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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 2160.PDF
426 FLIGHT OCTOBER IOTH, 1944 Studies in Recognition Aircraft in Flying Attitude* HTHERE could hardly have been a more convincing proof •*• of the sterling qualities of that Old Faithful, the WalrtfS, than is provided by the introduction of the Vickers-Armstrongs Supermarine Sea Otter. For the latter is really so little different from its predecessor that it can hardly even be called a development of it; it constitutes little if anything more than a modification of the familiar '' Shagbat'' the general layout of which hardly differs in any major respect from the original Supermarine Baby of 1918. The most obvious difference between the Sea Otter and the Walrus is that the newcomer has a tractor airscrew, its power egg being mounted on the upper wing in contrast with the pusher airscrew of the Walrus, whose power egg was carried on the centre-section struts. This raising of the engine position was made necessary by employing a three- bladed c.s. tractor airscrew with the more powerful 870 h.p. Bristol Mercury XXX engine. The 680 h.p. Pegasus VI engine of the Wasrus has a four-bladed fixed-pitch airscrew and, in the pusher position, was over the slightly lower aft-decking df the hull. Incidentally there is nothing new about tractor airscrews in the Walrus family, for its 1922 ancestor, the first Supermarine Seagull, had its Napier Lion engine so equipped. It was the 1935 Seagull V, renamed Walrus I, which reverted to the pusher style of the original Supermarine Baby. The next most obvious difference in the Sea Otter is the new tail assembly. The tailplane is now cantilever, not strut- Vickers-Armstrongs Supermarine SeaiOttei\ • pan -ength i - 45ft. lOin - 37ft. 7in m 1 km wmm» A " WALRUS braced as on the Walrus, and is of sfightly hig^r while the fin and rudder is of more elegant outt small-radius apex. The arrangement for, retrajj wheels into the lower plane remains ffie san\e. At first glance there would appear to be very little1 difference in the wings, but one or two new features can be discerned by reference to the accompanying illustrations. Dihedral angle is applied to the lower wing only, and the outer. struts are inclined inwards towards the top. Wings are still of equal span, parallel-edged and unstaggered, but the Sea Otter wings are only slightly backswept compared with the pronounced backsweep of those of the Walrus. Other small points are the slightly different positioning of the wing-tip floats and the simplified centre-section struts. Dimensions of the Sea Otter: Span, 46ft.; length, 39ft, 5m. ; height, 16ft. 2in.; wing area, 610 sq. ft. The pusher airscrew and well-backswept wings of the Walrus are apparent in this three-quarter front ™eW-i \S \ v
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