
Описание
Страна: Великобритания
Год: 1910
Варианты
- Short - S.26 - S.29 / S.32 (Type S.27) - 1910 - Великобритания
- Short - S.34 / S.35 - 1911 - Великобритания
- Short - S.33 / S.38 seaplane - 1912 - Великобритания
- Short - S.38 / Admiralty No.3 - 1912 - Великобритания
- Short - S.80 / S.81 - 1913 - Великобритания
- C.Barnes Short Aircraft since 1900 (Putnam)
- M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
- P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
- O.Thetford British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Putnam)
- Jane's All The World Aircraft 1913
- Журнал Flight
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Журнал - Flight за 1910 г.
Short Biplane, "No. 27."
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O.Thetford - British Naval Aircraft since 1912 /Putnam/
Early Short S.27 fitted with E.N.V. engine.
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M.Goodall, A.Tagg - British Aircraft before the Great War /Schiffer/
Short S.27 (Grace No.2) with 60hp ENV F.
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Журнал - Flight за 1910 г.
WOLVERHAMPTON FLIGHT MEETING. - General view of the aerodrome looking towards the hangars. Mr. Cecil Grace in flight on his Short biplane.
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C.Barnes - Short Aircraft since 1900 /Putnam/
Cecil Grace flying S.27 at Dunstall Park, Wolverhampton, in June 1910.
Short S.26-S.29 and 34 were fitted with various engines. This is CS. Grace's S.27 with French ENV engine without wing extensions. -
Журнал - Flight за 1910 г.
Cecil Grace, on his "Short" biplane, gets up for the Altitude Contest.
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Журнал - Flight за 1910 г.
FLYING IN THE FACE OF THE SETTING SUN. - A "November setting," by Dr. William J. S. Lockyer, to Mr. Frank K. McClean and his Short biplane at the Royal Aero Club's ground, Eastchurch. This picture is a fine example of a Genuine photograph, and was secured by Dr. Lockyer on the evening of November 6th just before sunset. It was on this machine that Mr. McClean has recently been making his long cross-country flights.
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O.Thetford - British Naval Aircraft since 1912 /Putnam/
Short S.27 with 50 h.p. Gnome engine and extended wings heralded the start of the company's long and mutually beneficial relationship with the Admiralty's air arm.
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M.Goodall, A.Tagg - British Aircraft before the Great War /Schiffer/
Cecil Grace about to start from Dover in S.29 on 22 December, 1910.
Short S.29 was similar with a British ENV. -
Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.
Territorials at the Royal Aero Club's Eastchurch flying grounds practising with "Short" biplane, No. 32.
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Журнал - Flight за 1910 г.
Mr. Cecil Grace ready in the pilot's seat prior to his start for the De Forest Cross-Channel Prize,
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C.Barnes - Short Aircraft since 1900 /Putnam/
S.43, one of the two side-by-side dual-control biplanes supplied to the Central Flying School, Upavon, in 1912.
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Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.
Lieut. A. V. Barrington-Kennett qualifying for his pilot's certificate on the Short dual control biplane at the Royal Aero Club's Eastchurch flying grounds.
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Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.
Commander Samson, R.N., making a spiral vol plane at Eastchurch recently on one of the Short biplanes.
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Журнал - Flight за 1911 г.
Lieut. Samson, R.N., making his British duration record of nearly five hours on a Short biplane at Eastchurch Aerodrome last Saturday. At the top he is seen making a good turn; below, Mr. Travers is seen chalking on a board the time Lieut. Samson had been in the air, this being rendered necessary by reason of the aviator's watch having stopped, a fact which he communicated to the observers by shouting from his aeroplane. On the right Lieut. Samson is seen in the act of dismounting after his splendid flight.
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Журнал - Flight за 1910 г.
THE FLYING MEN AT BOURNEMOUTH AND THEIR "MOUNTS." - Cecil Grace (Short).
