Short Brothers

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Short and Harland
)

Short Brothers plc
Company type
Parent
Spirit Aerosystems

Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes.[1] It was particularly notable for its flying boat designs manufactured into the 1950s.

In 1943, Shorts was

missiles for the British Armed Forces
.

Shorts was primarily

government-owned until being bought by Bombardier in 1989 and, in 2007, was the largest manufacturing concern in Northern Ireland.[2] In November 2020, Bombardier sold its Belfast operations to Spirit AeroSystems.[3]

The company's products include aircraft components, engine

History

Early years

left-to-right: Oswald (1883-1969), Horace (1872-1917), and Eustace Short (1875-1932) at Mussell Manor 1909.
Mussell Manor, the Royal Aero Club clubhouse

The Short Brothers business started in 1897 when Eustace Short (1875 – 1932) bought a second-hand

1900 Paris Exposition ('World's Fair'), where they saw the balloons of Édouard Surcouf (of Société Astra
), who had developed a method of constructing truly spherical balloons.

In 1902, the brothers started offering balloons for sale. They manufactured the balloons at

Hove, Sussex, in premises above the acoustic laboratory run by a third brother, Horace (2 July 1872 – 6 April 1917). In 1903, when Horace left to work on steam turbine development with Charles Parsons, Eustace and Oswald moved their workshop to rented accommodation in London, then again to railway arches in Battersea
, conveniently situated next to Battersea gas-works.

In 1905, they won a contract for three balloons for the

Aero Club of Great Britain (later Royal Aero Club).[6]

In 1908, on hearing reports from Aero Club members who had seen the

Olympia. Meanwhile, the brothers had obtained the British rights to build copies of the Wright design.[8]

Commander C. R. Samson making the first take-off from a moving ship, May 1912

In February 1909,

Eastchurch, about 2.5 miles (4 km) away. At this time the Royal Aero Club had offered the Admiralty the use of the flying field and Frank McClean had agreed to act as an instructor, so beginning a close association between Short Brothers and the Naval Air Service, whose first pilots were trained using Short S.27
pusher biplanes.

In 1911, Shorts built one of the world's first successful twin-engine aircraft, the Triple Twin. Construction started on a long series of naval aircraft floatplanes, starting with the Short S.26.

In 1913, Gordon Bell became Shorts' first professional test pilot: he was succeeded by Ronald Kemp in 1914. Kemp could not handle the volume of flight testing and development alone and, by 1916, other pilots were employed on a freelance basis. One of these was John Lankester Parker. In 1918 Parker succeeded Kemp as Shorts' Chief Test Pilot, a post he was to occupy for the next 27 years.[10]

In 2013 a statue of the brothers was unveiled in memory of their contribution to early aviation, by local artist Barbara Street to stand on the site of the Aero Club clubhouse at Muswell manor.

Short Brothers Statue at the site of their aero club (Musswell Manor, Isle of Sheppey)

First World War

Short 184 floatplane

By the outbreak of

Battle of Gallipoli, a Short S.184 was the first aircraft to attack a ship with a live torpedo. Flying from HMS Ben-my-Chree, piloted by Flight Commander Charles Edmonds, it hit a Turkish supply ship in the Dardanelles.[11] In terms of number built, the S.184 was Shorts' most successful pre-Second World War aircraft: over 900 were produced, many under licence by other manufacturers. A landplane version of the S.184 was also sold to the Royal Flying Corps as the Short Bomber.[12]

During the First World War, Shorts were among the manufacturers of two flying boats, the

F.5, designed by John Porte at the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe. When the war ended, some 50 of these were being built at Rochester.[13]

Expansion at Rochester

Due to the company's success, and the increasing number of seaplanes being produced, larger premises with ready access to the sea were needed. At that time, seaplanes were taken by road to Queenborough, then loaded onto lighters to be taken to the RNAS seaplane station on Isle of Grain to be launched and tested.[14] In 1913, an 8.4 acre (3.4 hectare) plot of land by the

Borstal,[14] near Rochester, Kent, was purchased from Charles Willis (a local councillor), and the planning and construction work started.[15]
By early 1915, the first facility of what was to become known as the Seaplane Works was completed: No.1 Erecting Shop. As this and the No.2 and No.3 shops became available, the workforce moved from the Eastchurch factory. No.3 shop was completed in 1917. A long concrete slipway was constructed from the centre-line of No.3 Erecting Shop to enable aircraft of up to 20 tons weight to be launched even at low tide.[15]

Airships at Cardington

In 1916, Short Brothers was awarded a contract to build two large

Admiralty. As part of the contract, a loan was provided to enable the company to purchase a site near Cardington, Bedfordshire, on which to build airship construction facilities. As a result, the company concentrated on the construction of heavier-than-air aeroplanes in the Isle of Sheppey/Rochester area, and balloons and dirigibles at Cardington. A housing estate built by the company near Cardington to house its employees still bears the name Shortstown.[16]

In 1919, the name of the company was changed to Short Brothers (Rochester and Bedford) Ltd., but nationalisation the same year ended the Short brothers' involvement with the company, which became the Royal Airship Works.

