a stronger airframe. The first true Scimitar flew in January 1957.

At the time of introduction the Royal Navy only had a couple of large carriers, most were still quite small and the Scimitar was a comparatively large and powerful aircraft. Landing accidents were common. The Scimitar suffered from a high loss rate; over all types of accidents 39 were lost.

Although the Scimitar could be equipped as a fighter the interceptor role was covered by the de Havilland Sea Vixen. In the attack role it was replaced by the Blackburn Buccaneer. The Scimitar was retained initially as a tanker to compensate for the early Buccaneer's low engine power. A Buccaneer would take off with minimum fuel then top up from a Scimitar.

[edit] Variants

Type 508 and Type 529 : Straight wing prototypes.
Type 525 Swept wing prototype.
Type 544 : Prototype for the F.1 Scimitar. 3 built
Scimitar F.1 : Single-seat multi-role fighter aircraft. 76 built

[edit] Units Using the Scimitar

[edit] Fleet Air Arm

No. 700X Flight
736 Naval Air Squadron
800 Naval Air Squadron
803 Naval Air Squadron
804 Naval Air Squadron
807 Naval Air Squadron

[edit] Specifications (Supermarine Scimitar)

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 55 ft 4 in (16.87 m)
Wingspan: 37 ft 2 in (11.33 m)
Height: 15 ft 3 in (4.65 m)
Wing area: 485 ft² (45.06 m²)
Empty weight: 21,000 lb (9,525 kg)
Loaded weight: 34,200 lb (15,515 kg)
Max takeoff weight: lb (kg)
Powerplant: 2× Rolls-Royce Avon 202 turbojets, 11,250 lbf (50.0 kN) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 710 mph (1145 km/h) at sea level
Range: 600 mi (965 km)
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,200 m)

Armament

4 x 30 mm ADEN cannons
4 x 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs or
4 x AGM-12 Bullpup or AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles or
Pods with 8, 16, or 24x 3 in (76 mm) SAP or HE unguided rockets

[edit] References

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This article has been tagged since January 2007.