rtrapasso
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Joined: 9/3/2002
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This on the wonderful SOC by one of her former pilots:
"The Curtiss SOC Scout-Observation biplane was first ordered by the US Navy in 1933. It was flown a year later, and 135 production versions entered service with the Navy in late 1935. Initially, it was designed as an amphibian, but was produced as an aircraft that could be fitted with floats for a seaplane or wheels for a landplane.
The Curtiss SOC was a two-seater, used as a seaplane on battleships and cruisers, to spot for the big guns and to scout beyond the horizon. The armament comprised two .30 calibre machine-guns. One of these guns was fixed and fired forward. The second was situated on a flexible mounting in the after cockpit. The SOC could also carry two small bombs under the lower wings. The maximum speed of the SOC was 162 miles per hour at sea level.
In 1941, when the US Navy began to adopt popular names for its aircraft to supplement its alpha-numeric aircraft designations, the graceful SOC seaplane was very fittingly given the name "Seagull".
In early 1942, a planned replacement for the SOC was produced by Curtiss. It was called the SO3C-1. I had the opportunity to fly it on two occasions, and I, as well as other pilots, considered it greatly underpowered. We then recommended that it not be brought into the Fleet as a replacement for the SOC. Production of it was then stopped. SOC-1, 2 and 3 models were used until late in 1945. A bona fide replacement, the SC, for Scout-Curtiss, did finally replace the SOC in late 1945, after the war was over."
The SOC could probably give a Sopwith Camel a good fight!!
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