Supermarine Seafire

what is it?

The Supermarine Seafire is a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire fighter adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. It was analogous in concept to the Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised version of the Spitfire's stablemate, the Hawker Hurricane. The name Seafire was derived from the contraction of the full name of Sea Spitfire.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 11.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 578 km/htop speed
• size 3,280 kgmax take-off weight
• built 2,334made in total

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 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.4× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 11.2 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942-01-07

introduced

1942

status

retired

number built

2,334

role

carrier-based fighter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Supermarine

engines

1× Rolls-Royce Merlin 55M

crew

1

length

9.2 m

wingspan

11.2 m

height

3.5 m

max take-off weight

3,280 kg

top speed

578 km/h

cruise speed

438 km/h

range

—

ceiling

10,973 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family