Litvyak's profiles

[ChernayaAkula]

The Coast Salish orca nose-art is a stroke of genius!

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Me gusta! 
Someone with mad skillz^TM should render that in plastic!

[Litvyak]

The Coast Salish orca nose-art is a stroke of genius!

Thanks! When I started working on the nose art, I started with a fairly typical shark mouth... and then it occurred to me that Coast Salish-style nose art would be perfectly fitting to an aircraft based in historical Coast Salish territories! Getting the orca right took longer than doing the rest of the colouring of that profile.

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Me gusta! 
Someone with mad skillz^TM should render that in plastic!

Wait till you see the SB Mk. IV

Moving along...



Originally intended to enter service in the summer of 1943, developmental difficulties delayed the introduction of the Skemcis F Mk. XI until November of that year. The F Mk. XI was conceived as a high-altitude version of the F Mk. X, but during development a new design for the tail was conceived (a variant of this design was implemented on the SB Mk. III). There were some snags in the development of the cabin pressurisation system which slowed the project down, but a fortuitous side effect of the delay was that by the time it was ready for production, Hoffar had finished development of the HLV-12A-4G. This was a further improvement on the A-4E model, retaining the Atlas-Imperial DFI but producing 1325 hp. A small number of F Mk. XI operated in the Pacific theatre, but the majority of them went to RBCAF and RCAF units operating in Europe. The redesigned aft fuselage incorporated a larger fuel tank, which allowed these units to escort bombers almost as far as Mustangs could do. The Mk. XI remained in production until the end of the war, being the only F variant equipped with a pressurised cabin.



Simultaneously to the F Mk. XI, Supermarine BC developed the PR Mk. IV as a high-altitude compliment to the PR Mk. III. Only a few score were built, but their high altitude and high speed - one of the fastest of the single-engined fighters of the war - made them relatively safe, and few were lost.



By the time the Sea Skemcis F Mk. IV entered service in September 1943, it was somewhat anachronistic, in that it retained the cage-like canopy, whereas other variants of the Skemcis were already being built with the bubble canopy. However, the FAA pressingly needed attrition replacements, and the easiest way to address this need was to continue building the Mk. III, but incorporating the slightly modified empennage similar to that of the Skemcis F Mk. IX; indeed, the Sea Skemcis F Mk. IV could be said to be a navalised Skemcis F Mk. IX with an A-4G engine. This variant never entered regular production, being built only in small batches as needed for attrition replacement while development of a "proper" replacement type continued.



When it was announced in mid-1943 that the RBCN would be crewing a second carrier, pressure increased on Supermarine to develop a more capable version of the carrier-capable Sea Skemcis fighter. Supermarine responded by navalising the Skemcis F Mk. X then in production, at the same time putting pressure onto Hoffar for an improved engine. The engine that resulted was the ultimate of the Tern series - the HLV-12A-4K. This featured a 2-speed 2-stage supercharger that put out 1400 hp, which made the new Sea Skemcis F Mk. V the most powerful of all Skemcis variants built until that time. The first batch was delivered to the FAA in February of 1944, in just enough time to raise the new air wing to be assigned to HMS Indefatigable which entered service on the same terms as HMS Ameer did the year prior - the RBCN provided the crew and the air wing, the RN provided the officers. Sea Skemcis F Mk. V BC53723 was delivered part of that first batch, and was named "Spirit of Caulfeild" after the West Vancouver neighbourhood, whose residents pooled together to pay for the construction of a fighter for the Navy. The yellow-black-yellow spinner is the colours of Caulfeild SC, whose football [soccer] team plays in the Vancouver Regional Division 1 (so, third or fourth division overall), but whose rugby team is a perennial force in the upper half of the tables in the All-Dominion Rugby Union Division 1.

