Seafire LF Mk.III (France)

This page is about the fighter Seafire LF Mk.III (France). For the British version, see Seafire LF Mk.III. For other versions, see Spitfire (Family).

▄Seafire LF Mk.III

800px

▄Seafire LF Mk.III

Description

The ▄Seafire LF Mk.III is a rank French fighter with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Winged Lions".

The Seafire LF Mk.III was developed from the previous Seafire Mk.IIc which was a navalized version of a Spitfire Mk. Vc with modifications for carrier operations. France bought 141 Seafire LF Mk.III after the war and they saw combat above Indochina.

General info

Flight performance

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 3,963 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	561	541		17.2	17.8	14.6	14.6	340
Upgraded	627	592		15.7	16.2	26.9	19.5

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
X	X	✓	X	✓

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
		N/A	N/A	230	~10	~5

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 321	< 400	< 350	> 500

The Seafire compared to its opponents and even allies have abysmall climb rate, it is also quite slow for a plane at its BR. Turn time is slightly worse than Spitfire Mk. IX LF but still good enough to out turn most of your foes. Side climbing is advised. Engine overheats rather quickly when using WEP, avoid prolonged use.

Survivability and armour

Armour plates

• 7 mm steel plate behind the 4 mm steel pilot seat
• 6 mm steel headrest
• 38 mm front armoured glass
• 3 mm steel plate protecting liquid cooling system
• 3 mm steel boxes protecting magazines in wings

Modules

• Vital components located at front of the aircraft (engine, fuel tank, pilot, radiator)
• One self-sealing fuel tank, one non self-sealing located above each other in front of the cockpit

Modifications and economy

20 mm ammo belts should be first upgrade to be researched due to very poor stock Hispano belt. After that first cannon upgrade module to reduce spread and overheating, from flight performance upgrades, radiator upgrade advised first due to rather fast overheating of engine while using WEP. After that, it is up to the pilot if they would rather profit from better weapon or flight performance.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Seafire LF Mk.III (France) is armed with:

• 2 x 20 mm Hispano Mk.II cannons, wing-mounted (120 rpg = 240 total)
• 4 x 7.7 mm Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (350 rpg = 1,400 total)

The wing-mounted machine guns are very hard to use at distances over 300m due to their placement in wing. Cannons does not have such issue as they are closer to wing root.

Usage in battles

The Seafire LF Mk.III is a jack of all trades, but master of none. The Seafire does not climb well, so after start of battle, pilots should side climb, stay at around 3000 m of altitude and let better climbing team mates tackle the first wave of enemy interceptors, trying to pick off those that managed to dive down. Retaining still a great turning capabilities, the pilot is advised to force enemies into turn fighting where they bleed their energy and became vulnerable. Avoid headons at all cost due to very fragile radiator and engine where even single bullet will take it out.

Notable enemies

• Bf-109
• Fw-190
• A6M series
• P-47 Thunderbolt
• Yak-3/9
• La-7
• Ki-84

All the enemies in the list above can outclimb you, and with the exception of A6M also outrun. With the exception of A6M, all of those can be out turned by the Seafire in a horizontal engagement.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Not controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Great sustainable turn rate
• Quite strong armament
• Clear visibility from cockpit with no frames obstructing view

Cons:

• Abysmall climb rate
• Low max speed compared to opponents
• Very fragile vital components

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.