Short Empire

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Empire or "C Class flying boat"
The BOAC Short 'C' Class flying boat G-AFBL Cooee, at Rod El Faray, Egypt, c. 1942
Type Flying boat mail carrier
Manufacturer Short Brothers
Maiden flight 3 July 1936
Primary user Imperial Airways
Number built 42

The Short Empire was a passenger and mail carrying flying boat, of the 1930s and 1940s, which flew between Britain and British colonies in Africa, Asia and Australia. It was manufactured by Short Brothers and was the precursor to the more famous Short Sunderland of World War II.

Contents

[edit] Design and development

The origins of the Empire boats lay in an Air Ministry requirement for passenger and mail carriers that could service the colonies particularly to make the connection to Australia.

The Empire was officially known as the C-class and each aircraft was christened with a name beginning with C. The first aircraft, G-ADHL Canopus, was completed in June 1936 and launched on 3 July. A total of 42 Empires were built, all at Short's Rochester factory.

Imperial Airways (and its successor BOAC), Qantas and TEAL operated the Short Empire.

The first series of the Short Empires, the S23, could carry 5 crew, 17 passengers, and 4,480 lb (2,035 kg) of cargo at a maximum speed of 174 knots (320 km/h).

The range of the S.23 was less than that of the US Sikorsky "Clipper" flying boats and as such they could not provide a trans-Atlantic service. Two boats (Caledonia and Cambria) were lightened and given long range tanks so they could make the trip but that meant they could carry fewer passengers and less cargo. In an attempt to manage the Altantic crossing a piggy-back approach was tried. Using a built up S.23 design as the main carrier and a smaller four-engined floatplane design, the Short S.20, mounted on its back. Only a single example was built of a carrier aircraft, the S.21 (Maia) and one S.20 (Mercury) together known as the Short Mayo Composite[1] A successful mid-air launch of Mercury was made in 1938.

The S30 series were fitted with Bristol Perseus sleeve valve engines and had a strengthened airframe allowing the take off weight to be increased to 46,000 pounds and giving a range of 1,500 miles. Cabot, Caribou, Clyde and Connemara were fitted with in-flight refuelling equipment and extra fuel tanks so they could be used for a trans-atlantic airmail service. The idea behind this was for the aircraft to take off and once airborne take on extra fuel to an all up weight of 53,000 pounds giving a range of over 2,500 miles. The extra fuel did reduce the payload to 4,270 pounds against the 6,250 pounds of the standard craft. The refuelling was by 3 converted Handley Page Harrow bombers operating out of Ireland and Newfoundland.

In addition to the C class flying boats there were also three S26 type built; these were known as the "G class" and had names starting with "G": Golden Hind, Golden Fleece and Golden Horn. They were a scaled up version of the C class, with a wing span of 134 ft (40.9 m) and a length of 101 ft. (30.9 m).

[edit] Service

During the Second World War the UK-Australia route was stopped and a new route was established which ran from Sydney to Durban via Cairo. This was stopped after the loss of Singapore but restarted when the Japanese were ousted from Burma and Malaya

[edit] List of aircraft

Registration Name Operator
S.23
G-ADHL Canopus Imperial Airways/BOAC
G-ADHM Caledonia Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-ADUT Centaurus Imperial Airways, to Royal Australian Air Force in 1939 (as serial A18-10)
G-ADUU Caledonia Imperial Airways
G-ADUV Cambria Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-ADUW Castor Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-ADUX Cassiopea Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-ADUY Capella Imperial Airways
G-ADUZ Cygnus Imperial Airways
G-ADVA Capricornus Imperial Airways
G-ADVB Corsair Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-ADVC Courtier Imperial Airways
G-ADVD Challenger Imperial Airways
G-ADVE Centurion Imperial Airways
G-AETV Coriolanus Imperial Airways, later BOAC, to QANTAS in 1942 (as registration VH-ABG)
G-AETW Calpurnia Imperial Airways
G-AETX Ceres Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AETY Clio Imperial Airways later BOAC, to RAF in 1940 (as AX659)
G-AETZ Circe Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AEUA Calypso Imperial Airways, to QANTAS in 1939 not used directly to Royal Australian Air Force (as serial A18-11)
G-AEUB Camilla Imperial Airways later BOAC - to QANTAS (as VH-ADU)
G-AEUC Corinna Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AEUD Cordelia Imperial Airways later BOAC, to RAF in 1940 (as AX660), returned to BOAC in 1941 (as G-AEUD)
G-AEUE Cameronian Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AEUF Corinthian Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AEUG Coogee Imperial Airways, to QANTAS in 1938 (as VH-ABC), to Royal Australian Air Force in 1939 (as A18-12)
G-AEUH Corio Imperial Airways, to QANTAS in 1938 (as VH-ABD), to Imperial Airways in 1939 (as G-AEUH)
G-AEUI Coorong Imperial Airways, to QANTAS in 1938 (as VH-ABE), to Imperial Airways in 1939 (as G-AEUI)
G-AFBJ Carpentaria Imperial Airways not used to QANTAS in 1937 (as VH-ABA), to BOAC in 1942 (as G-AFBJ)
G-AFBK Coolangatta Imperial Airways not used to QANTAS in 1937 (as VH-ABB), to Royal Australian Air Force in 1939 (as A18-13)
G-AFBL Cooee Imperial Airways not used to QANTAS in 1937 (as VH-ABF) to BOAC in 1942
S.26
G-AFCI Golden Hind Imperial Airways, to RAF in 1940 (as X8275), to BOAC in 1941 (as G-AFCI), retired 21 September 1947
G-AFCJ Golden Fleece Imperial Airways not used to RAF in 1940 (as X8274), sank 20 June 1941
G-AFCK Golden Horn Imperial Airways not used to RAF in 1940 (as X8273), to BOAC in 1941, sank Lisbon 9 January 1943
S.30
G-AFCT Champion Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AFCU Cabot Imperial Airways, to RAF in 1939 (as V3137)
G-AFCV Caribou Imperial Airways, to RAF in 1939 (as V3138)
G-AFCW Connemara Imperial Airways
G-AFCX Clyde Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AFCY Captain Cook Imperial Airways, to TEAL in 1940 (as ZK-AMC Awarua)
G-AFCZ Australia then Clare Imperial Airways later BOAC
G-AFDA Aotearoa Imperial Airways, to TEAL in 1940 (as ZK-AMA)
G-AFKZ Cathay Imperial Airways later BOAC
S.33
G-AFPZ Clifton BOAC, to RAAF (as A18-14), to QANTAS in 1942 (as VH-ACD)
G-AFRA Cleopatra BOAC

[edit] Operators

[edit] Civil Operators

Short S23 of Qantas
Short S23 of Qantas

[edit] Military Operators

[edit] Specifications (Shorts S.23)

Data from The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft[1]

General characteristics

  • Length: 88 ft (26.82m)
  • Wingspan: 114 ft (34.75 m)
  • Height: 31 ft 9¾ in (9.70 m)
  • Wing area: 1,500 ft² (139.35 m²)
  • Empty weight: 23,500 lb (10,659 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 40,500 lb (18,370 kg)
  • Powerplant: 4× Bristol Pegasus radial, 920 hp (696 kW) each

Performance

[edit] References

  1. ^ Donald, David(Editor) (1997). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Aerospace Publishing. ISBN 1-85605-375-X. 

[edit] External links



 

 

Designation sequence

Short Sarafand - Short Scion - Short Scion Senior - Short Empire - Short Sunderland - Short Stirling

 

 

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