I have thinking about the cruiser used with the CV's and I think a good addition to the game would be "Scout" aircraft, launched from the cruiser, such as the Vought OS2U Kingfisher aircraft. Yes, unless it was "adjusted", it would be an easy kill, even for a tank I guess. But what if it had no "Icon" and showed no DAR? That way, it could be used just like the real ones, as observation aircraft to direct fire on targets for the cruiser. The OS2U Kingfisher was a more modern single-wing floatplane that joined the fleet in 1940. Its OS2U designation indicated that it was an observation/scouting aircraft—the second (2) observer/scout produced by Vought (U). You might think that as a monoplane, it would have been faster than the biplane Seagull, but the Kingfisher had an even less powerful Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior engine with only 450 hp. This was a conscious design choice. It allowed the Kingfisher to be small yet still be a monoplane without folding wings. However, it only gave the Kingfisher marginally better performance than the Seagull—a maximum speed of 170 mph and a range of 1,485 miles. Although the Kingfisher was not very superior to the Seagull, it was produced when the Navy was gearing up for war, so Vought built a large number of them. Before production ended in 1942, 1,519 Kingfishers were produced by Vought and the Naval Aircraft Factory. This was small by fighter and bomber production volumes, but the OS2U was the most widely produced floatplane in World War II.
The Navy was not real happy with the "Kingfisher", so Curtis aircraft company, designed and produced the SC Seahawk, which would be my nominee for addition to our cruisers.
Both the Seagull and the Kingfisher were two-seat aircraft. Late in the war, the Navy adopted a different scouting approach for cruisers with its last major ship-launched floatplane, the Curtis SC Seahawk. Taking its cue from the Nakajima A6M2-N “Rufe,” which was a Zero with a float, the Seahawk was a single-seat aircraft with two forward-firing 50 caliber machine guns. Its 1,300 hp R-1230 engine gave it a maximum speed of 313 mph at 28,600 feet. Even at sea level, it could reach 238 mph. Its high speed at altitude was due to the engine’s turbocharger. The Seahawk had a good range of 1,090 miles. As its designation indicates, the SC was a pure scouting plane. (Radar had eliminated the need for observation aircraft.) Designed to operate from cruisers, it finally allowed the Navy to retire its few and overworked SOC Seagulls. The Seahawk, however, had little impact on World War II. It did not go into combat until June, 1945, two months before at the end of the war. The Seahawk served until 1949, when the Navy stopped carrying scout/observation aircraft on cruisers and battleships. By then, radar had finally eliminated the need for scouting as well. The final production count for Seahawks was 562.
While I know the "nay-sayers" will shoot this idea full of holes, just think, the Seahawk could "hover" over a base and direct fire, just like they did in the real war!
