Seahawk is a crap?

[Stratos 3,191]

I'm playing this days the Suez crisis campaign with the Sea Hawk Fg.6, and I got shocked by the plane!! Is incredibly underpowered, is slow as hell and can't turn inside a B-52, I have problems even in CAS role.

Is the plane this way in Real Life or is only the model and I need to update it? I can understad that is slow as it have a conventional wing, but the power problems and the turn radius is frustrating

[Atreides 144]

Yeah I know, that aircraft was on my drive for all of two minutes before chucking it where it belonged, the recycle bin.

[Wrench 9,847]

It flys just like it's supposed to, brother!

 

Dont' forget it IS a First Generation Jet, and therefore automatically under powered. (and straight winged besides!). Basic 'best at the time' kind of thing. Compare it to it's contemporaries: Banshee, Panther,etc, it fits right in.

Also, don't forget that carrier aviation lagged behind its land-based brethern in the early/mid fifties until better engines, steam cats, and swept wings made it to Fleet level.

 

(I don't count the Sabre/Fury in this, as it's still a Generation 1.5, due to it's swept wings, but still with lower powered engines, as compred to the Crusader or Scimitar, with would be 2nd Generation, like the US Century series or Mig-21 and up - although some would consider the Mig-19 as 2nd, it being ALMOST the equlivant of the F-100 - this whole discussion being in the realm of opening a large can of worms as to who is where with what)

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+Dave 2,322]

Bunyap did a first rate job on making it. But yes I am not sure how they RN used it, it was underpowered, did carry much either. However its still on my drive as I like to do strike with it. Its a challenge to use this bird that is for sure.

[+Hinchinbrooke 36]

For a first generation jet, it was something of a success. Sure, it might not have been the most advanced aircraft of the time, but it gave the RN a reliable, decent handling fighter that had enough of a reputation for examples to be exported. Apparently, it was a joy to fly.

 

Bunyap did a nice job. I like to take the various variants out for a spin, once-in-a-while.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Hinchinbrooke

[Fubar512 1,350]

If anything, that model's flight characteristics are somewhat overmodeled, as I was able to sustain turn rates (with no external loadout, and the flight model on "hard" setting), that were probably impossible for an aircraft from that time period.

 

Also, it's quite easy to overload an aircraft that doesn't have a sizable reserve of power, to begin with. So you should not expect F-16 performance with any sort of a decent bomb load hanging from the wings.

[The_Editor 2]

Yep, Bunyap did a great job on all the variants and skins. :yes:

[Stratos 3,191]

That's what I want to hear, If is realistic, is ok with me, I will need to depurate my skills and run as hell if egyptian Migs appear

[+ghostrider883 526]

The Sea Hawk was underpowered for sure but was an excellent rocketting and strafing platform as its performance in the 1971 Indo-Pak War would testify.Indian Navy Sea Hawks flew from the deck of INS Vikrant and bombarded targets in East Pakistan(now Bangladesh) with amazing accuracy.

Also the pilot of an Indian Navy Sea Hawk holds the distinction of being the only pilot in the world to perform a successful underwater ejection.

Aircraft Underwater

[Kirsten 0]

Everything in the comments above is very true.

The Seahawk was well liked in our Marine Luchtvaartdienst (MLD = Navy Air Service) in the Netherlands where it served on the carrier HrMs Karel Doorman. It was equiped with early Sidewinders and used succesfully as a fighter bomber and interceptor within all the limitations it had.

And I think the pilots in those days were trained to take those limits into account. My brother in law took his training in the Fouga Magister (a very underpowered plane too) at Brustem AB in Belgium in preparation for the Seahawk, but the squadrons were disbanded and the Karel Doorman was converted to an ASW carrier before he had the chance to fly the jet (he ended up flying Trackers, heli''s and later the Brequet Atlantique instead)

Bunyap, thanks again for a job very well done. your Seahwk is a beauty !!!

 

Aju,

 

Derk

[JediMaster 451]

Being underpowered was a chronic problem for almost all jets until the 60s, especially ones that weren't fighters.

[Rambler 1-1 9]

The Sea Hawk was underpowered for sure but was an excellent rocketting and strafing platform as its performance in the 1971 Indo-Pak War would testify.Indian Navy Sea Hawks flew from the deck of INS Vikrant and bombarded targets in East Pakistan(now Bangladesh) with amazing accuracy.

Also the pilot of an Indian Navy Sea Hawk holds the distinction of being the only pilot in the world to perform a successful underwater ejection.

Aircraft Underwater

 

wow, it should be called the Undersea hawk. Well, If a plane is an easy target, it should at least have a good ejection system (looks accusingly at the Douglas A3-D).

[gerald14 0]

Seahawk is one of my favorites! All of the skins and the airplane it self is sexy!

Also it is not crap, plus it takes skill for that plane. Which I have and it's fun to fly it!

[ironroad 218]

Also the pilot of an Indian Navy Sea Hawk holds the distinction of being the only pilot in the world to perform a successful underwater ejection.

Aircraft Underwater

 

I always thought an A-7 pilot shared that distinction.

[+ghostrider883 526]

I always thought an A-7 pilot shared that distinction.

 

Would love to know more about this incident. Got any links?

[FastCargo 412]

Yep. From the words of the pilot himself.

 

http://www.ejectionsite.com/eunderh2o.htm

 

FastCargo

[+SkippyBing 8]

I'm fairly sure a Westland Wyvern pilot also successfully ejected underwater after the engine cut out half way down the cat. I'll see if I can dig out the details.

[Fubar512 1,350]

Yep. From the words of the pilot himself.

 

http://www.ejectionsite.com/eunderh2o.htm

 

FastCargo

 

Great story!

[+SkippyBing 8]

Some details on the Wyvern ejection here I think it may actually have been Friday the 13th when it happened!

[Fubar512 1,350]

Some details on the Wyvern ejection here I think it may actually have been Friday the 13th when it happened!

 

 

Could it have been this story?:

 

A British navy flyer, LT. Bruce Mackfarlane had an engine failure on takeoff, leading to an immediate ditching off the carrier HMS Albion. Surprisingly, he survived the water impact and was coherent enough to clearly recall seeing the water close over the canopy, and begin to darken as the aircraft began to decend into the depths. His training instincts took over and he yanked the canopy jetison handle with his left hand, and immediatly fired the seat with his right. At this point, his memory becomes understandibly blurred, but he recalls tumbling free of the seat, still underwater. He had the presence of mind to release his chute and activate his life vest. (He surfaced aft of the carrier, almost directly under the 'Angel' rescue helo, which had moved into a hover over the disturbance in the water from his aircraft splash. The helo crew reported seeing his aircraft pass in two pieces along either side of the hull of the carrier. This indicates that if the pilot had delayed his attempt to escape a few seconds, he would likely have been killed when the bow of the ship sliced his bird in half.

 

Source: http://www.ejectionsite.com/ejecttriv.htm

[+SkippyBing 8]

Fubar, that sounds like the one, I first remember reading about it in an old Eagle annual of my Dad's.