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Журнал - Flight за 1910 г.
Mr. Frank K. McClean and his first passenger, Dr. William J. S. Lockyer, with whom, on his Short biplane, he flew on October 22nd at the Royal Aero Club grounds at East' church, Sheppay. Mr. McClean has been, as we record, making some splendid cross-country flights, one lasting for 1 hr. 6 mins.
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C.Barnes - Short Aircraft since 1900 /Putnam/
Lieut. Samson, R.N., on a "Short" biplane. He left East church flying grounds for Brooklands on Thursday week at 4.30 p.m., alighting at Horley for the night. Having replenished, he was off again on Friday morning, but missed his way and landed at Hawthorn Hill racecourse, from there making a good flight, and arriving safely at Brookiands,
Charles Samson strapped into S.28 before starting a practice flight at Eastchurch in May 1911; obviously he expected to walk away from his landing. -
Журнал - Flight за 1911 г.
Lieut. Gerrard, R.M.L.L, in the pilot's seat of the Short biplane upon which he made his world's record cross-country duration flight of 4 hrs. 13 mins. with a passenger, Lieut. Wildman Lushington, R.M.A., at Eastchurch flying grounds on August 16th. Lieut. Gerrard was competing for the Mortimer Singer prize, which is open only to British officers.
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Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.
Mr. Cutler on the Short biplane.
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Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.
Capt. Gordon at Eastchurch flying grounds, another competitor for the Mortimer Singer Naval and Military Aviation Competition.
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Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.
Capt Gerrard on his Short biplane at Eastchurch, where he is one of the foremost competitors for the Mortimer Singer Aviation Prize for Naval and Military Officers.
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Журнал - Flight за 1912 г.
Engineer Lieut. Briggs, R.N., with Leading Seaman Russell, on Short biplane No. 34, upon which he took his pilot's certificate on July 27th.
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C.Barnes - Short Aircraft since 1900 /Putnam/
Short S.26 (Original), S.32 (Dual)
C.Barnes Short Aircraft since 1900 (Putnam)
Short Pusher Biplanes (1910-14)
On 15 February, 1910, H.M. King Edward VII granted the prefix ‘Royal’ to the Aero Club of the United Kingdom, in recognition of the growing importance of aviation and of the Club’s contribution to the art of flying. Many new members were attracted, some of whom might earlier have doubted the respectability of a movement so near the ‘lunatic fringe’, and a London headquarters had been opened at 166 Piccadilly. This was well patronised, although the hardier members preferred to spend their time at Mussel Manor, their Club-house at Shellbeach, near Leysdown, Sheppey; but the adjacent flying ground was small and much restricted by numerous dykes and rough areas. Horace and Eustace Short owned an ancient 7 hp Panhard car which apparently took such obstacles in its stride, and in this they explored the entire Isle of Sheppey, eventually discovering 400 acres of excellent level grassland adjoining Stamford Hill near Eastchurch, about four miles east of Leysdown. Frank McClean then purchased this as an auxiliary flying ground and invited Short Brothers to move their works to it. The Leysdown works were still completing the last two Short-Wrights and Short No. 3, but only Charles Rolls and Alec Ogilvie still thought this type had any future after having seen the standard Farmans flown at Reims in August 1909 by Henry Farman, George Cockburn and Roger Sommer. Horace Short considered the Wright to be ‘a beast that needs some handling’, and he and Frank McClean readily accepted the view of George Cockburn and Cecil Grace that the Farman was easier to fly, cheaper to construct and maintain, and had more development potential, particularly when allied with the 50 hp Gnome rotary engine. By March 1910 Rolls, too, had come to the same conclusion, for he had bought one of the latest Sommer biplanes, which he showed at Olympia and flew briefly at Eastchurch in April, before going to Nice.