[Litvyak]

Hoffar Aero Engines received an intact DB 605 retrieved from a Bf 109 that belly-landed in England in 1942. Impressed with the design, a team of Hoffar engineers led by Harold Bolas began working on a derivative that was originally envisaged as powering a mid-engined pursuit design proposed by Parnall. While the Parnall scheme never materialised, HAE continued working on the new engine design. At the end of 1943 a few test engines using salvaged DB 605 components were tested. Designated HLV-12A-5 Heron, these test engines produced 1690 hp. From there, the design was modified and improved, slowly moving further from its Daimler-Benz roots until in late March 1944 another trials type was built. Weighing 1600 pounds (dry), the HLV-12A-5-1 had steel cylinder blocks and matched the 1690 hp output of the A-5. One was fitted to a Skemcis F Mk. XI for flight testing. By August of 1944 a pre-production type, the HLV-12A-5-2 was ready. Thanks to aluminium cylinder blocks the weight of the A-5-2 remained 1600 pounds, but the power output surged to 1775 hp. Twenty of the A-5-2 were built for use in limited production versions of a new Skemcis variant.

After the successful testing of the A-5-1 on the modified Skemcis F Mk. XI, in September 1944 Supermarine built a batch of prototypes powered by the HLV-12A-5-2 Heron. Designated Skemcis F Mk. XII A, the new fighter was based on the F Mk. XI with its nose redesigned to accomodate the new engine. A total of ten were built, which were extensively tested by the RBCAF. Along the same lines, Supermarine built ten Sea Skemcis F Mk. V with the redesigned nose and the A-5-2, designated Sea Skemcis F Mk. VI Aand likewise remained in BC for extensive testing by the FAA.

While the A-5-2 powered variants were being tested in combat, Hoffar perfected the finalised, regular production version of the Heron. The HLV-12A-5-3 took the previous version and fitted a two-stage supercharger, which resulted in an increase of 200 hp - to 1975 hp - for only a 90 pound increase in dry weight.



The production version of the land-based fighter, the Skemcis F Mk. XII B began in earnest after Christmas, 1944. From January 1945 on, Australian factories also began manufacturing the design. Fitted with the A-5-3, the new fighter proved itself a dominant force in the skies in both the European and Pacific theatres. Shown here is F Mk. XII B BC01448 "Blonde Dynamite" flown by Flt Lt Kirk Macdougall of No. 3 Sqn RBCAF, based at Antwerp, Belgium in February 1945. This aircraft is representative of the appearance of No. 3 Sqn's aircraft after the unit's maintenance crews applied the distinct RBCAF roundels (as had been in use since 1942 on the RBCAF Ensign) to the newly-arrived aircraft. No. 3 Sqn were the first unit to do so starting in October 1944, without authorisation - but after several other units in Europe followed their lead in late 1944 and early 1945, orders were issued from RBCAF command to apply the roundels to all aircraft not operating in the Pacific theatre "when the opportunity arises". No. 3 Sqn followed the troops into Germany, and was stationed at an airfield near Osnabrueck until early 1946. On returning the BC the nose art was ordered removed, but the (by then) four kill markings were retained until the aircraft's retirement in April, 1947.



The next of the Heron-powered production variants was the Sea Skemcis F Mk. VI B, which were built in numbers to replace all remaining earlier variants of the Sea Skemcis operated by the air wings of HMS Ameer and HMS Indefatigable operated by the RBCN, as well as for the air units of HMS Nabob and HMS Puncher operated by the Royal Canadian Navy.  Through 1944 RBCN FAA aircraft began to receive the USN's overall glossy sea blue scheme, and the Sea Skemcis F Mk. VI B destined for the RBCN were all delivered in this scheme. Shown here is BC 53888 "Crazy Eights", flown by Lt. Charles Aebischer from HMS Indefatigable. Lt. Aebischer holds the distinction of scoring the first kill made by this variant of the Sea Skemcis.



The RBCN started receiving the Sea Skemcis SB Mk. IV torpedo bomber in April 1945, immediately deploying them to Pacific islands to continue prosecuting the war against the Japanese. During 1944, the RBCN introduced its own variant of the three-tone ASW scheme using BC Standard colours - Extra Dark Sea Grey, Dark Gull Grey and Light Sea Grey.



A small number of Skemcis PR Mk. V were built before the end of the war, basically identical to the earlier PR Mk. IV but incorporating the new nose design and the new engine.

Even as the first HLV-12A-5-3 were coming off the production lines, Hoffar developed the next iteration. The HLV-12A-5-4 Heron had a 2-speed 2-stage supercharger and produced 2090 hp, and had a dry weight of 1720 pounds. When it entered production in mid-May, 1945, they were fitted to the three Skemcis variants still in production, becoming the Skemcis F Mk. XII C, the Sea Skemcis F Mk. VI C and the Sea Skemcis SB Mk. IV B. Only a small number of each was produced by the end of the war - around 75 of the land-based fighters, eight of the carrier-based Sea Skemcis and seven of the SB.

