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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1157.PDF
" Flight " photograpk. Eastchurch trom the air in 1910. The upper inset shows the sheds at Leysdown and the lower the beginnings of the Short works at Eastchurch and it is almost superfluous to say that the machine never got off the ground, the engine being too heavy. But it had taught Short Brothers quite a lot, and they at once set to work on No. 2. In the meantime, it was no good building aeroplanes unless one had a place to fly them and—what was equally important in those days—a shop where they could be repaired and modified, a process which was usually neces sary after every flight! The choice of Shorts fell on Shell- beach, Isle of Sheppey, where they built their first sheds on the aerodrome in 1909. Shortly afterwards the Aero Club also established headquarters there, at " Mussel Manor,'' largely through the generosity of Frank McClean, who was thus able to combine club life with flying. Short No. 2, which was built to the order of Mr. (now Lt. Col.) J. T. C. M o or e-Bra ba zon, was erected at Leysdown, and '' Moore-Brab '' began to make hops there in July and August, 1909. The machine had some rather This unique historic group is from Mr. Oswald Short's collection. The gentleman on the left was the owner of "Mussel Manor," at Shell- beach. Then follow, from 'eft to right, Oswald, Horace and Eustace Short, Frank McClean, Griffith Brewer, Hedges Butler, Dr. Lockyer, and Warwick Wright. Seated, from left to right, are Moore-Brabazon, Wil bur Wright, Onrille Wright, and C. S. Rolls. / FLIGHT. APRIL 20, 1939 "Short No. 2 " resembled No. 1, bui the rudder was carried on outriggers and not on the wing tips. Note the un usual lateral controllers. On this machine Lt. Col. Moore-Brabazon flew a mile in a closed circuit quaint control surfaces for maintaining lateral balance. They are shown in one of our photographs. History does not relate how effective these controls were, but at any rate Moore-Brabazon had, by October, 1909, sufficient control of his machine to win the Daily Mail prize of ,£1,000 for the first flight of one mile in a closed circuit. The flight took place at Shellbeach. The engine with which this machine was fitted was very powerful for those days: it was a Green water-cooled in-line, and developed 50-60 b.h.p. for a weight of 250 lb. ! The two airscrews were driven by chains, one of which was crossed so as to make the two rotate in opposite directions. It was while work was beginning at Leysdown that Shorts took on Mr. P. M. Jones as draughtsman. The event may seem fairly trivial until one remembers that at that time there were no aeronautical draughtsmen, and that thus Mr. Jones probably holds the unique distinction of being Britain's first, certainly to be taken on by a firm which was out for serious business and not merely for experiment ing. Mr. Jones, it might be mentioned, is still with the firm and has been there all the time, except for a short interval, after the death of C. S. Rolls, when work closed down for a time. A "Production" Order The next important event in the history of Shorts came when orders were placed for six Wright biplanes. This was the first real production order for aeroplanes ever placed in Great Britain, and resulted in firmly establishing Shorts as aeronautical engineers. The details are told elsewhere in this issue by that veteran friend of the Wright brothers, Griffith Brewer, in some reminiscences of the early days. Mr. Brewer introduced the Wright brothers to this country, was one of their very first passengers, and still flies his own aeroplane at 72, a fact which is not generally known. Leysdown was by now becoming too small for the ever growing business being done, and in 1910 the works were transferred to Eastchurch, although Oswald Short, who was a bachelor, continued to live at Mussel Manor, Shell- beach, the Aero Club's clubhouse. At Eastchurch many experimental aeroplanes were built during the next four years, until in its turn Eastchurch became too small and too remote, and the works were transferred to Rochester. After completing the orders for Wright biplanes, Shorts once more reverted to original design. The first was a biplane of the pusher type resembling the Henry Farmans
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