FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1163.PDF
IN FLIGHT. APRIL 20, 1939 The Shirl (left) was designed to carry an i8in. torpedo. In the picture the container under the machine was intended for carrying mails, or a long-range tank could be carried instead. It is often torgotten that Shorts built airships during the war. This photograph shows the R.38 in course of construction at Cardington. weight. However, the machine flew very well in view of its low power. Then followed a period during which Shorts had very little -encouragement from the Air Ministry. Civil flying absorbed but few aircraft and military orders were few and far between. While bodies of omnibuses provided the firm with "bread and butter," development work went on, and a considerable number of seaplane floats were built during this time for other firms' machines. Among outstanding successes may be mentioned the pair of floats built for Sir Alan Cobham's D.H.50, on which he flew from England to Australia and back. On that flight the floats were thoroughly tried out in all sorts of climates, and had some rough treatment. The company had already had experience in the con struction of commercial floatplanes—the Shrimp, which was produced just after the War, carried a pilot and three passengers. Originally it was powered with a Beardmore engine of 160 h.p., though a Puma was subsequently installed. Three machines of the type were built. A notable Service type which appeared at approximately the same time as the Shrimp was the Cromarty twin- engined flying boat with Rolls-Royce Condors. This was a biplane boat, and the top wings had a marked overhang. The influence of the F-5 boats was Shorts made the first all- metal hull for a flying boat. The wooden super structure of the F-5 was retained. The hull had a fluted planing bottom. Early stressed-skin construction : A test section of a fuselage was built and tested by Short Bros, in 1919. Note the shear wrinkles. apparent in its design though the hull form was unique, particularly as regards the design of the planing bottom, the concave section of which was intended to give gradual entry into the water. Originally the machine was designed to have guns mounted in nacelles on the top wing outboard of the airscrews. Data for the Cromarty were: Span, 112ft.; length, 60ft.; height, 23ft.; weight loaded, 18,500 lb. ; top speed, 96 m.p.h. Under construction at Rochester in 1926 was a military flying boat which may be regarded as the connecting link between the metal- hulled F-5 and Cromarty and the Singapore III, which is still employed in general recon naissance units of the Royal Air Force. The machine in question was the Mark I version of the Singa pore, which was built entirely of metal with the exception of the wing covering. The first (reference to this machine was made in Flight during June, 1927, when the boat was undergoing tests fitted with two Rolls-Royce Condor engines. It was claimed that the Singapore could fly, even when carrying full military load, with one of the Condors cut out. Moreover, the freedom from water soakage, due to the metal hull, permitted a large useful load to be carried. The Singapore was a shapely boat with biplane wings of unequal span, the engines being mounted between them. Three Scarff mountings carried defensive Lewis guns and bomb racks were fitted beneath the lower wings. As a Service type it carried a crew of five.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
