Short Sturgeon
Sturgeon | |
---|---|
Sturgeon Mk.1 torpedo bomber prototype | |
Role | |
Manufacturer | Short Brothers |
First flight | 7 June 1946 |
Primary user | Fleet Air Arm |
Number built | 28 |
The Short Sturgeon was a planned
The Sturgeon was then redesigned as a target tug which saw service with the fleet for a number of years. Later, the basic Sturgeon design was reworked as a prototype anti-submarine aircraft. The many modifications that resulted turned the promising design into a "hapless and grotesque-looking hybrid."[1]
Design and development
The development process leading to the S.38 Sturgeon began with the 1943 S.6/43 requirement for a high-performance torpedo bomber with a bomb bay that could accommodate six 500-pound (230 kg) bombs or any of the current standard aerial torpedoes, operating from Audacious and Centaur-class aircraft carriers. A maximum all-up-weight of 24,000 lb (11,000 kg) was specified. Short Brothers were not invited to respond to S.6/43, but the preliminary responses from the other participating manufacturers indicated that a twin-engined design meeting all requirements was likely to weigh in excess of 24,000 lbs, while a single-engined design was unlikely to exceed the performance of in-service aircraft.
S.6/43 was allowed to proceed, and there are indications[2] that Shorts submitted two uninvited tenders, a single-engined Bristol Centaurus design and a twin-Rolls-Royce Merlin design. However, none of the original S.6/43 submissions was adopted and no reference to the Shorts submissions has been located in the official documentation.[3] Focus instead shifted to splitting the requirements, with the torpedo bomber requirement becoming O.5/43, eventually leading to the Fairey Spearfish, while S.11/43 was written for a reconnaissance aircraft able to operate as a bomber.[4]
Shorts submitted the twin-Merlin S.38 Sturgeon as their tender to S.11/43, while
The pilot's cockpit was a sub-assembly bolted to the front of the
Armament would be two 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Browning machine guns in the nose with a 1,000-pound (450 kg) bomb or two 500-pound bombs or four 250-pound (110 kg) depth charges carried in the bomb bay [8] and 16 underwing 60-pound (27 kg) RP-3 rockets carried under the wings. ASV radar was fitted and two F.52 cameras and a single F.24 camera were carried for the reconnaissance role. Normal fuel load was 410 imperial gallons (1,900 L; 490 US gal), but for reconnaissance missions a 180-imperial-gallon (820 L; 220 US gal) long-range fuel tank could be carried in the bomb bay.[9]
The first Short Sturgeon I RK787 flew at
With the end of the Second World War and the suspension of the Audacious and Centaur-class carriers the Royal Navy no longer had the platforms from which the Sturgeon was intended to operate and the requirement for the Sturgeon S.1 was cancelled. The production order for 30 aircraft was reduced to 23 and changed to a variant reworked under Q.1/46 to accommodate a largely shore-based target tug role as the S.39 (later re-indexed as the S.A.2) Sturgeon TT.2. The third prototype, RK794, was completed to TT.2 standard with a new serial, VR363.
The TT.2 was a large, but clean-looking twin-engined, mid-wing
The Sturgeon's post-war role began as a naval
The penultimate and last Sturgeons were rebuilt in 1949 as prototypes for the S.B.3, a proposed
Two S.B.3 prototypes were ordered with the first, WF632 flying on 8 December 1950 at Belfast. The design proved extremely difficult to
Operational history
The main production variant, the TT.2 naval target tug spent most of its life with
All existing Sturgeon TT.2s were planned to be modified to a TT.3 standard during the early 1950s, however the conversion programme was halted after five aircraft. The extended TT.2 nose with its synchronised photographic equipment and crew station was removed and replaced by a smaller streamlined nose cone. With the change from carrier operations to ground bases, all deck-landing equipment was also eliminated as well as the wing being modified to have a manual folding gear in place of the TT.2's hydraulic system.
One TT.2 (VR363), piloted by "Jock" Eassie, was briefly utilised as a
On the second flight of the day, the tow rope was extended and Brooke-Smith experienced the problems inherent in flying a light aircraft in the turbulence caused by the towing aircraft. Brooke-Smith had to cast off at low altitude and while attempting to side-slip out of the wake, struck the ground "nose-down" at 90 mph, injuring himself seriously and damaging the aircraft. With the extensive damage to the Short SB.1 necessitating a rebuild, the decision to power the modified glider (redesignated the Short SB.4 Sherpa) meant the end of the use of the Sturgeon tow aircraft in the programme.[12]
Variants
Sturgeon S.1
- Carrier-borne strike aircraft, one completed at Shorts, Rochester before production moved to Belfast. Three prototypes were ordered but the third was completed as the TT.2 prototype. The production contract for 30 S.1s to build at Rochester was cancelled.
