Supermarine Scimitar

This article is about the aircraft. For other uses, see Scimitar (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox Aircraft The Supermarine Scimitar was a British naval fighter aircraft operated by the Fleet Air Arm. The prototype for the eventual production version flew in January 1956 and production aircraft were delivered in 1957. It saw service with the Royal Navy from 1958 until 1969. However, it was beset by design faults and was a poor aircraft compared to many of its contemporaries.

Design and development

The Scimitar started out as one of a number of designs from Supermarine for a naval jet aircraft. The Type 525 first flew on 27 April 1954. It later crashed but the design as the N113 was used for an order of 100. More work on the 525 gave the new Type 544 by which point the Navy had changed the specification and wanted a low level strike aircraft with nuclear capability. The first of the N113 flew on 19 January 1956; but the aircraft evolved more and the 3rd N113 was different with aerodynamic changes and a stronger airframe. The first true Scimitar flew in January 1957.

At the time of introduction the Royal Navy only had a couple of large carriers, most were still quite small and the Scimitar was a comparatively large and powerful aircraft. Landing accidents were common. The Scimitar suffered from a high loss rate; over all types of accidents 39 were lost. The aircraft was perceived by many as too innovative mechanically. It pioneered fuel flow proportioning and integral mainplane tanks. Together with other design ideas its maintenance became almost impractical. At one time it held the notorious record of 1000 maintenance hours per flying hour. Although the Scimitar could be equipped as a fighter the interceptor role was covered by the de Havilland Sea Vixen. In the attack role it was replaced by the Blackburn Buccaneer. The Scimitar was retained initially as a tanker to compensate for the early Buccaneer's low engine power. A Buccaneer would take off with minimum fuel then top up from a Scimitar.

Variants

Type 508

Straight-wing prototype.

Type 529

Straight-wing prototype.

Type 525

Swept-wing prototype.

Type 544

Prototype for the F.1 Scimitar. 3 built

Scimitar F.1

Single-seat multi-role fighter aircraft. 76 built

Operators

United Kingdom

• Fleet Air Arm
  • No. 700X Flight
  • 736 Naval Air Squadron
  • 800 Naval Air Squadron
  • 803 Naval Air Squadron
  • 804 Naval Air Squadron
  • 807 Naval Air Squadron

Survivors

• Scimitar F1 XD220 at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, New York, United States.
• Scimitar F1 XD317 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, England.
• Scimitar F1 XD332 at the Solent Sky Museum, Southampton, England.

Popular culture

The Supermarine Scimitar features in Alistair Maclean's Night Without End.

Specifications (Scimitar F.1)

Data from

General characteristics

• Crew: 1

Performance Armament

• Guns: 4 x 30 mm ADEN cannons
• Hardpoints: 4 with a capacity of
  
  • 4 x 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs or
  • 4 x AGM-12 Bullpup or AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles or
  • Pods with 8, 16, or 24 3 in (76 mm) Semi Armour-Piercing (SAP) or HE unguided rockets

References

Bibliography

• Birtles, Philip. Supermarine Attacker, Swift and Scimitar (Postwar Military Aircraft 7). London: Ian Allan, 1992. ISBN 0-7110-2034-5.
• Gibbings, David and Gorman, J.A. Scimitar. Society of Friends of the Fleet Air Arm Museum, 1988. ISBN 0-948251-39-5.
• Morgan, Eric and Stevens, John. The Scimitar File. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain, 2002. ISBN 0-7110-2034-5.

External links

• Scimitar at Thunder and Lightnings