Found And Explained | Whatever happened to supersonic sea planes? @FoundAndExplained | Uploaded April 2022 | Updated October 2024, 11 hours ago.
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In the early 50s, an impossible new aircraft took to the sky.
A interceptor like no other that could be deployed from submarines, take off from the sea itself and go - supersonic. The US dubbed it the supersonic seaplane and it would usher in a new age of navy defense.
But this would never come to pass and the plane would have a tragic future.
This is the US navy story of what could have been
The Convair Supersonic Sea Dart.
In 1948, jet aircraft technology was taking off at an accelerated pace. Planes were getting bigger, flying further and, and most importantly, breaking the sound barrier.
Well, apart from in the Navy.
You see, back then supersonic aircraft required long runways to take off, high speed approaches when landing, and were typically unstable - the perfect opposite for landing on aircraft carriers. The Navy was still regulated to non-sweeped, slow aircraft, and their performance in the early korean war left a lot to be desired.
Thus the navy was in a situation where it was being outgunned by the airforce,
the russians,
and they needed their own supersonic interceptor program - one that didn’t need an aircraft carrier.
This hypothetical new jet would have to take off and land from the ocean itself - a supersonic seaplane
Thus engineers at Convair got to work on a radically new aircraft design to fill the navy requirements.
Convair’s Ernest Stout and his team at hydrodynamic research laboratory thought - what if they could simply take the under development Delta Dagger and put it on water skis - theoretically it could work.
It would have to be water tight, and the arnmate would be limited, but it would do its job fine intercepting soviet bombers over the atalantic and pacfic.
The navy was equally impressed, and placed firm orders for no fewer than 22 of the planes, including two “experimental” versions, four “service test” aircraft and sixteen production aircraft, or, roughly, enough for a squadron.
Thus with the greenlight, the convair Sea Dart was born
Starting with the delta dagger, the engineers believed that this new seaborn craft would need to retain the same delta wing shape, triangle cockpit and triangle tail.
Replacing the wheels were hydroskins, that deployed when the aircraft was up to speed on the water surface, and then retracted to allow supersonic speeds. . It didn’t have the ability to land on a runway, but it did have small wheels to move up onto a ramp for deployment or retrieval.
The engines were mounted on the back of the aircraft, with the intakes well up above the wings to prevent water ingestion during takeoff and landing. Its internals were compartmentalised, to allow it to sustain damage in the air and not sink when it returned to the ground.
It had twin dive brakes on the lower rear fuselage that could be also be used as water brakes or rudders as it putted around.
The aircraft was planned to be armed with four 20 millimeter cannons and a pack of 70 millimeter (2.75 inch) folding-fin air rockets (FFARs) - pew pew.
This new seaplane was planned to reach mach 1.25, and have a range of 513 mi or 826 km - enough to intercept any of those pesky soviet bombers.
When it came to the aircraft’s deployment, there were three major thoughts. The first would be that the squadrons would be attached to carrier groups - able to deploy off deck, there would be practically no limit to how many could be active at once and greatly bolster the speed in which a carriers force could be brought to bare.
The second thought, rather imaginatively, would be the aircraft to operate from lakes across america, from Alaksa to Mexico. Because of its skis, it was thought that it could utilitese everything from lagoons to rivers - although practically this wouldn’t make much sense - it still sold the public with images of the Jet taking off from the incredibly shallow tidal basin of Washington DC.
The last deployment was via submarine. Thats right, an aircraft carrier submarine was designed to carry up to three of these aircraft, and use them for secret spy missions and rapid strikes - perhaps even nuclear. I’ve done a whole video on this topic, which you can check out in the description.
But as far flung as these ideas where, they were never relised. You see, there was some major flaws with the sea dart design - fatal flaws that is.