So: that's the survey of the Skemcis family until the end of the war... but there's still some more to come yet! :)

[apophenia]

Yow, somebody has been productive! Go Litvyak!

Cayoosh is still my fav but Crazy Eights is hot too!

[Litvyak]

Yeah, I've been busy for sure!

I've got a couple more things I want to do (post-war Skemcis), and then I'll have to slack off on profiling for a little while to give myself some respite and get to work on some plastic projects I've been neglecting (Archer, RW CH-178, CH-118, Sabre and CF-18) and wanting to start (a big (1/32 or maybe even 1/24) Spitfire of some sort, an RBCN ship, and a couple other things)... and I'm not even including here things that have had a tiny start (painting a few cockpit parts on an RW RCN Sea Fury, for example). I really do have "modellers' ADHD"!

[elmayerle]

Okay, the profiles have lost me for a moment.  Is the HLV-12A-5-2 Heron an inverted-V engine like the DB605 or a V engine?  The shaping of the cowling says inverted-V but the placement of the exhausts doesn't match that, being way too high up, as would be expected for a standard V engine.

Other than that, gorgeous work here.

[Litvyak]

The Heron series are inverted-V... and, d'oh, you're right about the exhausts. Put it down to vapour lock in the brain!

I was just about to open Gimp to do some work on post-war Skemcis stuff, but I guess step one now will be to fix the exhausts on the existing ones.

Thanks for catching that!

[Litvyak]

There - they're fixed! You may have to hit reload the page to see the updated pictures.

And now to get to work on some postwar ones! :)

[elmayerle]

Along the same lines, where are the engine intakes on those engines?  I know the DB605, like all the DB series, had an intake on the port side feeding the first supercharger impeller.  Does the HLV-12A-5-2 Heron do the same, on either side, or does it use a downdraft or updraft air intake?

[Litvyak]

The intakes? On the chin... x_x

[GTX_Admin]

Lov'n all these!

[AXOR]

Waw...

Alex

[Litvyak]

The Skemcis Post-War, Part 1: British Columbia



Around 60 of the 73 Skemcis F Mk. XII C built during the war remained usable after war's end, and these continued to be operated by the RBCAF. After the rationalisation of late 1946, it was decided to remove all other fighter types from service, retaining only the F Mk. XII C of all the war-era fighters operated by the RBCAF. Redesignated Skemcis F.12C in January 1947, the sixty-some fighters built during the war were slowly replaced by newly-built aircraft starting in November, 1946, and the total was increased to 100 by the end of 1947; the new-build aircraft were designated Skemcis F.12D. The Skemcis remained BC's front-line fighter until 1951, when it was replaced by the Supermarine Attacker. From 1951 they remained in use by Air Reserve squadrons until the final retirement in 1960. Illustrated here is a Skemcis F.12D as operated by an Air Reserve squadron sometime between 1951 and 1960, wearing the roundel used by BC Defence Force aircraft from 1947 to 1960.



In 1946, the carrier HMS Indefatigable was formally returned to the Royal Navy. However, as negotiations for its transfer to the RBCN began almost immediately, the ship never left HMBCS Rainbow at Esquimalt, and in 1947 it was commissioned into the RBCN as HMBCS Indefatigable. Thirty Sea Skemcis F.6D were built in 1947 for the air wing of the carrier; this type was identical to the wartime Mk. VI C, of which only eight were built by war's end. The new-built aircraft carried the new FAA paint scheme of Extra Dark Sea Gray over White and sported the roundels introduced in that year. By 1949, questions were being raised as to whether BC truly needed an aircraft carrier, and by April 1950 plans were being made to dispose of the ship. The outbreak of the Korean War in June of that year gave BC's carrier a reprieve, as HMBCS Indefatigable and its air wing took part in that conflict. Illustrated here is a Sea Skemcis F.6D as it appeared right after the war, sporting two red stars to mark the kills scored by its pilot, Lt. Edgar Zarazun. After the war, the Admiralty returned to the plans for disposal of the carrier, and in October 1954 it was sold, along with its air wing, to the Royal South African Navy.[/b]



