The Nomad was a single-engined, twin-float monoplane purchased by the Norwegian Royal Air Force in 1940 as a patrol bomber. However, before the planes could be delivered, Norway was occupied by the Germans. The British accepted the order and, using several Norwegian aircrews who had fled to England, used 18 of the 24 aircraft built to equip No. 330 squadron based in Iceland starting in spring 1941. The Nomads were organized in three flights of three planes each, with the remaining planes used to replace losses. These planes provided limited convoy protection until early 1943, when they were replaced by better aircraft and the squadron was moved to Scotland. Som ten planes (and 21 men) were lost to landing accidents in the harsh weather, but none were downed by enemy fire. The Nomads flew over 1,000 sorties, spotted over a dozen U-boats, attacked a half dozen and tangled with a few German aircraft (mostly Fw 200 Condors).
The Nomad has a crew of three: the pilot fires the four wing guns. The bombardier drops the bombs and operates the ventral machinegun. The observer/radio operator operates the dorsal machinegun. The Nomad burns 37 gallons of fuel per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Light Fighter-Bomber chassis +3, Light Fighter-Bomber
Wings with STOL option +3, 2¥Medium AFV pontoons +2, two skids +1
P&P: 820-kW aerial HP gas engines with 820-kW prop and 228-gallon
standard tanks [Body and Wings]
Occ: 3 CS Cargo: 1.3 Body
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| All | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 | 2/3 |
Armament
4xLong Aircraft HMG [Wings:F] (300 each).
2xAircraft LMG [Body:B] (500 each).
4x500-lb bombs [Body:U]
Equipment
Body: Medium radio receiver and transmitter, navigation instruments,
autopilot, bombsight, 2,000-lb bomb bay.
Statistics
| Size: 36'x49'x12' | Payload: 1.91 tons | Lwt: 5.31 tons |
| Volume: 312 | Maint.: 51 hours | Price: $15,600 |
HT: 12
HP: 330 [body], 80 [each wing], 45 [each skid], 100 [each Pontoon]
| aSpeed: 257 | aAccel: 5 | aDecel: 11 | aMR: 2.5 | aSR: 2 | |
| Stall: 60 mph |
| wSpeed: 25 | wAccel: 5 | wDecel: 10 | wMR: 0.1 | wSR: 2 | Draft: 1.5 |
Design Notes
Design aSpeed is 270 mph; the historical speed, as well as actual wing
area (379 sf), has been used. The cost, weight and HPs of the wings were
divided by two and the chassis multiplied by two. Loaded weight was reduced
by 8% to match historical weight.
Instead of the bombload, the plane could carry a single 2,000 lb torpedo.