In May 1910, having completed the sixth Short-Wright at Leysdown for Rolls, Short Brothers moved their factory to Eastchurch, where they had plenty of room for future expansion, and began production of a batch of biplanes designed by Horace Short on the basis of both the standard Farman and Sommer’s derivative of it. The first four were similar, two having 40 hp Green engines, for Frank McClean and J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon respectively, one having a 60 hp E.N.V. for Cecil Grace and one being a reserve airframe. The works Nos. were S.26 for McClean, S.27 for Grace and S.28 for Moore-Brabazon, but they were generically called the ‘S.27 type’, because Cecil Grace was their foremost exponent at flying meetings. The wings were of equal span, with four uncompensated ailerons, and the front elevator was in two parts joined to a central lever directly connected by wires to the pilot’s control lever; the span of the front elevator extended beyond the pivots carried by the front booms. The tail-booms were parallel in plan, but slightly convergent rearwards in side view, as in the Sommer, and carried a cambered monoplane tail having a narrow-chord inset elevator linked to the front one, with a square rudder pivoted centrally below; this single rudder was adequate for the Green-engined version, but Grace preferred to augment it by a similar rudder above the tailplane when using the E.N.V. The landing-gear, like Sommer’s, was simpler than Farman’s, with the skids wire-braced laterally, carrying only a single wheel inboard of each skid. The wheels were mounted on a long rubber-sprung cross-axle, which was soon found to be too flexible and was thereafter stiffened by an ingenious truss of kingposts and bobstays. As in the Sommer, malacca cane half-hoops below each lower tail-boom formed the tailskids.
Although the exact first flight date of the new Short biplane is not on record, it is known that both S.26 and S.27 were being flown on 19 June, 1910, the former by G. C. Colmore, a beginner with only 20 minutes taxying time to his credit; nevertheless, his first flight covered 11 miles in 20 minutes, and the next day he completed the tests for his pilot’s certificate (No. 15), which the Royal Aero Club granted on 21 June, 1910. Cecil Grace began flying S.27 about the same time, and on 20 June flew for 45 minutes over Sheerness, circling above the battleships Bulwark and Victorious and reaching a height of 1,180 ft, a new British record; he reported that the ailerons designed by Horace Short were quite as effective as the Wright warping system, thus resolving a doubt which had hitherto existed. At the Midland Aero Club’s meeting at Dunstall Park, Wolverhampton, from 27 June to 2 July, he gave a brilliant display of manoeuvrability for half an hour, finishing with a deadstick landing from 150 ft. Moore-Brabazon took delivery of S.28 during the last week of June and flew it once or twice at Eastchurch; He had entered it for the Bournemouth meeting on 11 July, but did not fly there, although both Colmore and Grace took part on S.26 and S.27. After the death of Rolls on 12 July Moore-Brabazon was persuaded by his wife to give up competitive flying and S.28 was stored for the time being at Eastchurch. Colmore flew S.26 in the Lanark meeting, where he covered the flying kilometre at 52-75 mph, but in trying to improve on this on 13 August he came to grief in a young fir plantation. After repairing the damage, McClean had a 50 hp Gnome fitted to S.26; at the same time a flat tailplane with a larger aft elevator was fitted and the front elevator was reduced in span, with levers at each side to carry the control wires linking the two elevators; this arrangement became standard on all future Short biplanes of this type. McClean flew S.26 thus modified on 31 August and made rapid progress. Completing his tests for R.Ae.C. certificate No. 21 on 19 September he made several cross-country flights, but damaged S.26 in a heavy landing on 30 September; a stronger chassis with diagonal struts was fitted, together with stronger tailskids, and he was flying again on 15 and 16 October, watched by a party of Naval officers from Sheerness, whose interest had been aroused by Cecil Grace’s exploits; on 22 October McClean took up as his first passenger Dr W. J. S. Lockyer, his old friend and colleague in astronomy, who was also a keen balloonist and a pioneer of aerial photography.
