AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 17 / 92

Plate 17 of 92 · Between the wars · Shipborne reconnaissance and air-sea rescue amphibian

Supermarine Walrus

Walrus I, painted as L2301, the Fleet Air Arm Museum’s Supermarine Walrus I, R. J. Mitchell’s single-step metal-hulled amphibian with its Bristol Pegasus VI radial driving a four-blade pusher propeller, delivered in 1939 to the Irish Air Corps as N18, later the civil EI-ACC and G-AIZG, and now displayed at Yeovilton, painted as it is shown there: Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey over Sky, a Sky boot on the lower bow, a roundel on the rear hull with ‘ROYAL NAVY’ over ‘L 2301’ behind it, a fin flash under the tailplane, roundels above the upper wing only, grey struts, Sky undercarriage legs and a black propeller with yellow tips.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as L2301, the Fleet Air Arm Museum’s Supermarine Walrus I, R. J. Mitchell’s single-step metal-hulled amphibian with its Bristol Pegasus VI radial driving a four-blade pusher propeller, delivered in 1939 to the Irish Air Corps as N18, later the civil EI-ACC and G-AIZG, and now displayed at Yeovilton, painted as it is shown there: Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey over Sky, a Sky boot on the lower bow, a roundel on the rear hull with ‘ROYAL NAVY’ over ‘L 2301’ behind it, a fin flash under the tailplane, roundels above the upper wing only, grey struts, Sky undercarriage legs and a black propeller with yellow tips. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (879 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Walrus I modelled here.

History

The Walrus

R. J. Mitchell designed the Walrus at Supermarine as a private venture, a small amphibian that warships could launch from a catapult to scout and spot for their guns. It grew out of the company’s earlier Seagull biplanes but had a single-step light-alloy hull, retractable main wheels and wings that folded back beside the hull. The Bristol Pegasus radial sat in a nacelle between the wings, driving a pusher propeller, and the whole aircraft was stressed to be catapulted with a full load. “Mutt” Summers flew the prototype from Southampton on 21 June 1933, and five days later startled the crowd at the SBAC display at Hendon by looping it. The Royal Australian Air Force ordered 24 as the Seagull V, and in 1935 the Air Ministry ordered 12 for the Fleet Air Arm under the name Walrus. The first production aircraft, K5772, flew on 16 March 1936.

Walruses went to sea aboard battleships, cruisers and seaplane carriers, catapulted off to search for enemy ships and submarines, spot fall of shot and carry messages, then landed alongside to be hoisted back aboard by crane. They served in Norway, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, and as shipborne radar arrived they gave way to it. From 1941 the type found a second career with the RAF’s air-sea rescue squadrons, which used it to alight beside ditched airmen in the Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean. More than a thousand aircrew were picked up this way, 598 of them by No. 277 Squadron alone. Its crews called it the Shagbat, and it was also known as the Steam Pigeon.

In all, 740 Seagull Vs and Walruses were built. Saunders-Roe on the Isle of Wight took over most production, and its Walrus II had a wooden hull to save light alloy. After the war Walruses flew with the Irish, Argentine and other forces, and one was tried out by United Whalers, catapulted from the factory ship Balaena to spot whales in the Antarctic. Three survive in Britain: the Seagull V A2-4 at the RAF Museum in London, L2301 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum and W2718, which is under restoration.

This airframe

Walrus I L2301

L2301The airframe modelled

L2301 was built by Supermarine and delivered to the Irish Air Corps in March 1939 as N18, one of three Walruses used for coastal patrols during the Emergency; it suffered an engine failure and was damaged in a ditching on its delivery flight. On 9 January 1942 four men stole it, meaning to fly to occupied France and join the Luftwaffe, but RAF Spitfires intercepted it and escorted it to St Eval in Cornwall, and it was returned to Ireland. After the war it was registered to Aer Lingus as EI-ACC but never flown, and in 1946 it was sold for £150 to Wing Commander Ronald Kellett and registered G-AIZG; members of No. 615 Squadron flew it for fun until 1949. In 1963 naval airmen from RNAS Yeovilton found it on a dump at Haddenham and brought it back, and the Fleet Air Arm Museum restored it between 1964 and 1966. The model shows it as it is displayed there: Temperate Sea Scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey over Sky, a Sky boot on the lower bow, a roundel on the rear hull with “ROYAL NAVY” over “L 2301” behind it, a fin flash under the tailplane, roundels above the upper wing only, grey struts, Sky undercarriage legs and a black four-blade propeller with yellow tips. The museum shows it with its port wings folded; the model has them spread, and is modelled level on its wheels with a support under the tail, as it is displayed.

See it at Fleet Air Arm Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Walrus in 3 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 92 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.