Short Empire / S.23

Флагман компании "Imperial Airways" самолет S.23 "Canopus" вышел на авиалинию Александрия - Бриндизи 31 октября 1936 года. С 5 марта 1937 года летающие лодки класса "C" сменили на маршрутах компании самолеты аэродромного базирования и связали Великобританию с Австралией, Восточной Африкой, Египтом, Малайей и Южной Африкой.
Canopus, G-ADHL, was the prototype Short S.23 Empire Boat and it entered service with Imperial Airways in October 1936.
Lankester Parker made the maiden flight of the first Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat, G-ADHL, on July 3, 1936, and later recalled that working on the company’s big flying-boats - the Empires and the military Sunderland - was the most rewarding experience of his 28-year Short Bros career.

FLEDGED: Canopus, the first of the Short Empire flying boats, took the air at Rochester for the first time last week-end, in the hands of Mr. Lankester Parker. This Flight photograph clearly shows the beautifully clean take-off.

Another view of Canopus. First of the Empire boats, she made her maiden flight on July 4, 1936, in the hands of J. Lankester Parker. G-ADHL was finally scrapped at Hythe in 1947.

THE SHORT EMPIRE FLYING-BOAT: fitted with four "Bristol" Pegasus engines. An all-metal high-wing cantilever monoplane flying-boat of high performance, with two-deck, two-step hull, and wing flaps. Provides accommodation for 24 passengers and baggage and 1 1/2 tons of mail. Maximum speed, 200 m.p.h. "Cambria" holds the record for the Trans-Atlantic flight - 10 1/2 hours.
The Empire, or C-Class flying boat, Canopus. The successful prototype of a long-range of aircraft, Canopus entered service with Imperial Airways on October 22, 1936. Again seen on the River Medway, both Rochester Castle and Cathedral can be seen.

Arthur Gouge - who, along with his deputy, Claude Lipscomb, was responsible for most of Short’s innovative designs of the 1930s, including the C-class Empire flying-boats. The first of these, G-ADHL Canopus, is seen "on the step” during take-off.

3 июля 1936г.: первый полет в Рочестере, графство Кент, выполнила первая летающая лодка "Short Empire" - RMA Canopus (серия "С"), пилот Дж. Ланкестер Паркер. Первый рейс выполнен 30 октября, с началом ее эксплуатации на линии Александрия (Египет) - Бриндизи (Италия).

The Short "Empire" Commercial Flying-boat (four Bristol "Pegasus X" engines).

FOR CIVIL SERVICE: The Short Empire flying boat is powered with four of the new Pegasus Xc civil-rated radials, the official figures for which have just been made known. The international-rated power is 740 h.p. at 3,500 ft., and 910 h.p. is available for take-off with the De Havilland V.P. airscrew. Flaps for controllable cooling are incorporated in the long chord cowlings. This Flight photograph was taken during the second test flight at Rochester.

The first C-Class flying-boat, G-ADHL, named Canopus after the pilot of King Menelaus of Sparta’s ship during the Trojan War, made its first flight on July 3, 1936. As delivered to IAL, Canopus had a cruising speed of 165 m.p.h. (265km/h) at 510 h.p. (of 910 h.p. for take-off) and a range of 760 miles (1,220km) at 165 m.p.h. in still air.

A new era in commercial flying was opened up with the introduction of the Short Empire flying boat.

The Short Empire boat is fitted with four Bristol Pegasus Xc engines rated at 740 h.p. each and giving 910 h.p. for take-off.

HERALDING THE NEW ERA: The first of the Short Empire boats is now in the Mediterranean after being flown across France by capt. Bailey and Major Brackley. This Flight photograph shows Canopus from a somewhat unusual angle; the fully faired rear step and the forward sloping front step are noteworthy features of the hull.

The Empire boat (four 758/815 h.p. Pegasus X Cs).

The first Short Empire boat being refuelled on Lake Bracciana, near Rome.

C-class boat Canopus moored in Alexandria harbour. G-ADHL was scrapped at Hythe in 1947; it had been the first S.23 Empire flying-boat to fly.

ON the river Nile at Malakal, the terminal port for the Imperial Airways flying boats in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, large islands of floating papyrus (Cyperus Papyrus) and Um Soof (Vossia Procera) are encountered between May and September. This seasonal scourge is caused by the fact that the floods from the great lakes loosen the roots of the vegetation in the swampy areas farther south. Eventually, large sections break away from the main mass and drift slowly downstream, a menace to flying boats. The photograph shows Canopus safely moored with the floating islands drifting past.

G-ADHL Canopus - первая летающая лодка компании "Empire", оснащенная моторами Pegasus. Первый полет лодка выполнила в июле 1936 года, в BOAC ее передали в апреле 1940 года.