Sturgeon TT.2
- Target tugs, two prototypes and 23 production aircraft ordered to be built at Belfast; some later converted to the TT.3 standard.
Sturgeon TT.3
- Revised target tug variant, five modified at Rochester from TT.2s.
S.B.3
- Prototype anti-submarine aircraft built in Belfast. Two prototypes ordered with the first flying on 12 August 1950 and then demonstrated at the 1950 Society of British Aerospace Companies' (SBAC) Farnborough Airshow; the second example was completed but never flown.
Jet Sturgeon night fighter
- Drawings exist for a Sturgeon variant modified with two Rolls Royce AJ.40 turbofans in place of the Merlins and armed with four 20mm Hispano cannon. This was linked to the 1945 decision by the Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Air) to order the evaluation of a Sturgeon night fighter derivative with improved performance as a low-risk alternative to the development of the De Havilland Sea Hornet NF.21 under N.21/45. As the Sea Hornet NF.21 was successful, no detailed development followed.[13]
Operators
United Kingdom
Specifications (Short S.B.9 Sturgeon TT.3)
Data from The World's Worst Aircraft.,[1] The Aircraft of the World,[15][16]
General characteristics
- Crew: 3
- Length: 44 ft (13 m)
- Wingspan: 59 ft 11 in (18.26 m)
- Height: 13 ft 2+1⁄2 in (4.026 m)
- Wing area: 518.4 sq ft (48.16 m2)
- Aspect ratio: 6.4
- Airfoil: root:NACA 642215.3; tip:NACA 642215.6
- Empty weight: 16,967 lb (7,696 kg)
- Gross weight: 18,126 lb (8,222 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 21,700 lb (9,843 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 410 imp gal (490 US gal; 1,900 L) fuel in four wing tanks, plus an optional auxiliary bomb bay tank of 180 imp gal (220 US gal; 820 L); 22 imp gal (26 US gal; 100 L) oil per engine
- Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Merlin 140V-12 liquid-cooled piston engines, 2,080 hp (1,550 kW) each at 2,000 ft (610 m)
- Propellers: 6-bladed Rotol, 10 ft (3.0 m) diameter contra-rotating constant-speed fully feathering propellers with wooden blades
Performance
- Maximum speed: 366 mph (589 km/h, 318 kn)
- Cruise speed: 312 mph (502 km/h, 271 kn)
- Range: 1,600 mi (2,600 km, 1,400 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 35,200 ft (10,700 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,330 ft/min (11.8 m/s)
See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
Notes
- ^ a b c Winchester 2005, p. 50.
- ^ Barnes 1989, p. 413.
- ^ Buttler 2004, p. 158.
- ^ Buttler 2004, p. 153.
- ^ Buttler 2004, p. 157.
- ^ Flight 1946, p. 425.
- ^ Winchester 2005, p. 51.
- ^ Flight 14 November 1946, pp. 522–523.
- ^ a b Barnes 1989, p. 414.
- ^ "Short SA.1." Flight, 1946. Retrieved: 16 January 2011.
- ^ Gunston 1977, p. 512.
- ^ Gunston 1977, p. 513.
- ^ Buttler 2004, p. 179.
- ^ Sturtivant and Balance 1994, p. 363.
- ^ Green and Pollinger 1955, p. 168.
- ^ Bridgman, Leonard, ed. (1947). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1947. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. pp. 73c–74c.
Bibliography
- Barnes, C. H. Shorts Aircraft Since 1900. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-819-4
- Buttler, Tony. "Anti-Submarine Insurance: The Portly Short SB.3". ISSN 0143-5450
- Buttler, Tony (November–December 1999). "A Near Class Act: Shorts' Frustrated Sturgeion". Air Enthusiast (84): 66–71. ISSN 0143-5450.
- Buttler, Tony. British Secret Projects: Fighters and Bombers 1935–1950. Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-85780-179-2
- Buttler, Tony. X-Planes of Europe II: Military Prototype Aircraft from the Golden Age 1946–1974. Manchester, UK: Hikoki Publications, 2015. ISBN 978-1-90210-948-0
- Green, William and Gerald Pollinger. The Aircraft of the World. London: Macdonald, 1955.
- Gunston, Bill. "Short's Experimental Sherpa." Aeroplane Monthly, Vol. 5, no. 10, October 1977, pp. 508–515
- Gunston, Bill. "Sturgeon." Aeroplane Monthly, Volume 6, No. 10, October 1978.
- "Short Sturgeon." Flight, 17 October 1946, pp. 422–425
- Sturtivant, Ray and Theo Balance. The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians), 1994. ISBN 0-85130-223-8
- Warner, Guy (July–August 2002). "From Bombay to Bombardier: Aircraft Production at Sydenham, Part One". ISSN 0143-5450.
- Winchester, Jim, ed. "Short Sturgeon". The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. London: Amber Books, 2005. ISBN 1-904687-34-2