Cold War Supersonic Seaplane Interceptors

[@JohnnyWishbone85]

Jeez, your output is incredible. You're just cranking out dissertations like scrambled eggs. Don't burn out on us!

[@Flapjackbatter]

I was about to say... slow down man. We gotta digest the last one 😐

[@bigglock5478]

For real. I’m totally here for it

[@ottermanuk]

Just a recommendation for anyone in Southampton to go to the Solent sky museum. The amount of planes they cram into a tiny building is ridiculous... A Short Sandringham, SaRo Squirt, a Sea Vixen, a Schneider cup Supermarine S.6 and Spitfire of course, and a bunch of other float, sea and nautical aviation related gubbins, as well as early Supermarine (Pemberton) works, with them starting life just across the river in Woolston.

[@zopEnglandzip]

If only they could have housed it inside a princess

[@Ob1sdarkside]

I second this, it's a very hands-on museum with passionate, knowledgeable staff.

[@JonA-qd9mc]

I love this museum, a few of the volunteers there are ex raf-lightning pilots. Also great exhibit on civil seaplane aviation

[@jamesday1295]

I'll remember this in October, when I nip home to Gosport for a few days. Did hear / see the spitfire flying out of Daedalus every day at mums last week.

[@antonnjames4626]

6:18 canopies spontaneously ejecting themselves in-flight and depressurising your cabin is decidedly “not ideal” 😂

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Ensure you’re wearing seat belt, even if the light is not illuminated.

[@samsignorelli]

I'm the surviving member of the restoration crew for the Sea Dart on display in San Diego -- my father was an engineer on it early in his Convair career. I've always thought of it as MY airplane! We did the work in either my jr or sr year in high school, on think, so somewhere between 1980 and 1981. The San Diego one -- the oldest survivor -- is in the water at 26.28

[@stevenrobinson2381]

Remember when the Sea Darts-the remaining ones- were stored in the open over on Harbor Island by what is now USCGAS San Diego. On the old Ryan property. That would have been the late 60's. My Grandparents lived on Point Loma at the time & my Dad when we would drive by them would attempt to explain to his very bewildered youngest son (me) just what the heck I was looking at. He witnessed the inflight breakup as well back in '56. Fast forward to the opening of the SDAM & guess what is on display there out front. Had numerous friends whose parents worked at CONVAIR/General Dynamics in the 60's thru the 80's-was born & raised in SD-spent the better part of my adult life around aircraft-A & P mechanic. Crying shame what happened to CONVAIR. Two things that built the city of San Diego-the Navy & the Aerospace industry.

[@Milkmans_Son]

Well it is your airplane

[@samsignorelli]

@@stevenrobinson2381 Yep. When we did our restoration, there was only the one air frame in SD. The engine was long gone, so Dad gave me a bucket and sent me into the bay to bail water out. I certainly TRIED to hit him when I chucked a bucket-full out the air inlets!

[@sadwingsraging3044]

Thanks!

[@CorePathway]

Helluva ride at Sea State 4+

[@Justanotherconsumer]

The Martin P6M is one of my favorite “what if” planes of the Cold War.

[@9Apilot]

That thing is straight out of a comic book of the era. It’s by far the coolest flying boat ever. A sea plane is a land plane with pontoons. A flying boat is a fuselage also serving as a hull.

[@justforever96]

There are differences in British and American usage, but overall floatplanes and flying boats are both seaplanes. Just in the US most people mean floatplane when they say seaplane.

[@William3DP]

I just came across this video. I am so glad to see you do a video on these amazing airplanes! The Sea Dart is especially one of those planes that I am surprised was even built. It looks like a plane right out of a Gerry Anderson TV show.

[@MADGator]

I can still remember when I discovered the Sea Dart as a kid. I was wandering around the SUN 'n FUN airshow in Lakeland, FL. Not having heard of it before, I wondered what this awkward looking plane was that, at the time, was propped up outside a hangar with the sort of care one reserves for a non-working muscle car they swear they'll restore SOME day... probably. The Florida sun had long ago faded the Navy "blue & gold" paint scheme down to a garish shade of banana yellow. When I eventually learned that what I had seen was supposed to be a supersonic seaplane, I initially thought this was pure early-Cold-War hubris, not unlike Ford claiming they would soon power sedans with fission reactors. Even having read about the mobile base concept, this video helped me get the record straight that the Sea Dart was actually a respectably impressive piece of engineering, just one that was a decade early for technological feasibility and a decade late for a true need. If anyone is wondering, satellite images show the plane in Lakeland now has a proper display stand and a decent paint job.

