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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1162.PDF
APRIL 20, 1939 FLIGHT. Shorts' work during this period. A substantial order for F-5 flying boats was, however, received from the Japanese government. The machines were partly finished at Rochester and finally completed in Japan. In 1921 a twin-engined service flying boat, the Cromarty, was built for the Air Ministry. The Silver Streak was built to try the struc ture and not with the idea of conforming to any particular Air Ministry specification. However, the machine was bought by the Air Ministry and tested to destruction, the vibration and corrosion tests lasting for nearly two years. As they gave promising results, Shorts built an all-metal machine to an Air Ministry specification. This was the Springbok, a two-seater fighter fitted with Bristol Jupiter engine. The stressed-skin fuselage feature was retained. The machine, built in 1923, was not ordered in quantities. (Above) An historic event : In 1912 Com mander Samson flew a Short S.38 (modi fied) off a platform on the deck of H.M.S. Hibernia while the vessel was travelling at 15 knots. (Right) The foundation of a seaplane reputation : One of the first torpedo- carrying seaplanes of the " Two-two- five " type being launched at Rochester in 1015. and keeping together the skilled design staff so laboriously collected during the previous years. That is not to say that Shorts abandoned aircraft work alto gether. Far from it. Much experi- mental work was done, and many types of aircraft were built. In these days of so-called "stressed- skin '' construction sight is apt to be lost slfe of the fact that Mr. Oswald Short per- " **>** " p"otograpi, sonally sketched out the main scheme as early as 1919, and Short Brothers then began to experiment with metal-clad structures. A portion of fuselage was made up and tested in order to get an idea of its strength. (In those days one could not calculate the strength of a shell.) The results were good, and a complete machine was built. This, the Silver Streak, was a normal biplane as regards its aero dynamic design, but the fuselage was a light metal shell, reinforced by stringers, and the wings had a thin covering of sheet metal. Shorts vainly tried to convince the Air Ministry that metal-clad aircraft were the future type, and for some time little progress was made. Ultimately, however, Shorts did get an order for making an all-metal hull for one of the F-boats. That was really the begin ning of subsequent Short all-metal history. But it is only fair to place on record here the fact that Shorts did pioneer stressed-skin construction. For that they have never had the credit which is their due. The Silver Streak was ex hibited at the Olympia Show in 1920. At home relatively little was heard of Wing-folding was in corporated in the Short bomber of 1916. This machine had a span of 85ft. and carried a machine gun and four 250 lb. bombs. The engine was a Rolls- Royce Falcon. In 1924 Shorts built their first all-metal flying boat. This machine became known as the Cockle. It had originally been ordered, by cable, by Mr. Lebbaeus Hordern, of Aus tralia, but he changed his mind about the purchase and ultimately the machine was bought by the Air Ministry. The Cockle was fitted with two Blackburne motor cycle engines of 696 c.c. each. Needless to say, the machine was under-powered, but it provided valuable experience and enabled the task of building a large all-metal flying boat to be undertaken with assurance. In 1924 Shorts built their first all-metal light landplane. The machine took part in the Lympne competition the following year, but was, not unnaturally, somewhat heavy for the little 33 h.p. Bristol Cherub engine with which it was fitted. In that small size it was difficult to get down to the gauges of metal which would have sufficed for the flying loads, and for practical reasons heavier gauges had to be used in many places, with consequent increase in
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