McClean next bought S.28 from Moore-Brabazon and had it fitted with a 50 hp Gnome, flying it in this form on 15 November, 1910. After two weeks’ flying he substituted a 60 hp Green engine, so as to make it an all-British aeroplane and thus eligible for the de Forest Prize of £4,000, which was on offer till the end of 1910, for British subjects on British aircraft only, for the farthest distance flown from a starting-point in England to a point on the Continent. By coincidence, Baron de Forest’s announcement of this prize had been sent to the Aero Club on 25 July, 1909, the day Louis Bleriot flew the Channel, but before the news of Bleriot’s feat had reached London. Cecil Grace, too, was competing in S.29, which had been completed with a 60 hp E.N.V. engine and a number of other modifications, including flotation airbags and extensions to the upper wing-tips. Grace flew S.29 to his starting-point at Dover on 5 December, but McClean had engine trouble with S.28 and abandoned his attempt on 18 December, when the weather became very rough. Grace decided to discard the flotation bags and took off from Dover on the 22nd, making an excellent flight to Les Baraques in spite of bad weather; he decided to fly back at once to make another attempt and was heard near the North Goodwin lightship in fog, but never reached Dover, nor was ever seen again.
A few weeks earlier Frank McClean, through the Royal Aero Club, had offered the Admiralty the free use of two Gnome-engined Shorts (S.28 and S.29), and Cecil Grace had offered to give free tuition on them. This offer was to remain open for six months, during McClean’s absence, as a representative of the Norman Lockyer Observatory, with a Government Solar Eclipse Expedition to Fiji and Tasmania; Dr Lockyer was in charge of the party, which sailed on 31 January, 1911, in the cruiser Encounter and was due to return in July after recording the eclipse on 28 April. On 5 December, 1910, in a General Fleet Order, Admiral Sir C. C. Drury, C.-in-C. The Nore, invited applications from Royal Navy and Marine officers to join the flying course, and 200 volunteers sent in their names. After Cecil Grace had been presumed dead, George Cockburn offered to take his place as instructor, and a new biplane, S.34, was built to replace S.29. The first four officers selected for the first course were Lieuts C. R. Samson, A. M. Longmore and R. Gregory of the Royal Navy and Lieut G. V. Wildman Lushington of the Royal Marine Artillery. Cockburn began instructing Samson on S.28 on 15 March, but Lushington was on sick leave, and his place was taken by Lieut E. L. Gerrard, Royal Marine Light Infantry. Samson and Longmore qualified for R.Ae.C. certificates on 24 April, and Gregory and Gerrard on 1 May; all four were airborne on 11 May when Prince Louis of Battenberg (commanding Reserve Fleet, Sheerness) paid the first of many visits to Eastchurch. At the start of the course McClean’s S.26 had also been made available for instruction, but it was found sluggish compared with the later machines and was only used for preliminary taxying lessons; it was known as ‘The Dud’, and when S.28 (‘Little Willy’) began to accumulate flying time it was deemed wise to have another machine in reserve, so a new biplane, S.38, similar to S.34, was built to replace S.26 and was first flown by Samson on 24 May, 1911. Like S.34, its upper wing spanned 46 ft and it had top and bottom ailerons. The bottom ailerons had been deleted at Cecil Grace’s request on S.29, because of flexibility in the bottom wing spars, but Horace Short had found an answer to this problem by means of kingposts in the inner bays above the spars and in the centre bay below the spars; at the same time the whole wing truss had been strengthened by solid compression ribs below the lower surface of the upper wing, between the interplane strut top sockets. Thus the ‘improved S.27’, as it was known, was notable for its robust construction, although its open accommodation, with the passenger behind and above the pilot, was spartan in the extreme.
