Sea Fury (F) On Steroids

[Splash]

 Wow, they bulked up the (arms) on this Sea Fury,  with steroids before they sent it out to fly.  Dont think there is much chance of the floats collasping!!!!







Splash (Ed)

[paulb]

Very nice pics  ;D

Cheers Paul

[GeForce]

Amazing pics. I have just downloaded this plane and have yet to install it, but it looks brilliant!

However I don't think the Sea Fury looks as good on floats as it does without them.

Jonathan

[Ivan]

it's very unstable on the ground, especially when riding on land

[Hagar]

Is this authentic or a little poetic licence? I've never seen nor heard of a Sea Fury on floats. Being relegated to target tug duties was bad enough. Whatever will they think up next to spoil this beautiful aircraft?

[Ivan]

paint it in the G-FURY livery (bright red)

[Hagar]

paint it in the G-FURY livery (bright red)

You have a very good point.

[bm]

Somehow it just doesn't quite look right to me.  :-/

[Ivan]

it's faster than a Rufe, so i think i'll keep it

[Hagar]

I thought those floats looked familar. This is Spitfire Mk IX MJ892 after conversion by Folland in 1944.

It's a pure floatplane, not an amphibian. Floats suit the Spitfire much better. IMHO

Having been originally developed from the Supermarine S6B it is perhaps natural that the Spitfire should be developed for use on water.

The first Spitfire floatplane was a conversion of a Mark I, the so called "Narvik Nightmare" R6722 which was produced at the time of the German invasion of Norway where there emerged a requirement for a fighter capable of flying from the Fjords in view of the lack of suitable airfields in the country.
In the interests of speed, floats from a Blackburn Roc were fitted but the trials were not successful and as the campaign for which the conversion was required was rapidly drawing to a close the project was suspended.

The idea was revived again with the beginning of the war in the Pacific against Japan when it was realised that a floatplane fighter with good performance would be an essential asset in the island campaigns which seemed likely.
Folland Aircraft undertook the conversion of a Spitfire Mk Vb, W3760, with Supermarine designed floats and this aircraft proved an immediate success with a top speed of 324 mph. In this aircraft the carburettor air intake was extended to avoid spray, a shorter four blade propeller was fitted, cantilever pylons attached the floats to the inboard wing sections, a ventral fin replaced the tailwheel and the fin was extended slightly forward to increase the vertical tail surface area.

Folland built several sets of floats and converted another two Mark V aircraft, EP751 and EP754. These together with W3760 were shipped to Egypt in 1943 and assembled with the intention of covertly operating them out of small Greek islands to intercept German transport aircraft.

A further Spitfire was converted in 1944, a Mark IX serial MJ892 powered by a Merlin 45. The performance of this aircraft was superb and with a top speed of 377 mph the fastest floatplane of the entire war.

[paulb]

Hi Guys  :)

The story behind the Sea Fury floatplane............

No they didn't actually build one. As Hagar said, there were two Spitfire floatplanes and Hawker did look at a Hurricane floatplane.

Dave and I originally put the floatplane together for ourselves - just for fun. We wanted to explore the 'lakes and rivers' in something a bit different. We tried out a different  version of the floats first, then revised it, basing  it on the Spitfire version. We thought that it looked OK, so we decided to upload it.

After G-Fury, we plan to do a few Reno versions before moving on to something quite different  ;)

Cheers Paul

BTW the target tug and GFury are real!

[Hagar]

Hi Paul. Thanks for clearing that up. My remarks were in no way intended as a criticism of your beautiful model which is exceptional by any standards.

The Sea Fury is one of my all-time my favourite aircraft.

[paulb]

Thanks Hagar  ;D

Cheers Paul

[fido]

Splash:
 Nice shots, she's alittle too pumped up for my taste.

paulb:

Dave and I originally put the floatplane together for ourselves

 You did a fine job on the remodel, not my cup of tea, but have to admit she was done well

                 Fido  ;D

[HawkerTempest5]

Well, I like this. True it's not authentic (and you all know how I feel about authentic models but this is a nice fun plane and much more "me" than that sea plane you get with 2k2.
Great shots Splash.