Curtiss SO3C Seamew

SO3C Seamew
General information
Type	Observation floatplane
Manufacturer	Curtiss-Wright
Primary users	United States Navy Fleet Air Arm
Number built	795
History
Introduction date	1942
First flight	6 October 1939
Retired	1945

The Curtiss SO3C Seamew was developed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation as a replacement for the SOC Seagull as the United States Navy's standard floatplane scout. Curtiss named the SO3C the Seamew but in 1941 the US Navy began calling it by the name Seagull, the same name as the aircraft it replaced (the Curtiss SOC a biplane type), causing some confusion. The British Royal Navy kept the Curtiss name, Seamew, for the SO3Cs that they ordered. One of the US Navy's main design requirements was that the SOC Seagull's replacement had to be able to operate both from ocean vessels with a single center float and from land bases with the float replaced by a wheeled landing gear.