[@strech5412]

Nobody else does this extreme level of quality, this consistently. Every episode you make is far above anything else on the tube. Sincerely - Congratulations !

[@FirstDagger]

For anybody wondering why Convair made the Sea Dart : "In 1943, Consolidated merged with Vultee Aircraft to form Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft, later known as Convair", they made the Catalina and Coronado flying boats so were very familiar with seaplanes.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

@@FirstDagger you forgot to carry out the rest of the family tree. It became a division of General Dynamics in 1953. Officially became defunct in 1996.

[@RCAvhstape]

@@WALTERBROADDUS Convair is now a legacy Lockheed Martin brand. The Atlas missile/rocket program was started in Convair in the 50s, became part of Lockheed Martin in the 90s, and became part of ULA when that company was created as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing in the 2000s.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

@@RCAvhstape You could say the same thing about General Electric Space and RCA.

[@MM22966]

Sir, the new jets don't fit on our carriers. WE'LL PUT THE BOAT ON THE FIGHTER.

[@roo72]

There are many multiverses where it worked out for some reason.

[@hertzair1186]

Very quantum mechanical of you!

[@bjorntheviking6039]

In a world with no wartime incentive to build paved airstrips all over the place early in the history of aviation, they'd almost have to because of how much easier/cheaper it is to build a wave break.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

The 1950s were a very interesting technological time.

[@davidjernigan8161]

True, they were willing to try anything that had even a slim chance of working, and they didn't know what the next war would look like with the development of nuclear weapons

[@taproom113]

Hmmm ... Roswell happened in '47 and we took a few years to decipher language and technology ... yep, the 50's would have been just about right. ;-) ^v^

[@hurricanefury439]

The golden age of the mad scientist

[@shaider1982]

Yup, the power of the jet turbine gave people optimism on what is possible.😊

[@Taurevanime]

I like how the concept art for the Hydrostar at 42:27 isn't of it operating from some ocean airbase at some Pacific islands or anything. But rather a canal in the Netherlands.

[@legoeasycompany]

Glad to hear there's still examples of the Sea Dart one can see, unlike the SeaMaster where all but a single tail example was scrapped

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

The scraping of all the Jet Martins as with the Convair Turbo prop transports is one of the greatest losses to US aviation history. Like the Saro Princess in the UK.

[@thomasbell7033]

I'm an aviation writer and I love researching this period. The '50s was a time of endless possibilities in high performance aviation and it gave us some of the most elegant a/c designs ever. Of course, the perfection of VTOL technology (among other things) spelled doom for the Sea Dart. These designs were pursued because it was assumed that air bases would be bombed in the first round of any nuclear exchange.

[@Verminator4]

I love the idea of seaplanes, I love fighters and I love weird looking aircraft from the cold war. If I didn't know any better I could have swore you made this video for me.

[@TzunSu]

Great episode, but a correction: Both Sweden and Germany had ejection seats before the Saunders. A He 280 was the first case of an ejection, on 13 January 1942, and on 27 February 1944 a test ejection was done on a SAAB 17, and on 29 July 1946 the first ejection "for real" happened after a midair collision between a J21 and a J22.

[@Hypernefelos]

I believe he said 'the first Martin Baker ejection seat' specifically.

[@kevatut23]

My father gave me my first driving lesson on a Saturday in the parking lot at Convair, where he worked. 1963 or 64. He told me to drive circles around the Sea Dart. Which was sitting in the middle of an enormous virtually empty lot. I have no idea if it was a mockup or proto.

[@Goblinstomper24]

My grandfather remembered watching the SRA1 testing and spoke of them like as having mouthes like whale sharks. Now I work at the museum that holds the last SRA1 and it really is beautiful, but also looks like a whale shark from the front.

[@Goblinstomper24]

As far as I understand things, there's a few points id like to add: • The third SRa1 had the first production martin baker ejection seat fitted, the first two didn't have them. • The first one sank, but wasn't pilot error. It hit a submerged piece of debris and subsequently sank with the pilot still on board. Another test pilot enacted a rescue, diving in and freeing his colleague. • The prototype that survives was brushed off in the early 50s to display to the US team working on the sea dart, which may* be why it evaded the scrap yard at the time. One of the Beryl engines from TG263 (our SRa1) was used as the original powerplant in Bluebird K7 boat. I think this is all correct, though I haven't spent too much time in our archives on this one, so take it with a pinch of salt.

