what is it?
The Curtiss SO3C Seamew was developed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation as a replacement for the SOC Seagull as the United States Navy's standard floatplane scout. Curtiss named the SO3C the Seamew but in 1941 the US Navy began calling it by the name Seagull, the same name as the aircraft it replaced (the Curtiss SOC a biplane type), causing some confusion. The British Royal Navy kept the Curtiss name, Seamew, for the SO3Cs that they ordered.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 11.6 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 87 years ago, in 1939.
- Top speed is 2.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 11.6 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1939-10-06
- introduced
- 1942
- retired
- 1945
- status
- retired
- number built
- 795
- role
- observation floatplane
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- makers
- Curtiss, Curtiss-Wright
- engines
- 1× Ranger V-770-6
- crew
- 2
- length
- 11.2 m
- wingspan
- 11.6 m
- height
- 4.6 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,599 kg
- top speed
- 277 km/h
- cruise speed
- 198 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 4,816 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q2603137, Wikipedia: Curtiss SO3C Seamew (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.