SUPERMARINE SPITEFUL / SEAFANG, TOO LATE TO JOIN THE WAR

The Supermarine Spiteful was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification F.1/43 during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire.
The Supermarine Seafang was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification N.5/45. It was a further development of Supermarine's famous Spitfire and Spiteful aircraft, becoming "a Spitfire too far.

Production and service use

The Spiteful was ordered into production as the Spiteful XIV (having no preceding marks of its own, the numerals were carried over from the original Spitfire XIV conversion), and 150 of the aircraft were ordered. With the advent of jet propulsion, however, the future of high-performance fighters was clearly with the jet fighter, and so the order was later cancelled with only a handful of Spitefuls built. At the time however, there was some uncertainty over whether jet aircraft would be able to operate from the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers so it was decided to develop a naval version of the Spiteful, to specification N.5/45,^[4] subsequently named Seafang.

The Seafang featured folding wingtips, a "sting"-type arrester hook and a Griffon 89 or 90 engine, fed from an extended carburettor air intake driving a new Rotol six-bladed contra-rotating propeller. The first one produced was a converted Spiteful XV (RB520) but with the successful operation of the de Havilland Sea Vampire from the carrier HMS Ocean in 1945, the need for the Seafang disappeared.

With the end of the Second World War, Supermarine entered into discussions with Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord (SNCAN) about licence production of the Spiteful in France, but again the introduction of jet fighters overshadowed the piston-engined fighter and the talks came to nothing.

Variants

• Spiteful F Mk 14 - 19 built

Engine: Griffon 85 - 2,375 hp (1,771 kW)

Weight: 9,950 lb (4,513 kg)

Max Speed: 476 mph (766 km/h)

• Spiteful F Mk 15 - 1 built - converted to Seafang prototype

Engine: Griffon 89 - 2,350 hp (1,752 kW)

Weight: 10,200 lb (4,627 kg)

Max Speed: 483 mph (777 km/h)

• Spiteful F Mk 16 - 2 built - simple, three-speed Griffon conversions from Mark XIV's

Engine: Griffon 101 - 2,420 hp (1,805 kW)

Weight: 9,950 lb (4,513 kg)

Max Speed: 494 mph (795 km/h)

• Seafang F.Mk 31 - 8 built

Engine: Griffon 61

• Seafang F.Mk 32 - 10 built

Engine: Griffon 89 - 2,350 hp (1,752 kW)

(wIKIPEDIA)