Design and development The origins of the Empire boats lay in an Air Ministry requirement for passenger and mail carriers that could service the colonies particularly to make the connection to Australia. The Empire was officially known as the C-class and each aircraft was christened with a name beginning with C. The first aircraft, G-ADHL Canopus, was completed in June 1936 and launched on 3 July. A total of 42 Empires were built, all at Short's Rochester factory. Imperial Airways (and its successor BOAC), Qantas and TEAL operated the Short Empire. The first series of the Short Empires, the S23, could carry 5 crew, 17 passengers, and 4480 lb (2035 kg) of cargo at a maximum speed of 174 knots (320 km/h). The range of the S.23 was less than that of the US Sikorsky "Clipper" flying boats and as such they could not provide a trans-Atlantic service. Two boats (Caledonia and Cambria) were lightened and given long range tanks so they could make the trip but that meant they could carry fewer passengers and less cargo. In an attempt to manage the Altantic crossing a piggy-back approach was tried. Using a built up S.23 design as the main carrier and a smaller four-engined floatplane design, the Short S.20, mounted on its back. Only a single example was built of a carrier aircraft, the S.21 (Maia) and one S.20 (Mercury) together known as the Short Mayo Composite A successful mid-air launch of Mercury was made in 1938. The S30 series were fitted with Bristol Perseus sleeve valve ...
Keywords: Short, S23, C, Class, Empire, Flying, Boats, aviation, history, aircraft, imperial, airways
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