1920s and 1930s

During the immediate post-war years the economic climate was difficult for the aircraft industry in the United Kingdom. Shorts survived without reducing the company's workforce by diversifying into areas such as building lightweight bus and tram bodies.[17]

During the 1920s and 1930s,

flying boats were favoured for long-range civil aviation, because their operation did not rely on the existence of suitable airfields, which were not widespread at the time. Shorts took to the flying boat market, and in 1924 constructed a 350 ft (110 m) testing tank for testing hull and float designs. Shorts designed the floats used for the Supermarine S.4 and Gloster III seaplanes entered by the United Kingdom for the 1925 Schneider Trophy race. Alan Cobham's de Havilland DH.50 (G-EBFO) was also fitted with Shorts floats at Rochester. On 30 June 1926, Cobham then started a flight to Australia from the Medway. Two de Havilland Giant Moths
were fitted with Shorts floats at Rochester, and the first was flown in June 1928; both were delivered to Western Canada Airlines Ltd.

In 1924, Shorts produced the first of a series of three designs known as the Singapore. In 1927, the Singapore I was used by Sir Alan Cobham, when he, his wife, and crew made a survey of Africa which covered about 23,000 miles.

Short Sunderland, widely operated by the British during World War II

Shorts then started design work on the

BOAC
), to operate the UK's Empire Airmail scheme.

A year later Shorts won a British government defence contract for the

U-boats
, it was claimed by the British propaganda people that the Germans called it "The Flying Porcupine" (Fliegendes Stachelschwein in German), although no evidence supports their contention.

In 1933, Shorts opened a new factory at

Pobjoy
, which had moved to Rochester Airport to be near Shorts and had collaborated on its latest designs.

On 5 July 1937, a Short Empire was used by Imperial Airways for the first westbound transatlantic service from Foynes, Ireland to Newfoundland.[18]

First moves to Belfast

In 1936, the

Handley-Page Hereford bombers.[19]

Shorts work on seaplanes eventually culminated in the Short Sandringham and Short Seaford, both based on the Empire/Sunderland boats. These flying boats had enough range to operate as a transatlantic airliner, but largely served the post-war Empire (Commonwealth) market, in competition with 4-engined land planes such as modified Avro Lancasters, Avro Lancastrian and Avro York.

Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) operated the Coral Route from New Zealand to Fiji, the Cook Islands and Tahiti in the South Pacific, with Short Solent flying boats up to 1960.

Second World War

Short Brothers HQ in Belfast, constructed in 1941

During the

Austin Motors at Longbridge, Birmingham also produced over 600 Stirlings, and Blackburn Aircraft produced 240 Sunderlands at its shadow factory in Dumbarton, Scotland.[22]

During the

Mediterranean, in Asia and the south Pacific because of its availability, endurance and weapon load. It also carried out air-sea rescue operations. In the absence of sufficient Sunderlands, Australia impressed Qantas-Imperial Short Empire flying boats into military service, and used these successfully especially on reconnaissance missions in the Timor Sea
area.

A much enlarged transatlantic development of the Empire, the S.26 G-Class was developed, but only three completed before the war resulted in further production being cancelled.

Short's work on the Sunderland also won it the contract for the Short Stirling four-engine bomber-transport for the RAF. This was essentially a land-based Sunderland, however its use of a now outdated thick-section, low aspect ratio wing to facilitate it going into service quickly limited climb and ceiling, and design decisions, such as the use of cells for individual bombs limited its long term usefulness as a heavy bomber when it proved incapable of carrying the newer larger bombs that didn't fit in the cells. As it was intended as a stopgap pending the delivery of the Handley Page Halifax and Avro Manchester bombers, it followed the RAF tradition of also being a transport aircraft, with a cabin useful for troops and cargo, in which role it was used once the Halifax and Avro Lancaster were available in large enough numbers. Attempts by Shorts to sell improved versions to the RAF were ignored, not least over concerns regarding Oswald's leadership and alcoholism.

