FS2004/FSX SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE FLOATPLANE
British efforts in Norway in early 1940 sparked the idea of a fighter on floats to operate from sheltered waters in support of the army. This idea tied in with the thoughts of strategic planners anticipating a Japanese sweep of the western Pacific as they too reckoned a float fighter would be needed until airfields could be built in the islands. On Air Ministry orders Supermarine contracted with Folland to fit a Spitfire Mk. I, R6722, with Blackburn Roc floats. This installation was too big, heavy, and draggy to be viable, so attention shifted to the Mk. V airframe with custom-designed floats.
In May 1940 Supermarine proposed their Type 344. This had properly sized, pylon mounted floats and a small ventral fin to offset the destabilizing effect of the lateral area of the floats forward of the center of gravity. These floats were designed by Arthur Shirvall, who designed the floats for the Schneider racers. While the Type 344 was not adopted, in September 1941 it was updated into the Type 355 design, which brought in the Spitfire Mk. V airframe, the first being W3760.
After initial testing, problems with directional instability in flight and too much water entering the supercharger intake on take off and landing came out. To fix the latter, a Vokes tropical filter was fitted. While this fixed the water problem, it increased drag and exacerbated directional instability. The final configuration went back to the original supercharger intake, but extended the intake far forward to keep it out of the spray. Additionally, a broader chord fin and a larger rudder were fitted to improve directional stability. Testing of this final configuration revealed that the Spitfire on floats was stable and recovered from spins just like a regular Spitfire on wheels.The floatplane fighter version of Supermarine Spitfire was developped during 1942, based on a Mk VB airframe using floats designed by Supermarine (as Supermarine Type 355). Conversion by Folland Aircraft, with four-bladed propeller on Merlin 45 engines, tropical filter and extra ventral fin. First flown October 12, 1942, and later fitted with extra dorsal fin and Aero-Vee tropical filter. Two further Mk VB conversions by Folland during 1943. All three were sent to Egypt late-1943 and flown from Great Bitter Lake. They saw no operational use. One Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk IXB, with Merlin 66 and four-bladed propeller (Type 385), similarly converted by Folland, was first flown June 18, 1944 and later reconverted to land-plane. Data for Mk VB floatplane: Max speed, 324 mph (521 km/h) at 19,500ft (5,944 m). Initial climb, 2,240 ft/min (11.38 m/sec). Service ceiling (estimated), 33,400 ft (10,180 m). Empty weight, 6,014 Ib (2,728 kg). Gross weight, 7,580 Ib (3,438 kg). Span, 36ft 0 in (11.23 m). Length, 35ft 4 in (10.76m).

In mid-1942, the Air Ministry ordered Folland to build 12 kits and to convert two Spitfire Mk. Vs, EP751 and EP754, to the new standard. These production Spitfires were not prototypes and therefore had no circle P on the fuselage and their undersides were painted gray. All three of these went to Egypt for service testing, where corrosion was serious. Intended to support operations in the Greek islands, those fell before the Spitfire on floats became operational, and upon return to England, all three were scrapped due to excessive corrosion. A final note to the Spitfire on floats, a single Mk. IX was converted to float configuration, but the idea was finally scrapped after carrier-based fighters proved that float planes were not needed.


Effects
--------
-On startup there is automatic engine smoke.
-Then follow the exhaust flames with smoke.
-Wing vortex effect appears by default at 2.5g or quick roll rate.
-Continuous blue flames with smoke if engine is running .
-War Emergency Power is controlled by the WEP.gau (Tick 1 or 0)
-Wing cannon with flash, smoke and falling cartridges can be triggered with the standard Strobe key (O).
It is much nicer however if you put the FS2004/FSX standard Strobe key (O) to the trigger from your joystick. You can change this in the Key menu.
It is a good idea if you replace the standard (L) key for lights by the L+CTRL, (normaly activating the landing lights only). This avoids you having to have all lights on when pulling the trigger.

Installation:
==============
-Unzip " SpitFloat" into a temporary file and move the "SpitFloat" folder into the main Aircraft directory.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-Read instructions carefully when installing the gauges , say YES...when asked if the gauges sources should be trusted. If you say no....most of the gauges are not going to work !
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-Leave the fighters.cab in your panel folder.
-Paste the WEP.gau into your flightsim\gauges folder.
-Copy the effects into the Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator\effects folder.
-Add the 20can.wav in your Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator\sound folder.
ATTENTION :
-For FS2004, change the FS9_Wing_Guns.fx into FX_Wing_Guns.fx
-For FSX change the FSX_Wing_Guns.fx into FX_Wing_Guns.fx
On activating the lights the guns are going to fire, as they are linked to the strobe light. Just push O key to activate and deactivate them.
If having trouble with the cockpit transparencies in FSX acceleration, copy the glass.bmp and propdisk. bmp files from the Acceleration.texture into the SpitFloat texture folder.
It can be that the slew control engages (Y) when first loading the mdl in FS9. Just push the 'Y' again.
Sound is aliased to default DC3.


CREDITS
=======
Special thanks to :
-GMAX for the drawing program and Microsoft for their makmdls.mdk.


LEGAL:
======
The project is released as freeware. You may modify it and repaint it. You may upload this file to another website as long as it is not for profit.
You need the written permission of the original authors to use any of these files for commercial purposes, otherwise a simple credit would be nice. Non commercial repaints-remakes are welcome but I would appreciate very much receiving a copy of your model.
This file should not cause any problems with your computer, but I accept no responsibility if you think it does


Happy Landings!

A.F.Scrub
March 2011
Email: af_scrubbypc@hotmail.com