The first 100 people to download Endel at the link below will get a free week of audio experiences!
app.adjust.com/b8wxub6?campaign=foundandexplained_april&adgroup=youtube
NEW CHANNEL:
youtube.com/watch?v=qXxl5Ef5lFg
3d Model by Tim Samedov
artstation.com/citizensnip
Discord: discord.gg/WXb565P9nQ
My News Channel: youtube.com/channel/UCD3cl0MmX6fGZzeAHt4JWJA
Join this channel to get access to perks:
youtube.com/channel/UCpM4zrZ9c_apiEj6CApj2yw/join
Patreon:
patreon.com/foundandexplained
In the early 50s, an impossible new aircraft took to the sky.
A interceptor like no other that could be deployed from submarines, take off from the sea itself and go - supersonic. The US dubbed it the supersonic seaplane and it would usher in a new age of navy defense.
But this would never come to pass and the plane would have a tragic future.
This is the US navy story of what could have been
The Convair Supersonic Sea Dart.
In 1948, jet aircraft technology was taking off at an accelerated pace. Planes were getting bigger, flying further and, and most importantly, breaking the sound barrier.
Well, apart from in the Navy.
You see, back then supersonic aircraft required long runways to take off, high speed approaches when landing, and were typically unstable - the perfect opposite for landing on aircraft carriers. The Navy was still regulated to non-sweeped, slow aircraft, and their performance in the early korean war left a lot to be desired.
Thus the navy was in a situation where it was being outgunned by the airforce,
the russians,
and they needed their own supersonic interceptor program - one that didn’t need an aircraft carrier.
This hypothetical new jet would have to take off and land from the ocean itself - a supersonic seaplane
Thus engineers at Convair got to work on a radically new aircraft design to fill the navy requirements.
Convair’s Ernest Stout and his team at hydrodynamic research laboratory thought - what if they could simply take the under development Delta Dagger and put it on water skis - theoretically it could work.
It would have to be water tight, and the arnmate would be limited, but it would do its job fine intercepting soviet bombers over the atalantic and pacfic.
The navy was equally impressed, and placed firm orders for no fewer than 22 of the planes, including two “experimental” versions, four “service test” aircraft and sixteen production aircraft, or, roughly, enough for a squadron.
Thus with the greenlight, the convair Sea Dart was born
Starting with the delta dagger, the engineers believed that this new seaborn craft would need to retain the same delta wing shape, triangle cockpit and triangle tail.
Replacing the wheels were hydroskins, that deployed when the aircraft was up to speed on the water surface, and then retracted to allow supersonic speeds. . It didn’t have the ability to land on a runway, but it did have small wheels to move up onto a ramp for deployment or retrieval.
The engines were mounted on the back of the aircraft, with the intakes well up above the wings to prevent water ingestion during takeoff and landing. Its internals were compartmentalised, to allow it to sustain damage in the air and not sink when it returned to the ground.
It had twin dive brakes on the lower rear fuselage that could be also be used as water brakes or rudders as it putted around.
The aircraft was planned to be armed with four 20 millimeter cannons and a pack of 70 millimeter (2.75 inch) folding-fin air rockets (FFARs) - pew pew.
This new seaplane was planned to reach mach 1.25, and have a range of 513 mi or 826 km - enough to intercept any of those pesky soviet bombers.
When it came to the aircraft’s deployment, there were three major thoughts. The first would be that the squadrons would be attached to carrier groups - able to deploy off deck, there would be practically no limit to how many could be active at once and greatly bolster the speed in which a carriers force could be brought to bare.
The second thought, rather imaginatively, would be the aircraft to operate from lakes across america, from Alaksa to Mexico. Because of its skis, it was thought that it could utilitese everything from lagoons to rivers - although practically this wouldn’t make much sense - it still sold the public with images of the Jet taking off from the incredibly shallow tidal basin of Washington DC.
The last deployment was via submarine. Thats right, an aircraft carrier submarine was designed to carry up to three of these aircraft, and use them for secret spy missions and rapid strikes - perhaps even nuclear. I’ve done a whole video on this topic, which you can check out in the description.
But as far flung as these ideas where, they were never relised. You see, there was some major flaws with the sea dart design - fatal flaws that is.
