10 Facts About Short Empire

Short Empire was a medium-range four-engined monoplane flying boat, designed and developed by Short Brothers during the 1930s to meet the requirements of the growing commercial airline sector, with a particular emphasis upon its usefulness upon the core routes that served the United Kingdom.

Development of the Short Empire had been heavily influenced by its primary customer, Imperial Airways, who had originally developed the requirements to which it was initially ordered and designed from.

From September 1936 onwards, the Short Empire was produced at a rate of one aircraft per month; typically, each aircraft's delivery date occurred only a few days after having performed its maiden flight, the hand-over sometimes happened immediately following the first flight.

The Short Empire was officially known as the C-class by Imperial Airways and each aircraft operated by them was given a name beginning with a 'C'.

In late 1937, due to Imperial Airways satisfaction with its operational experience with the aircraft of the initial batch, the company placed a follow-on order for another 11 Short Empire flying boats; combined with the original 28 order, this had the distinction of being the largest single order to have ever been placed for a British civil aircraft at that time.

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Substantial larger development of the Empire flying boat, effectively a new aircraft, was the S 26, designated as the "G class".

Short Empire flying boat is a relatively clean-looking high-wing monoplane, initially powered by an arrangement of four wing-mounted Bristol Pegasus Xc radial engines which drove de Havilland-built variable-pitch propellers.

In 1941, two Empire flying boats – 'Clio' and 'Cordelia' returned to Shorts' Belfast facility, where they were modified with the addition of gun turrets in dorsal and rear positions and Air to Surface Vessel radar equipment installed on the top and sides of the fuselage.

On 8 February 1937, one of the Short Empire flying boats, Castor, conducted the first regular flight, flying from Calshot, Hampshire, England to Alexandria, Egypt.

Short Empire was designed to operate along the Imperial Airways routes to South Africa and Australia, where no leg was much over 500 miles.