FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1802.PDF
966 THE SHORT SEAPLANES ... and on Friedrichshafen on November 21, 1914, when threeAvro 504s wrought havoc there with eleven tiny bombs (see Flight, July 9, 1954, page 43). At 5 a.m. on Thursday, December 24, 1914, the light cruisersArethusa and Undaunted, together with eight destroyers of the Third Flotilla, sailed from Harwich. They were escorting theseaplane-carriers Engadine, Riviera and Empress, which had on board nine seaplanes. A co-operating force of two destroyersand ten submarines was in attendance to repulse any attacks that might be made by enemy ships and to pick up the crews ofthe seaplanes if need be. The seaplanes' principal objective was the destruction of theairship sheds at Cuxhaven, but their crews were also requested to bring back as much information as possible about the numbersand classes of ships in the basin at Wilhelmshaven or moored in the Schillig Roads. At 6 a.m. on Christmas morning the mixedforce was in a position twelve miles north of Heligoland and the seaplanes were hoisted eut forthwith. Two could not get off thewater, and had to be hoisted in again, but the seven others were all airborne soon after 7 a.m. Those seven were all Shorts. There were three Short 74s:No. 811, flown by Fit. Lt. C. H. K. Edmonds, No. 814 (Fit. Sub-Lt. V. Gaskell-Blackburn), and No. 815 (Fit. Cdr. D. A.Oliver); two 160 h.p. Folders: No. 119 (Fit. Cdr. R. P. Ross) and No. 120 (Fit. Lt. A. J. Miley); and the Salmson-poweredShorts Nos. 135 and 136. No. 135 was flown by Fit. Cdr. F. E. T. Hewlett, and No. 136 was flown by Fit. Cdr. C. F. Kilner, withLt. Erskine Childers as his observer. None of the seaplanes found the Cuxhaven airship sheds, butthe German naval bases were thoroughly scrutinized and the aircrafts' bombs caused a considerable amount of damage. Thecrew of No. 136 brought back a particularly detailed report; that their thorough survey had not passed unnoticed by the enemywas proved by the subsequent movement of part of the German fleet from Cuxhaven to various places farther up the Kiel canal. Three of the Shorts, including No. 136, returned to theBritish naval force shortly after 10 a.m.; three other pilots were picked up by the submarine E.ll near Norderney Gat, but theirseaplanes had to be abandoned when the submarine was attacked by an enemy airship and was forced to dive. The seventh Shortwas No. 135, which had had engine failure. Fit. Cdr. Hewlett came down on the sea near a Dutch trawler, by which he waspicked up. He was detained in Holland, but was ultimately released as a ship-wrecked mariner; the fate of No. 135 is un-known, however. No. 136 gave excellent service during the Dardanelles cam-paign. It was one of the seaplanes allocated to the new seaplane carrier Ark Royal, which had been launched in September 1914and was commissioned under Cdr. R. H. Clark-Hall on December 9. On Monday, February 1, 1915, Ark Royal left Sheernessharbour and arrived at Tenedos on February 17. Her equip- ment consisted of the 200 h.p. Short No. 136, two of the bigWight pusher seaplanes with 200 h.p. Salmson engines, three Sopwith 807s and two Sopwitb Tabloids. The Tabloids were ofno immediate use, for there was no aerodrome on Tenedos, and they were exchanged for two Sopwith Schneider seaplanes onApril 8. The Short proved to be greatly superior to the Wights andSopwith 807s, which were unable to get off a choppy sea and, even when airborne, could not climb high enough to reach aheight from which effective gunnery spotting could be per- formed. Fit. Cdr. Kilner had accompanied the Short in ArkRoyal and flew it on several occasions at the Dardanelles. No. 136 •gave sterling service, and Cdr. Clark-Hall reported ". . . that shewas the most valuable and only rough-weather seaplane on board the ship." On April 27,1915, the Turkish battleship Turgud Reissuddenly shelled Ark Royal and forced the carrier to moye off. Fit. Cdr. E. H. Dunning and Sub-Lt. W. Park went off in theShort, intending to spot the guns of H.M.S. Triumph on to the Turgud Reis, but the Turkish ship steamed out of range.Dunning and Park flew back over the lines to look for enemy batteries and, when they went down to 2,500ft to examine one closely, they were greeted with a burst of fire which shot throughone of the float struts. The strut broke when No. 136 alighted, but the repairs proved unsatisfactory: when the machine wasagain ready for use both forward undercarriage struts buckled, the Salmson engine was immersed and could never again bepersuaded to run satisfactorily. "Aldiough 136 tried a few more jobs," wrote H. A. Jones, "she fades from the picture. . . . Shewas one of the earliest Shorts to be fitted with folding wings. When she folded her wings for the last time she could do so inpeace, for she had done her bit." Several types of Short seaplanes were fitted with Salmsonengines, and inaccurate records have not helped to relieve the confusion which inevitably arose. Roughly contemporary withNos. 135 and 136 was another type of Short seaplane powered by the 200 h.p. Salmson. The half-dozen machines ordered fromShort Brothers were numbered 161-166, and the aircraft was officially known as the Short seaplane, Admiralty Type 166.No. 161 bore the works number S.90, and some references call the type the Short S.90.The Short 166 bore a strong resemblance to the Short No. 136 but was a slightly larger aircraft and differed in several details.It was intended from the beginning to be a torpedo-carrier, and die float cross-bars were suitably arched to accommodate themissile. The two-bay wings could, of course, be folded, but the extensions of the upper wings were cable-braced and there wereking-post structures above the outer interplane struts. The one- piece, single-acting ailerons lay wholly outboard of those struts;they were of broad chord and had compound inverse taper. The tail unit was typical of Short design, embodying a balancedrudder. Twin wooden pontoon floats composed the main under- carriage; the tail float had a water rudder, and a stabilizing floatwas fitted under each lower wing. The Short 166 was designed for use from Ark Royal, and whenthe carrier was at Salonika, whence it had gone on November 7, 1915, she had five of the original six Short 166s on board: oneof the seaplanes was No. 166 itself. There is no positive record that any of the Short 166s ever used a torpedo operationally, butthey were used as reconnaissance aircraft, acted as spotters for Allied ships bombarding Turkish positions, and maintained
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