[@StabilisingGlobalTemperature]

@@Goblinstomper24 Thanks for this info. I have visited the museum a few years ago. Great collection.

[@callenclarke371]

Great episode. I think it's fair to say, this is the definitive doc on the Sea Dart and similar projects. Well done.

[@jimsvideos7201]

Thank you as always for all the depth you put into your videos; they are certainly a highlight in my subscriptions.

[@kayallovertheplace]

I appreciate every video you make, especially these detailed longer ones.

[@Archie2c]

Love the Saunders brochure on devastating effects.

[@roli4040]

I stumbled upon your channel a few weeks ago and didn't miss any of the new videos since. I work on the older videos whenever i have the time to do so. Excellent stuff, all of it. Even for someone like me who doesn't know anything about airplanes but has a liking for well made history channels.

[@craigsawyer6453]

Very well done. Excellent information present in a very logical format. I did a great deal of research on the topic when I was building my RC model Sea Dart... Here, I learned something.

[@ed4415]

Another great video. Absolutely loving the channel. Please could you consider doing a video on the North American A5 Vigilante?

[@jamess3241]

SWEET, THANK YOU!

[@KRGruner]

Yep. I have seen the SeaDart at the Lakeland airport in Florida. Very cool.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

I see your thumbnail is from the box art of the long-gone Strombecker 1/60 scale, Convair Sea Dart, plastic kit from the 1950s. It was re-issue as a short run kit a few decades ago (I have this one). Thanks for sharing!

[@allandavis8201]

I’m jealous.

[@armisteadab]

No more grainy pics in old books- I get to see the Sea Dart fly! Great work.

[@johnmoore8599]

The Seadart was neat concept. The navies gave up on seaplanes mostly. The aircraft carrier and midair refueling pretty much killed them. Thanks for the great vid!

[@mrrolandlawrence]

wow an amazing compendium of jet seaplanes!

[@sadwingsraging3044]

Always loved the Sea Dart from the first time I laid eyes on one.😮 Thanks for this!

[@paunixon]

I think the idea of a supersonic sea dart taking off would be the most exciting thing to watch bar none. I imagine that was nothing quite like seeing, and hearing a sea dart rip through the water on its skis in full afterburner. Great video.

[@TheCommissarIsDead]

One of the best aviation channels

[@SueBobChicVid]

A very comprehensive review of this niche. Many interesting facts and details, plus I love the digs he puts in regarding the French designs.

[@GA-br8wj]

And after that you get Ekranoplanes, they look so cool, too bad they did not catch up.

[@RobertWilliams-us4kw]

Another great and informative presentation! Many thanks Regards

[@TastyBusiness]

I recently got to see one of the Sea Darts on display at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Funny looking thing.

[@jwbullfrog9583]

I am fortunate enough to live near one of the museums that has a Sea Dart. I've always been fascinated by the concept.

[@aidanacebo9529]

I grew up in Clearwater FL, about an hour west of the Lakeland Linder regional airport and the FAM. I loved all things aviation, on account of my grandpa being both a private pilot and former USAF... we'd go to every sun n' fun fly-in they had from like 2000 to 2017. very vividly remember seeing the wacky looking sea dart on display there. always loved it. funky looking plane that is sort of adjacent to the century series fighters. speaking of those, I'd used to see F-104s from Starfighters, inc. fly over my house all the time, howling their way across the sky with those big engines and tiny wings always tipped with big fuel tanks.

[@nickjenkins6755]

So glad you did this!

[@RextheDragon881]

Yes! Always been curious about these! Thanks for making this

[@davidjernigan8161]

It seems that having internal weapons bays for missiles would have presented quite the engineering challenge esp. on the Sea Dart with keeping water out and hydrodynamic pressure not damaging the doors and their operating mechanism.

[@PhantomLover007]

awesome video. thanks for sharing. keep up the good work

[@onkelmicke9670]

The Sea Dart is extremely cool.

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

Maybe this is a controversial take, but I think the Sea Dart is one helluva good looking aircraft.

[@rpick7546]

This is great stuff. You have a real talent for taking things that are only mildly interesting in themselves and making me listen to almost an hour of your histories of them. That is a compliment, by the way. Also, you need a catchy nickname, something that's easier to write than Not a Pound for Air to Ground. Something like Drach for Drachinifel, Berserker for BECMI Berserker, or Greg for Greg's Planes & Automobiles.