In 1944, the

Hythe, which was a demilitarized Sunderland with the turrets faired over, then the post-war Sandringham, which refined the shape to eliminate the turret mountings, and finally by the definitive Solent, with an enlarged tail and more powerful engines and other refinements derived from the stillborn wartime Seaford
, which was to have been the penultimate Sunderland development.

In 1943, the Government nationalised Short's under Defence Regulation 78. Oswald Short, who had resigned as Chairman in January of that year, remained as Honorary Life President.[23]

Postwar

Short Sperrin Gyron test bed (lower port engine) at Farnborough SBAC Airshow, September 1955
Shorts 360
.
Short Skyvan and Short 330 at the 1982 Farnborough Airshow
.
The cancelled Short FJX regional jet

By 1947, all of Shorts other wartime factories had been closed, and operations concentrated in Belfast. In 1948, the company offices followed, and Shorts became a Belfast company in its entirety. In the meantime, in 1947, Short Brothers (Rochester and Bedford) Ltd. had merged with Short and Harland Limited to become Short Brothers and Harland Limited, with Oswald Short remaining as Life President.[24]

In the 1950s, Shorts was involved in much pioneering research, including designing and building the VTOL

analogue computers, to assist with the design of increasingly complex aircraft.[27]

In 1954, the

turbo-prop airliner, known in the press as The Whispering Giant. Although it was originally intended that 35 Britannias should be built by Shorts, a shortage of work at Bristol led to this number being reduced. Eventually, 15 Britannias were completed by Shorts; five sets of Britannia components were sent to Filton and used on the continued production there of Britannias.[28]

In the 1960s, Shorts found a niche for a new short-haul

de Havilland Twin Otter
, and the Skyvan proved more popular in the freighter market due to the large rear cargo door that allowed it to handle bulky loads with ease. Skyvans can still be found around the world today.

The heavy lift freighter

Shorts 360
, in which a more conventional central fin superseded the older H-profiled twin fins.

In 1988, the proposed development was announced of a

Bombardier CRJ100 that was also in development at the time,[29] but the FJX was cancelled after Short Brothers' sale to Bombardier.[30]

Loyalist paramilitaries

In 1987 loyalists working at Shorts erected loyalists flags and bunting to intimidate the Catholic workers. The loyalists workers went on strike after management removed the loyalist flags from the shop floor.[31]

In April 1989, three Northern Irish men, Noel Little, Samuel Quinn and James King, were arrested in Paris and later convicted of "arms trafficking and associating with criminals involved in terrorist activities."[32] They were accused of having stolen missile parts and documents related to Shorts' products. Also arrested were arms dealer Douglas Bernhardt and a South African diplomat.[32]

In 1993 a Catholic sub-contractor at Shorts was shot dead and five others injured in a loyalist attack on a mini-bus full of Catholic workmen in an attack to discourage Catholics from taking jobs at Shorts.[33]

Belfast City Airport

In 1937, Shorts established an airfield in central Belfast, beside the factory. This became Sydenham Airport and, from 1938 to 1939, was Belfast's main civilian airport. During the Second World War, the airfield was requisitioned by the Royal Navy. Shorts continued to use the airfield until production of complete aircraft ceased, despite

Nutts Corner, a former RAF base, becoming Belfast's main airport (Nutts Corner was itself superseded in 1963 by Aldergrove). In 1983, following interest from airlines and customers, the airfield was opened for commercial flights as Belfast Harbour Airport (later Belfast City Airport (BCA), now George Best Belfast City Airport
). Following major capital investment, Bombardier sold BCA for £35 million in 2003.

Bombardier

In 1977, the company changed its name back to Short Brothers, and in 1984 it became a

Bombardier on 7 June 1989 for £30 million. As part of the sale, the government agreed (at the insistence of then-Chancellor John Major)[34][35] to write off £390 million of the company's "accumulated losses and inject another £390 million to recapitalise the group and cover current and future losses, capital investment and training."[36]
Bombardier beat a bid from General Electric Company and Fokker. Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm had withdrawn before final offers were submitted.[37] The sale was finalised on 4 October 1989.[38]

In 1993, with the company under the chairmanship of

Shorts Missile Systems, for the design and development of very short-range, air defence missiles for the UK Ministry of Defence and armed forces worldwide using expertise dating back to the 1950s. In 2000, Thomson-CSF bought Bombardier's 50% share to become the sole owner of Shorts Missile Systems, renaming it Thales Air Defence
in 2001.

