The Short Bomber was a British two-seat long-range reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo-carrying aircraft designed by

Short Brothers 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. It was particu ...

as a land-based development of the very successful

Short Type 184 The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers. It ...

(of which more than 900 were built and many exported).

Design and development

The Bomber was a three-bay biplane of wooden structure with fabric covering, originally developed from the Short 184 seaplane's fuselage combined with wings developed from those on the Short Admiralty Type 166 seaplane. The fuselage was of box section with curved upper decking mounted on the lower wing. The tailplane included a split

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They ar ...

with a single fin and rudder. The undercarriage consisted of a four-wheeled assembly under the nose and a skid under the tail. The crew of two sat in tandem open cockpits behind the wing; initially the observer/gunner sat in the forward cockpit so that he could stand up to operate the machine gun mounted on the upper wing. This somewhat precarious activity was rendered unnecessary by the invention of the gun ring-mount; in production aircraft the pilot occupied the forward cockpit with the gunner behind him in the rear cockpit, which was fitted with dual controls. It was powered by a

Rolls-Royce Eagle The Rolls-Royce Eagle was the first aircraft engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce Limited. Introduced in 1915 to meet British military requirements during World War I, it was used to power the Handley Page Type O bombers and a number of o ...

or a Sunbeam engine mounted in the nose, driving a two-bladed propeller. Armament comprised a rear-facing Lewis Gun as well as provision for one 14 inch

Whitehead torpedo The Whitehead torpedo was the first self-propelled or "locomotive" torpedo ever developed. It was perfected in 1866 by Robert Whitehead from a rough design conceived by Giovanni Luppis of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Fiume. It was driven by a t ...

or various bombs up to 920 lb. Initial testing with the prototype by Shorts' test pilot, Ronald Kemp, revealed that it was unable to carry the required bombload of six 112-lb (50.8 kg) bombs, so the wingspan was increased by 12 ft. This provided the required lift but at the same time rendered the aircraft unstable in both pitch and yaw. The fuselage length was increased by 4 ft 5 in (1.35 m), which solved the problem. Large numbers of the Bomber had already been ordered from Shorts and a number of other

light engineering Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahe ...

companies; the latter produced aircraft to the original drawings but all 'short' Short Bombers were modified to the longer form before acceptance.

Operational history

The Short Bomber was intended for long-range missions; the maximum flight duration was approximately six hours. The first Bomber flew in 1915 and more than 80 aircraft were built, 36 by Short Brothers, the rest being manufactured by Mann Egerton (20), Sunbeam (15),

Parnall Parnall was a British aircraft manufacturer that evolved from a wood-working company before the First World War to a significant designer of military and civil aircraft into the 1940s. It was based in the west of England and was originally known ...

(6) and

Phoenix Aircraft Ltd Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), ...

(7). The Short Bomber entered service in late 1916 with

No. 7 Squadron RNAS Number 207 Squadron is a historic bomber squadron and, latterly, a communications and flying training squadron (aviation), squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was announced on 5 July 2017 that No. 207 Squadron will again reform to become the Operat ...

, flying its first bombing raid on the night of 15 November 1916, with four Shorts, each carrying eight 65 lb (30 kg) bombs, attacking targets at

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariake ...

in Belgium along with 18

Caudron G.4 The Caudron G.4 was a French biplane with twin engines, widely used during World War I as a bomber. It was designed by René and Gaston Caudron as an improvement over their single-engined Caudron G.3. The aircraft employed wing warping for ban ...

s.Thetford 1978, p.278. 7 Squadron RNAS continued bombing operations through the winter of 1916–17, but the Short Bomber was underpowered and was taken out of service in April 1917, when more powerful aircraft (notably the twin-engined

Handley Page Type O The Handley Page Type O was a biplane bomber used by Britain during the First World War. When built, the Type O was the largest aircraft that had been built in the UK and one of the largest in the world. There were two main variants, the Hand ...

/100) entered service. One of its last combat operations involved attacking the

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (, from: ''Brugge aan zee'' meaning "Bruges at Sea", french: Zeebruges) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zee ...

Mole on four successive nights in April 1917, in preparation for the naval raid on St. George's Day (23 April).Barnes and James, p.128.

Operators

; *

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

Specifications

References

* * *

External links

{{Short Brothers aircraft 1910s British military reconnaissance aircraft 1910s British bomber aircraft Biplanes

Bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...