In July both S.34 and S.38 were prepared for maximum duration flying, and S.34 was equipped with extra large tanks for 28 gallons of fuel and 13 gallons of oil. S.38 had been built with tankage for four hours, but this was supplemented by a gravity tank mounted fore-and-aft above them; S.38 also sported fabric wheel covers at this stage of its career. On 17 August Lieuts Gerrard and Lushington flew S.34 for 4 hours 13 minutes, then landing only because of dusk, with over two hours’ fuel remaining. Two days later Samson flew solo in S.38 for 4 hours 58 1/2 minutes to set up a new British duration record. During this flight his watch stopped, so he circled the flying ground calling in a stentorian voice for a time-check, which was thereafter displayed at five-minute intervals, chalked large on a blackboard. When the six months’ agreement expired on 31 August, 1911, it was reckoned that ‘Little Willy’ had flown 4,000 miles, and S.34 and S.38, 3,000 and 2,000 miles respectively; the total breakage bill incurred was only £25.
While the four Naval airmen were perfecting their skill, two more variants of the ‘improved S.27’ appeared from the works.
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The second S.27 variant was S.32, which was ready for Frank McClean on his return from Tasmania; he made the first flight on it on 29 July, 1911. This biplane had begun in November 1910 as a tractor design for Cecil Grace, but had been set aside after his death and then completed as a pusher at McClean’s request. It had a 70 hp Gnome and was the first Short biplane to feature side-by-side seats with full dual controls; this made it particularly suitable for school work and, following the success of the Naval pupils, McClean offered similar free tuition on this machine and another like it, S.33, to volunteers from the London Balloon Company, R.E., T.F. In November 1911 the first ‘Terrier’ pupils began flying lessons under Jack Travers, one of Shorts’ draughtsmen, who had already gained his pilot’s certificate at Brooklands; the first to qualify was V. A. Barrington-Kennett (whose more famous brother was a few months later to become the first Adjutant of the Royal Flying Corps); he went solo on 6 December and gained his certificate (No. 198) on 5 March, 1912. By this date, however, the War Office was committed to expand the Air Battalion, R.E., into the Royal Flying Corps, and ruled that members of Territorial Balloon Companies were not to indulge in aeroplane pilotage, so McClean had to end the free training scheme, but not before three more ‘Terrier’ pilots, including Tom O’Brien Hubbard, had won their brevets. Two more dual-control school biplanes, S.43 and S.44, were built for the new Central Flying School at Upavon, being tested by McClean at Eastchurch early in June 1912 and delivered to Upavon in July, after official scrutiny and acceptance at Farnborough; they were serialled 401 and 402. Although their discomfort made them unpopular, their indestructibility earned them respect, and they were still in daily use late in 1914.
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S.26-28 (original) - Span 34 ft 2 in (10 3 m); length 40 ft 6 in (12 3 m); area 480 sq ft (44-6 m2); empty weight 1,000 lb (454 kg); loaded weight, 1,400 lb (635 kg); speed 40 mph (62-9 km/h).
S.29, S.32-35, S.38, S.43-44 - Span 46 ft 5 in (141 m); length 42 ft 1 in (12-8 m); area 517 sq ft (48 m2); empty weight 1,100 lb (500 kg); loaded weight 1,540 lb (700 kg); speed - 50 hp Gnome, 39 mph (62-8 km/h); 70 hp Gnome, 45 mph (72-5 km/h).
Postscript. As this book went to press, confirmation arrived from Mr Gascoyne (formerly of the E.N.V. Co.), via Mr H. F. Cowley, that the French-built 60 hp E.N.V. engine (Type F, series 1, No. 4), discovered in 1964, was indeed the engine originally installed in S.27 and flown by Cecil Grace at Wolverhampton and Bournemouth in 1910. This engine had been stored since 1914 at the Chequers Inn, Eltham, Kent, and was in running condition when found by a Mr Tagg. Only British-built E.N.V.s were eligible for the de Forest competition, and it was one of the first of these that was lost in Grace’s S.29; two others were installed in T. O. M. Sopwith’s winning Howard Wright and in Grahame-White’s unlucky Bristol Boxkite.
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