Spirit AeroSystems

On 31 October 2019, Bombardier announced the sale of its aerostructures activities to Spirit AeroSystems.[39] The sale closed in November 2020 following regulatory approval and a renegotiated price due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Aircraft

Year of first flight in parentheses. Some of the early aircraft are designated using the Short sequence or constructors number which should not be confused with the similar type designations started at S.1 in 1924. Since becoming part of

Bombardier Aerospace
in 1989, focus is aerospace components rather than individual aircraft models, missiles or drones.

1900–1909

1910–1919

1920–1929

1930–1939

1940–1949

1950–1959

1960–1989

Royal Air Force Short 312 Tucano in special colours as the RAF's 2008 display aircraft.

Airships

  • R31
  • R32
  • R38 (ZR-2)

Missiles

Shorts' missile division, which evolved into Shorts Missile Systems (1993–2000, then sold), produced surface-to-air missiles.

Year of first use by a military in parentheses.

  • Seacat – shipboard short-range surface-to-air missile (1962)
  • Tigercat – land-based, trailer-mounted version of Seacat (1967)
  • Blowpipesoldier portable (1975)
  • Javelin – soldier portable (post-Blowpipe, pre-Starburst)
  • Starburst – soldier portable (1989)
  • Starstreak
    – soldier portable (1997)

Rotorcraft

  • Cierva C.14

UAVs and drones

Test and trial programs from the 1960s and 1970s.

Chief test pilots

Armoured vehicles

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Barnes 1966 p. 8
  2. ^ Shorts as a "Centre of Excellence" within Bombardier, 2007
  3. ^ a b McAleer, Ryan (29 November 2020). "Short Brothers' new US owner reports £136m operating loss for third quarter". The Irish News. Belfast. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  4. ^ Manufacturing profiles Archived 15 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Barnes 1967, p. 3
  6. ^ Barnes 1967, pp. 1–6
  7. ^ Barnes 1967, p. 6
  8. ^ Barnes, pp. 6–8
  9. .
  10. ^ Barnes 1967, pp. 8–12, 120
  11. ^ The supply ship had already been hit by a torpedo from the submarine HMS E14 4 days earlier, and had run aground. See Short Type 184 for further details
  12. ^ Barnes 1967, p. 113
  13. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 16
  14. ^ a b Hanson, Richard. Borstal: Short Brothers.[1] Archived 2 August 2005 at the Wayback Machine "Short Brothers by Richard Hanson". Archived from the original on 18 November 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2009. Access date: 15 January 2007.
  15. ^ a b Cassidy, Brian. Flying Empires: Short "C" class Empire flying boats. Queens Parade Press, 2004. [2] Access date: 15 January 2007.
  16. ^ Barnes & James 1989, p. 15
  17. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 19.
  18. ^ Service from Foynes, Republic of Ireland Archived 13 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 28.
  20. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 388
  21. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 368
  22. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 541
  23. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 30
  24. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 32
  25. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 508
  26. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 509
  27. ^ Shorts Quarterly Review, Vol. 2 No. 3, Autumn 1953, p.1.
  28. ^ Barnes and James 1989, p. 510
  29. ^ "The 50-seat jetliner". Flight International. 4 March 1989.
  30. ^ O’Keeffe, Niall. "Boom and bust, the regional jet phenomenon". Flight International. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  31. ^ "NI 1987 State papers: 'Wildcat' strikes over flags at Shorts revealed". BBC News. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  32. ^ a b McKittrick, David (29 October 1991). "Arms from Africa fuel paramilitary terror=". The Independent. London.
  33. ^ "Catholic shot dead in ambush: Attack on workmen in mini-bus seen as loyalist warning to workers at Shorts aerospace factory". The Independent. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  34. ^ John Major (1999). John Major: The Autobiography. Phoenix Books. p. 110.
  35. ^ Anthony Seldon (1997). Major: A Political Life. HarperCollins. p. 82.
  36. ^ Harrison, Michael (8 June 1989). "Shorts sold to Bombardier". The Independent.
  37. ^ "Bombardier of Canada Wins Competition to Buy Short Brothers". Aviation Week & Space Technology. 12 June 1989. p. 63.
  38. ^ "Shorts is private". Flight International. 14 October 1989.
  39. ^ Campbell, John (31 October 2019). "Bombardier NI operations sold to US firm". BBC News.
  40. ^ a b c "Thirty Short Years" Flight 20 April 1939 p G
  41. ^ Buttler, page 321.
  42. ^ "photo caption" (PDF), Flight International, p. 787, 27 November 1975
  43. .
  44. ^ EarlyAviators.com
  45. ^ EarlyAviators.com
  46. ^ EarlyAviators.com
  47. ^ EarlyAviators.com

References

External links