[@danmcdonald9117]

Great video! Your content is so unique and excellent 🙂

[@shaider1982]

Fitting that I watched this while driving and the weather sudddeny became rainy.

[@fps079]

It must have been something else, indeed. Thanks for these.

[@300guy]

That french delta wing concept near the end is like the Squirt and the Convair had a baby 👶!

[@marcbrasse747]

Great subject. Thanks. 👍👍👍👍

[@wirebrushofenlightenment1545]

Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7 was initially powered by a Beryl engine.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

Excellent youve found stuff and details i had no ideaabout. ..Airboatflyingship... Congratulations... a great overiew of a very neich area of aviation. I look forward to your cover of the larger jet hydro aircraft.

[@daszieher]

Top of the line content! Much appreciated. A couple of details that I remember. - The first version of the French flying boat fighter had only one Nene. The stacked arrangement only appears in the second version. - Also it seems, at least according to the graphic you show in the video, the TSAGi development had stabiliser skis on the aft fuselage, not on the wings.

[@brianrmc1963]

These are so interesting.

[@EricaCalman]

We have one of the sea darts in San Diego outside of the air and space museum so you don't even have to buy a ticket to see it! Sadly they say they're going to move it to the Gillespie field annex so it will still be on display but not in its current beautiful mount opposite an A-12. Silver lining is they're going to replace it with an F-14 but there's plenty of those including another on in San Diego on the USS Midway museum.

[@andyharman3022]

The takeoff and landing footage of the Sea Dart is truly mesmerizing. Yes, humans did that, once upon a time.

[@majorbloodnok6659]

Fascinating, thank you

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Nice introduction. Full of information

[@an_f-14_tomcat]

YES!!! I CAN'T WAIT!

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

I was aware of the Convair Sea Dart, but didn't know about other countries falling into this rabbit hole !

[@bjorntheviking6039]

I'd love a follow-up video on seaplane bombers & ground effect vehicles.

[@monostripezebras]

Very nice vid again

[@ezequielpiacenza3776]

Excelente 👍👍👍

[@ezequielpiacenza3776]

En ningún libro los ví había que ser excelente piloto

[@cyberingcatgirls7069]

I don't know if it's still there but when I was a kid I saw a Sea Dart out in front of the air & space museum in Balboa Park (California.)

[@dxb338]

i drive past a sea dart in willow grove pennsylvania fairly regularly

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@michaelabratzel6371]

You sir, make such a high quality content and got an awesome speach pattern an voice. Im living on a extreme tight budget, so its hard for me to spare some bucks for vid creators. I wont say you are alone with that when it comes to planes - but there arent many. Especislly in the field of fighter planes: i would put the quality of infornation and presentation on the same level Drachifinel if its about war ships and history of the age of sail. Even though you got a totally different style. I hope you can see the praise in that. Sorry i understand english pretty well but its hard for me to write and speak.

[@RJM1011]

I went to see the one in Southampton the other week it looks really good and I think it would have done well in service. Until better aircraft came along like the harrier to use. At the end of WW2 the UK had plenty of aircraft carriers to use and aircraft to fly from them I think this played it's part in the end of the UK's seaplane fighter aircraft idea. It would have been something useful for 20 to 25 years or so then that would have been it. Thank you for the video great to learn from.

[@stug41]

Of all places, one of those seadarts resides at the air museum at willow grove Pennsylvania.

[@johnwestenberger6241]

And what a fantastic little museum it is. They had a 262 and a zero post WW2 for many years post WW2 before they got sent to larger museums for restoration and display.

[@scriptsmith4081]

I saw the Sea Dart on static display at Sun and Fun in Florida and it was the most amazing sight- but watching videos of it porpoising as it tries to take off are almost comical- it is a death trap on the water! It is no wonder the concept was abandoned.

[@IsaacKuo]

Wow, the spray from planing skis is just incredible compared to modern hydrofoils. Of course, modern hydrofoil technology was not available back then. Maybe a towed sea ramjet could have worked. A retractable nose float and a low delta wing would ensure stable landing and takeoff - but significant drag! No problem, the conventional tow plane just needs to have enough sheer thrust to overcome that drag. The tow plane is optimized for towing power and climb rate rather than horizontal speed. Also, a ramjet can be less sensitive to water, and this water would drip away during the climb up to launch altitude. Point is ... this circumvents a lot of difficult engineering challenges, such as preventing sea spray from getting in the engines, and high speed stability of the flotation/skiing system, and ensuring drag is low enough to achieve takeoff. Instead, most of the problems can be solved by pumping up the power and size of the tow plane.

