Thursday 20 June 2019

Supermarine Sea Otter, Foreign Users

The Supermarine Sea Otter was a British amphibious aircraft designed and built by Supermarine. It was exported to various countries throughout the world:

  • Denmark: After the World War 2, the Danish government bought seven Sea Otters to serve with the Royal Danish Air Force (being at the same time the last biplane and the first aircraft with a retractable undercarriage to serve with them) both in the patrol and flying school roles. When serving in the patrol role, it was, most probably, assigned to the 721 Eskadrille (721 Squadron) and served alongside the Consolidated Catalina PBY-6A.
    The Sea Otter had bad reputation among Danish pilots due to the position of the engine over the centre of gravity, which gave some very distinctive flying characteristics to the aircraft.
    The first exemplar was delivered to the Royal Danish Air Force in December 1946 and the last one in November 1947. As their radar was already outdated by those years, it was dismantled and they flew without any radar at all. An eighth one was bought to be used as a source for spare parts. In Danish hands, it served both in the patrol and school role until 3rd May 1952 when it was written off.
  • Egypt: Apparently, the Royal Egyptian Air Force had some Sea Otters serving with their Air Force in the aftermath of the Second World War. Not very much is known about them, but they probably served during the First Arab-Israeli War (1948-1949) but saw no combat at all and were phased out as obsolete in the early 1950s. As we couldn't find any source about the Sea Otter in Egyptian hands, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
  • France: The French Navy received 17 Sea Otters, delivered in two lots. A first batch of 10 aircraft was purchased in 1947 from the British Royal Navy, which were assigned to the Escadrille 8S of the AĆ©ronavale (French Navy's Air Arm) and were inmediately sent to operate in Indochina, based in Cat-Lai. Some hollow fuselages were also bought to serve as sources for spare parts.
    Some accidents struck two Sea Otters, numbered JN 122 and JN 127. They were sent to mainland France for repairs, but, thanks to the spare parts available, the JN 122 was repaired in Cat-Lai and renumbered as JN 1220.
    A second squadron, Escadrille 9S was formed thanks to a second delivery of seven aircraft in 1950 which were also sent to French Indochina.
    The last flight of a French Sea Otter took place on 21st March 1952, when the remaining 10 exemplars that were left in Indochina were written off the Aeronavale.
  • Netherlands: The Dutch Naval Aviation Service bought at the beginning of the 1950s eight Sea Otters, three of them being of civilian origins and the rest being ex-Royal Air Force aicraft plus an unknown number of them in late 1950 for spare parts. As some of them were intended to serve aboard the HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81) aircraft carrier, two of them were equipped with a rear hook for deck landing.
    All of them were assigned to the 320 Squadron which was based at the air base of Valkenburg. The last one was delivered in December 1950 and shortly later, in February 1951 the first one was withdrawn from active service due to its poor technical condition.
    In May 1951, with the formation of the S&R (search and rescue) flight, almost every Sea Otter from the 320 Squadron, was transferred there. The Sea Otters were also transferred to Squadron 5 (which was a training one) and some of them were also sent to the newly formed Squadron 8 which a mixed one composed also by B-25 Mitchells.
    During February 1953 the Sea Otters had to perform many S&R missions over the North Sea and shortly later, in August 1953 they were withdrawn from service as their role was overtook by helicopters.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Sea_Otter
2. http://aerophile.over-blog.com/article-le-supermarine-sea-otter-103994429.html (translated)
3. https://kw.jonkerweb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=567:supermarine-sea-otter-asr-mk1-uk&catid=96&lang=en&limitstart=1&Itemid=558

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