World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Sea Otter flying boats were developed from the Walrus design, with the most significant difference setting the two apart being the orientation of the engines -- the engines were mounted in a forward-facing fashion with Sea Otter aircraft, as opposed to rear-facing with Walrus aircraft. 592 were originally ordered to be manufactured, but the end of WW2 meant only 292 was built between 1942 and 1945. Most of them were employed by the British Royal Air Force, British Royal Navy, and the Royal Australian Navy, while eight of them were sold of the Royal Danish Air Force, eight to the Danish Naval Air Arm, and six to France for use in French Indo-China.

ww2dbaseSea Otter aircraft would become the last biplane flying boats produced by Supermarine.

SPECIFICATIONS

Sea Otter

Machinery	One Bristol Mercury XXX rated at 965hp
Armament	1x7.9mm Vickers machine gun, 2x7.7mm Vickers K machine guns, 4x112kg bombs
Crew	4
Span	14.02 m
Length	12.16 m
Height	4.61 m
Wing Area	56.70 m²
Weight, Empty	3,086 kg
Weight, Loaded	4,536 kg
Speed, Maximum	262 km/h
Rate of Climb	4.40 m/s
Service Ceiling	5,181 m
Range, Normal	1,110 km
Range, Maximum	1,480 km

Photographs