Single seater versions of two seaters

[Austin Prefect]

There are plenty of aircraft designed as single seaters which later had two seater versions developed. But other than the Bae Hawk, an anyone think of any that went the other way?

[Eric Mc]

Some of the RAF World War 2 bombers started life as two PILOT aircraft (Wellington, Stirling, Whitley). However, due to the demands on pilot training, later versions (in fact the vast majority) of these aircraft were operated as single pilot only with the right hand set of controls not installed.
Not quite what you are getting at I know.

How about the North America P-64



Or the Commonwealth CA-13 Boomerang



Both were single seat fighters derived from the T-6 Texan/Harvard trainer.

[Dads Taxi]

Mitsubishi F-1, based on the T-2 trainer.

[DP14]

de Havilland Chipmunk. Some were officially converted to single-seat agricultural aircraft.

[GliderRider]

DP14 said:

de Havilland Chipmunk. Some were officially converted to single-seat agricultural aircraft.

Chipmunk G-AOTF, converted by Farm Aviation Ltd, was a resident tug at our gliding club for a number of years. Not only was it a single seater, it had also been converted to Lycoming power. With its cavernous, dungeon-like hopper where the front seat had been, I used to think of it as the 'Fritzl Family Cruiser'.

Other single seaters from two seaters include various Tiger Moth crop sprayers, Stampes converted into pseudo SE5a's for the film 'Aces High', Texan/Harvard conversions into pseudo Mitsubishi Zeros for 'Tora Tora Tora' and the HAL Ajeet, a single seater derived from the Folland Gnat, which had been built under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

A lot of two seat microlights in the UK have been converted to single seaters, thus allowing them to be operated as Single Seat Deregulated (SSDR) aircraft, which reduces the amount of annual paperwork for the owners.

[rodericb]

GliderRider said:

Other single seaters from two seaters include various Tiger Moth crop sprayers, Stampes converted into pseudo SE5a's for the film 'Aces High', Texan/Harvard conversions into pseudo Mitsubishi Zeros for 'Tora Tora Tora' and the HAL Ajeet, a single seater derived from the Folland Gnat, which had been built under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

The Gnat was initially a single seater and evolved into a twin seater trainer. Same with the Ajeet (which was the single seat Gnat but built by HAL) - I think the twin seat Ajeet was a development of the single seat Ajeet and not merely the Gnat trainer being built by HAL. Dark Skies put out a video on Youtube on this very aircraft about a day ago! What a cool little aircraft!

[DP14]

Somewhat tenuously, there's the single-seat Extra 300s, although the two-seat was itself developed from the single-seat 230.
CAP 20 and derivatives from the CAP 10 and preceding Piel Emeraude.
The M74 Wasp is a single seat conversion of the Bell 47, again for agricultural use.

[Hill92]

Quite a few Cold War jet trainers had single-seat derivatives for ground attack and reconnaissance roles, particularly for export:

Aermacchi MB-326 -> MB-326K in South African service
Aermacchi MB-339 -> MB-339K (single prototype)
Aero L-29 Delfín -> L-29A Akrobat
Aero L-39 Albatros -> L-39V (target tug)
Aero L-59 Super Alatros -> L-159A ALCA
AIDC AT-3 -> XA-3 (two prototypes built)
FMA IA 58 Pucará -> IA-58C Pucará Charlie (single prototype built)
Hispano HA-200 -> HA-220 (C.10 in Spanish service)
PZL TS-11 Iskra -> TS-11 Iskra bis-C

More recently, the Korean KAI T-50 Golden Eagle is slated to get a single-seat F-50 derivative next year.

[Yertis]

The Anglo-French Jaguar was originally intended as a trainer, so I assume two seats. The single seat version was introduced to the programme initially by the French, and the RAF later on ordered the single seater as part of the whole post-TSR2 mix. But I think while the single seater was a latecomer to development, it was always part of the production programme.

[Austin Prefect]

Dads Taxi said:

Mitsubishi F-1, based on the T-2 trainer.

That's a really good example, I'd forgotten about that,

Yertis said:

The Anglo-French Jaguar was originally intended as a trainer, so I assume two seats. The single seat version was introduced to the programme initially by the French, and the RAF later on ordered the single seater as part of the whole post-TSR2 mix. But I think while the single seater was a latecomer to development, it was always part of the production programme.

...and that I never knew, the Mitsubishi F-1 and the Jaguar really are remarkably similar.

[eharding]

Only developed as a prototype, but the Yak-53 was a single seat version of the Yak-52.

[IanH755]

The Iranians made a single seat, twin fin version of the F-5 -

[Austin Prefect]

[quote=IanH755]The Iranians made a single seat, twin fin version of the F-5 -



I think Northrop considered something similar in the late 60s, the P530 Cobra. It eventually evolved into the YF-17.

[Eric Mc]

IanH755 said:

The Iranians made a single seat, twin fin version of the F-5 -

The original F-5s were single seaters anyway. The two seat version was either the T-38 Talon or the F-5B.