As completed, the Spearfish sat its two operators in tandem with the pilot in the forward cockpit and his observer/gunner aft. The aircraft exhibited a running length of 45 feet with a span of 60 feet and a height of 16 feet. Wings were straight appendages with clipped tips and mid-mounted along the fuselage sides just under the cockpit floor. The fuselage itself was relatively deep when viewed in the side profile. The engine sat in a forward compartment within a lengthened nose assembly, driving a five-bladed propeller. The tail unit was conventional with a single, rounded vertical fin and low-set horizontal planes. The undercarriage was wholly-retractable and of the "tail-dragger" configuration which saw two main landing gear legs and a tail wheel used. An arrestor hook was added well-aft on the ventral side of the tail, this intended for catching deck wires upon landing. Empty weight was listed at 12,435lbs with a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of 22,050lbs. The Spearfish was cleared to carry up to 2,000lbs of ordnance through an internal bomb bay - this being either a single torpedo, several conventional drop bombs or naval depth charges as required.
Beyond its bomb-/torpedo-/charge-carrying capabilities, the Spearfish was further armed through 2 x 0.50 M2 Browning fixed, forward-firing, air-cooled heavy machine guns - one to a wing . There were 2 x M2 Brownings also to be fitted into a Frazer-Nash FN95 remote-controlled dorsal barbette for protecting the aircraft's vulnerable "six" from danger. Underwing rails were also to provide fixed hardpoints for up to 16 x RP-3 series rockets for maritime strike.
Published performance specifications included a maximum speed of 300 miles per hour with a cruise speed of 260 miles per hour. Range reach 895 miles with a service ceiling up to 23,600 feet and a rate-of-climb nearing 1,720 feet per minute. The famous American Grumman TBF Avenger - a stalwart throughout the war since 1942 and produced in 9,839 examples - already managed a top speed of 275 miles per hour with a range out to 1,000 miles and service ceiling of 30,100 feet, all the while cleared for carrying 2,000lb of ordnance including a torpedo or drop bombs.
All Spearfish aircraft were later scrapped, bringing an end to their aviation tenure. A high-performance version of the same aircraft saw a short-lived, yet somewhat renewed, life when Specification O.21/44 came about - this calling for a two-seat naval strike platform with a coupled Merlin engine arrangement driving contra-rotating propellers. Like the Spearfish before it, this aircraft was never realized as an operational product.
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