The seven Sea Skemcis SB Mk. IV B built during the war and twenty SB Mk. IV A survived the war and were retained by the FAA. During 1948 they were converted to maritime patrol role, removing the torpedo launching facilities and replacing the bombardier's position with an observer. Given the new designation Sea Skemcis SP.1, they remained in service until 1961. These also received the new paint and roundels from 1947, and remained in service until 1961. Though a new roundel and a new registration system was introduced in 1960, these aircraft were already slated for withdrawal by then, and thus never received the new markings.



In 1960, seven of the Sea Skemcis SP.1 were transferred to the Royal Mail of BC. These were converted for use as mail couriers to serve the multitude of island communities on the BC coast. After the remaining SP.1s were retired by the RBCN in 1961, they were placed in storage, and over the years were used as a parts store for the mail planes. These became a familiar and appreciated sight all over the BC coast, and remained in use until 1983.

[elmayerle]

The intakes? On the chin... x_x

Ah, an updraft system, then, to fee the supercharger set-up.  Works for me and I can probably cite examples with a bit of research.

[upnorth]

I just got finished looking at your whole thread and you have some tremendous work here, I particularly like all the Skemcis variations.

[Litvyak]

I just got finished looking at your whole thread and you have some tremendous work here, I particularly like all the Skemcis variations.

Thanks - I'm glad you've enjoyed them. I've had fun so far coming up with and making all of them, but the Skemcis has been a proper blast! :)

So here's some more!
The Skemcis Post-War, Part 2: Other Wartime Operators

During the war, various Skemcis variants were operated by BC, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK in large numbers. Of these, the UK and the US declared all their Skemcis as surplus, and they were sold off either for scrap or to private customers; some US P-65B (Skemcis F Mk. XI) are still around, heavily modified as air racers. BC has already been covered, and of the other wartime operators, Canada, Australia and New Zealand continued operating the Skemcis well beyond the end of the war...

Australia



Skemcis production was set up in Australia during the war, to equip RAAF, RAN and RNZAF squadrons with various marks of  the Skemcis. The last of these was, of course, the Skemcis F Mk. XII B. The plans for the HLV-12A-5-4 Heron engine were sent to Australia as well, and production facilities were converted to manufacture the Skemcis F Mk. XII C for the Royal Australian Air Force, but at war's end only two had been completed. The RAAF decided that the new variant would be a suitable type for operation post-war, as it was arguably the most advanced type in the inventory at the time, and not only that, but the factories were already ready to build it in number. Therefore, the RAAF brass decided to standardise on the F Mk. XII C as one of the primary post-war aircraft types. Around 100 were built, remaining in use with regular force units until 1951, and further remained operated by reserve squadrons until 1962.



After the RAAF decided to go with the Skemcis F Mk. XII C as a post-war fighter, the Royal Australian Navy opted for the Sea Skemcis F Mk. VI C to form the fighter element of its carrier air wings. CAC received a licence to produce the type, and the first of the new aircraft rolled off the production line in late 1946. They remained in front-line service with the RAN until 1956, and saw action flying off HMAS Sydney during the Korean War, and during the Malayan Emergency.

Canada



Some units of the Royal Canadian Air Force had converted to the Skemcis F Mk. XII B by war's end, and these remained flying until 1947-48. By 1948, the first jet fighters had arrived to Canada in the form of DH Vampires, but a fighter to equip Air Reserve squadrons was desired, and finally the RCAF decided to retain the F Mk. XII B and to buy a batch of new-build Skemcis F Mk. XII C. These entered service with the air reserve units by 1948, and remained in use until 1959.



The Royal Canadian Navy wasn't an operator of the Sea Skemcis during the war, but did inspect the RBCN Sea Skemcis F Mk. VI C near the end of the war. Needing a modern type to equip HMCS Warrior, the RCN opted for the Mk. VI C. These were delivered in 1947-48, but by the time squadrons could convert completely to it, Warrior had been replaced by HMCS Magnificent. The Sea Skemcis operated from Maggie until replacement by McDonnell Banshees in 1955.