[@davidjernigan8161]

It will be interesting to see the seaplane bomber video with the Martin Seamaster.

[@dalboymarto7458]

More ads than tv.. Used to love this channel..

[@Kracviking]

I saw the Sea Dart at NAS Willow Grove, PA in 2007

[@joellamoureux7914]

The sorrow, lol, squirt doesn't look like an acrobatic airplane! The first single engine prototype drawing looked really good. Wonder how thatve done

[@mearalain3006]

@39:20 a lake near Marseilles étang de Berre (pond of Berre) . It is a salted lake open on the Medoterranean sea The Latécoère facilities were there on the eastern part in front of the nowadays Marignane airport. This lake/pond is connectd to Marseilles port throught a 13 (?) km long tunnel

[@russc788]

I think the Solent sky museum has some sea jet fighters……. Aaaannnd he mentions this as I am typing it 😂. Good little indoor museum.

[@lafouche345]

Saw one in Kissimmee Fl. area back in the late 70’s, in the grass at a local airfield. Thanks to old shows like ‘The Big Picture’ I knew what it was.

[@senioravocado1864]

I hate how there are so few resources on jet seaplanes, and this video shows that there are more than just the sea dart I wish more people would cover this topic

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

A large problem is that much of the continued work was done in the USSR.

[@JoseSantos-ys3rj]

Really waiting for a piece on the FIAT G91 or the Portuguese colonial war and it's air power

[@cbroz7492]

. There's a Sea Dart on static dispkay ay the Lakeland, FL airport..WOW..tgatbthing is HUGE!!! There's also a Pogo VTOL on Static display

[@wilsonj4705]

14:13 Westinghouse and their engines needs a video of their own

[@rudolphpyatt4833]

And on the bomber front, the Martin P6M actually reached production. The first squadron was working up when the program was cancelled. I wonder if Lockheed-Martin still has the design materials, though I am sure the tooling was broken up.

[@CorePathway]

Sea State 4+ would be a helluva ride at 500 knots

[@neilturner6749]

Haha you’re confusing airspeed with water speed. If it’s still in the water at 500kts and didn’t take off below 200kts you’ve nearly doubled the existing World Water Speed Record and are about to die spectacularly!

[@alexanderjonathan5170]

there is an intact sea dart at former naval air station wildwood out by Philadelphia

[@fakshen1973]

VTOL fighters reshaped the need of a seaplane. Any ship with enough reinforced deckspace can land a VTOL. Not having to sit IN salt water is a great improvement.

[@justforever96]

That's why everyone adopted VTOL fighters and they sold thousands of Harriers, right? More like the only people who needed to project power around the globe, who could afford those games, generally could also afford carriers. And their henchmen, er sorry, "allies" could just use the fill sized airbases they built wherever they went to war, any time they decided to join in.

[@marcbrasse747]

There was a dedicated episode about the Skate and Seadart in the Seawings series on Discovery. Alas I did not get around to taping it at the time and it also has not reappeared here on KZbin.

[@tipwilkin]

Should have called it the Saro Sacabambaspis because that's what it looks like

[@nesyboi9421]

Lol

[@mrvn000]

Que maravilla!!

[@Rom3_29]

Pilot needed really strong stomachs and backs to fly seadart. Getting shaken up inside cockpit and suddenly pop up like a cork to fly off.

[@thehark6247]

all that for an hour and a half. Still a cool plane.

[@confuseatronica]

the amount of water between the superpowers and the % of surface of the planet that's water... makes sense.

[@onanthebarbarian4842]

Lockheed was well ahead of its time. That picture of the Netherlands was clearly drawn by AI. However, an old thread on the Secret Projects forum has a picture of a large model of the same design, so it appears they at least did some shopping around with the idea.

[@hawkshadowoseanacy5171]

I wrote a more detailed response about the premise that 4-6" of penetration is ideal. One might suggest that a boar spear with the haft would be likely ideal and I'm not aware of any optimized for 6" of ideal penetration. In reality, if someone is preparing for dangerous large game, a magnum revolver is a much more intelligent backup to a rifle or slug shot gun

[@ThePlayerOfGames]

27:04 now days we do the same but with slightly more refined detergents than walnut shells

[@squiblift2019]

Do you plan to do a Martin SeaMaster video in the future?