[ARC5] Navy Aircraft Identification

[Michael A. Bittner]

By golly, that's it.  Thanks for the ID and info on the radios.  Wickipedia shows float version catapult launched from battleships and cruisers for scouting/observation duties.  In this photo, the wheeled landing gear looks kinda like an add-on.  If not RU or ATA, then what?

I agree with Tim, "THAT's Flying!".  To paraphrase an old Navy saying, takes us back to the days of wooden airplanes and iron men.  I've flown everything from jets to helicopters, but never a biplane.  Looks like REAL fun flying, as long as no one is shooting at you.  Even better if they had GPS instead of those wee-gee boards we had for dead-reckoning navigation. 

Mike-W6MAB

--


----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Robert Eleazer 
  To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2014 5:10 PM
  Subject: [ARC5] Navy Aircraft Identification


  That aircraft is a Curtiss SOC Seagull.  It was normally equipped with floats and catapulted from cruisers and battleships  It first flew in 1933 and was used in the 1930's and in WWII, although they were replaced with more modern aircraft late in the war.

  The specific version shown in the photo is the SON version, which was the same design built by the Naval Aircraft Factory.

  Given that the SOC's purpose was scouting and fire direction, it needed a pretty good radio.  I would guess it would use something more capable than an RU and it probably never got the ARA, ATA, or ARC-5. 

  The example in the picture is in prewar markings and the name Mississippi on eth side presumably indicates the ship it was assigned to

  I have a short book on the Seagull I can e-mail to anyone who wishes to see it. It is about 4MB in PDF.

  Wayne