WOW449 Vought Kingfisher

Description

The Vought Sikorsky OS2U Kingfisher was a catapult launched observation floatplane that could also operate on fixed, wheeled, taildragger landing gear. The Kingfisher first flew on March 1^st, 1938, and operated from battleships and heavy cruisers, as well as being land-based. In WW2 the kingfisher was the US main shipboard observation plane and there were around 1500 examples manufactured.

The Kingfisher also saw service with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Soviet Navy, with 2 aircraft on the ship USS Milwaukee (Murmansk).

The Kingfisher had a variety of roles, scouting and observation, sub-hunting, rescue and guiding naval gunfire.  it was armed with one forward firing and a rear-firing M1919 Browning MG [0.30in/7.62mm] and could be armed with bombs or depth charges [650llb/295kg].

It was a compact mid-wing monoplane, with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. At sea the Kingfisher was launched by the ship’s catapult, the aircraft were recovered using a sea sled towed just below the surface and played out in waters smoothed by the ship’s wake. The aircraft would land in the wake, taxi to the sled and engage it with a small hook on the bottom of the float before being craned aboard.

Our 1/30 hand carved Mahogany wood version comes with a free landing jetty terrain mat, is limited to 5 in number worldwide and is priced at $899 plus postage. There is no fee postage on Warbirds due to their large size.

The other figures and accessories are not included and are shown for scale comparison purposes only.