New Zealand



During the war, the last Skemcis variant to be received by the Royal New Zealand Air Force was the Australian-built Skemcis F Mk. X. They were slated to receive CAC-built Skemcis F Mk. XII C, but the war's end interrupted that plan. However, after the CAC lines were restarted, the RNZAF decided to opt for the latest variant of a type with which they were well familiar, and so renewed the order that had been placed during the war. The F Mk. XII C remained operational in New Zealand until 1953 in a front-line role, and until 1956 in secondary and reserve roles.

[Empty Handed]

The bubble canopy variants are real lookers!

[upnorth]

Cool!

Have you considered South Africa as a post war user. It could look quite fetching in those early springbok roundels.

[Litvyak]

Haha... South Africa will turn up in Post-War Part 3.

[Litvyak]

Just a random thought...

Look at



and then at



If you didn't know the story, would you guess at /all/ that the latter is the ultimate derivative of the former?

[apophenia]

Love the post-war stuff Litvyak!

Ah, an updraft system, then, to fee the supercharger set-up.  Works for me and I can probably cite examples with a bit of research.

Actually, the Heron's supercharger was fed from the side just as the DB 605's was.  Litvyak reference about chin intakes was for the oil cooler and radiator.

[Litvyak]

The Skemcis Post-War, Part 3: New-Build Aircraft

Mexico



The Fuerza Aérea Mexicana (Mexican Air Force) placed an order for 90 Skemcis F Mk. XII C already in April of 1945, accepting the condition put forth by Supermarine BC that deliveries may be slow, as the priority of production had to be placed on aircraft destined for the RBCAF, RCAF and USAAF. Once the war was over, however, the production capacity was available to fulfil the order, and deliveries commenced in January, 1947. The Mexicans had had positive experiences with the Skemcis F Mk. VIII during the war, and were well pleased with the new variant as well. They remained in service in Mexico until 1960.

Netherlands



In late 1947 the Royal Netherlands Navy was negotiating the purchase of a Colossus-class aircraft carrier from the Royal Navy, and after the deal was settled, the RNLN placed an order with Supermarine BC for 30 Sea Skemcis F.6C to equip the air wing of the new carrier, called HNLMS Karel Doorman. They remained in service until being replaced in 1955 by Hawker Sea Hawks.

South Africa



When the RBCN began planning to divest itself of the aircraft carrier HMBCS Indefatigable in early 1950, it first offered it to other Commonwealth navies and a few other navies. At the time, only Brazil and Denmark expressed interest in acquiring the vessel, but the Korean War intervened and the RBCN kept the carrier in service. At war's end, however, the BC Admiralty returned to its disposal plans, and by this point the South Africans had changed their position and decided to make an offer for the ship. The Brazilians also put in an offer, but the Danes had since decided against such an acquisition. The Brazilian and South African offers were very similar, and in the end the BC government authorised the sale to South Africa, it being another Commonwealth nation. The ship was thus sold to the South African Navy as part of a package which included the ship and its entire air arm - Avenger AS Mk. IV (redesignated S.4 in 1947) and Sea Skemcis F.6D that had been built new for the RBCN in 1947. Along with that, the package included the arrestor equipment that had been used at HMBCS Rainbow (the RBCN's shore-based facility with airstrip at Patricia Bay, Victoria) for training. Former RBCN FAA maintenance and flight crews also went to South Africa to help train the new crews. As South Africa had no prior naval aviation history, they opted to retain the BC paint scheme and BC numbers on the aircraft (901-930, less 909 and 920, which had been lost during the Korean War). The carrier was christened SAS Guy Hallifax and was home to the South African F.6Ds until 1960, when they were replaced by the de Havilland Sea Vixen.

Thailand



The Royal Thai Air Force received forty new-build Skemcis F.12D in 1947. They were used as front-line fighters until 1960, and then in the COIN/light strike role until 1967, when they were finally retired.

[dy031101]

I totally love the torpedo bombers!  :)

Couldn't stop imagining an Allied counterpart to the Mogami class or Ise class loaded with these planes.

[Litvyak]

Ooh, thanks for the idea! I've just started to play around in vaguest terms with the historic fleet of the RBCN... that'll be something I'll look into, for sure!

[Scooterman]

That Thai machine is yet another example of

PROFILE

PORN!!