Short Folder is a generic name often applied to several different Short Brothers' aircraft types designed and built prior to and during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Short Brothers developed and

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ed folding wing mechanisms for ship-borne aircraft from

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

; the wings were hinged so that they folded back horizontally alongside the fuselage (as shown in the image), reducing the storage space required for stowing them aboard ship. Shorts produced many "folder" aircraft; in addition large numbers of Shorts' designs were produced by other companies, including Brush Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd., Robey & Co. Ltd., J Samuel White, Frederick Sage & Co. Ltd., S E Saunders Limited, Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company, Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd., Mann, Egerton & Co. Ltd. and

Westland Aircraft Works Ltd. Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. Du ...

Short Folders saw service in many theatres of World War I, notably in the

Cuxhaven Raid The Raid on Cuxhaven (, Christmas Raid) was a British ship-based air-raid on the Imperial German Navy at Cuxhaven mounted on Christmas Day, 1914. Aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service were carried to within striking distance by seaplane tend ...

in 1914, in the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

and in the disabling of the SMS ''Königsberg'' in East Africa in July 1915. The theatres of war served by the various "folders" ranged from the Arctic Circle through the Mediterranean and Africa to Mesopotamia, although the engines of the time did not perform ideally in hot climates and elevated altitudes. After World War I, most were retired, although some remained in service with the Greek Navy into the 1920s and with the

Estonian Air Force The Estonian Air Force (, ) is the aviation branch of the Estonian Defence Forces. The air force traces its history to 1918, and was re-established in its current form in 1991. As of 2025, the Estonian Air Force has a strength of ~1,600 personn ...

into the 1930s.

Short Brothers First World War folding-aircraft types

(approximate numbers produced in brackets) * Short S.41 type - experimental prototype (3) * Short S.63 type - reconnaissance seaplane (4) * Short Type 81 - reconnaissance/bombing/torpedo-carrying seaplane (5) * Short Type 166 - reconnaissance/bombing seaplane (26) * Short Type 184 - reconnaissance/bombing/torpedo-carrying seaplane (936) * Short Bomber - long-range landplane bomber (83) * Short Type 827 - reconnaissance/bombing seaplane (108) * Short Type 830 - reconnaissance/bombing seaplane (18) * Short 310 - reconnaissance seaplane/torpedo bomber (128) * Type 320 - reconnaissance seaplane/torpedo bomber (127) Eight modified Type 830s were produced with a different engine (100 hp Gnome-Monosoupapes instead of the 135 hp Salmson engines)Barnes and James,p.102

Later Short Brothers folding-aircraft types

(year of first flight in brackets) * Short N1B Shirl - shipborne torpedo-bomber (1919) * Short Sporting Type - commercial biplane floatplane (1919) * Short SA.1 Sturgeon - prototype anti-submarine aircraft (1946) * Short SB.6 Seamew - anti-submarine aircraft (1953)

References

Bibliography

{{Short Brothers aircraft 1910s British military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes Biplanes Folder