Short Empire ’boat Canopus with de Havilland bracket-type propellers. The unusual fairing at the port inboard engine position suggests a return to Rochester on three engines, with the defective one in the cabin.

Short Empire Flying Boat Canopus being rolled out.

For the Empire air routes: The bird's-eye view gives a good idea of the rounded deck, the wing fillets and the trailing-edge flaps of the first of the new boats. The open door leads to the freight and mail hold.

One of the hinged platforms used for giving access to the Bristol Pegasus engine.

One of the beaching trolleys.

Photo from a pamphlet produced by Shorts to mark the Royal visit to Rochester of 1936. C-Class Canopus (top) is seen nearing completion.

The Short "Empire" Commercial Flying-boat. Note the partly-extended Gouge wing-flaps.

Short S.23 Empire boat, G-ADHM, Caledonia, flying over New York in 1938.

The Short Empire boat Caledonia over New York after one of her experimental Atlantic trips last year.

G-ADHM, aptly positioned with the Empire State building in the background.

"Caledonia" over New York

The second Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat (the official designation had no hyphen in flying-boat), G-ADHM, was given the Imperial Airways “C-Class” name Caledonia, and was built specifically for the company’s Atlantic routes with extra fuel tanks for extended range. It made its first transatlantic flight, from Foynes in Ireland to Botwood, Newfoundland, on July 5, 1937.

"Caledonia" - Imperial Airways Empire Flying Boat (4 Bristol Pegasus Engines) averaged 162 miles per hour between Botwood (Newfoundland) and Foynes (Ireland) on her return flight from New York to Southampton.

SOLITUDE: This photograph was taken by Capt. A. S. Wilcockson, of Imperial Airways, at 11,000ft. over the Atlantic during one of Caledonia's experimental flights along the Foynes - Botwood route in 1937.

Imperial Airways Flying Boat "CALEDONIA" (manufactured by Short Bros. (Rochester & Bedford) Ltd. and fitted with Bristol "Pegasus" Engines)

A remarkable photograph of Caledonia taken just as she was about to "unstick" at the start of a radio test flight from Southampton Water shortly before leaving for Foynes, and, ultimately Newfoundland
On July 6th the Imperial Airways Empire flying boat "CALEDONIA" completed the first East to West commercial survey flight across the North Atlantic.

Two of the boats which made history last year - Caledonia and Clipper III - being hauled on to the slipway at Hythe (left). The former was commanded by Capt. Wilcockson and the latter by Capt. Gray on all the Atlantic trips.

Caledonia, the second Empire boat, and a Singapore.

The Short "Empire" Flying-boat "Caledonia" which was used, in company with the sister-ship "Cambria," on the experimental trans-Atlantic survey during 1937.

The Imperial Airways flying-boat Caledonia, like all the other craft in its class designed to operate on the great trunk routes of the British Empire, is equipped with controllable-pitch airscrews manufactured in England by the de Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd.

The long-range Short boat, Caledonia, moored off Hythe, Southampton. After the necessary fuel consumption and other tests have been carried out this boat will be flown to Foynes for a series of experimental crossings to Botwood, Newfoundland.

Caledonia again, this time at Foynes at the mouth of the Shannon during proving flights in July 1937.

ATLANTIC SURVEY: Caledonia taxies to her moorings at Horta, Azores, after her recent survey trip in command of Captain Powell.

Another view of Caledonia, seen in July 1937 at Foynes.

The photograph was taken from inside the cabin of the Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-ADHM, Caledonia in June 1937, just prior to its first transatlantic crossing made on July 5.

CENTAURUS SETS OUT: Loading up at Hythe, Southampton, for the inaugural Empire service. Passengers are boarding the machine from one of Imperial Airways' new 37ft. 6in. tenders, supplied by the British Power Boat Company The photograph, incidentally, gives an interesting close-up of the flying boat's wing, with its flap.

The most advanced civil aircraft yet in service: the peerless Short Empire flying boat with four Bristol Pegasus XC engines.
Centaurus, G-ADUT, was the third Empire Boat and ended its days Australian Air Force.

A glorious photograph of Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-ADUT Centaurus arriving at Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, on New Year’s Eve, 1937.

Another Empire boat, G-ADUT "Centaurus" (c/n. S.811) was impressed as A18-10 on 21 st September 1939, and also issued to No. 11 Squadron. After a similar history to A18-11's, it was destroyed by enemy action at Broome, Western Australia, on 3rd March 1942

Гидропланы S-42 и S.23 в порту Окленда. 1937 г.
S-42-B NC16734 and Imperial Airways C-Class ‘Centaurus’ at Auckland, December 1937.

THE SOUTHERNMOST JUNCTION. - The "Centaurus" of Imperial Airways (Capt. Burgess) and the "Samoan Clipper" of Pan American Airways (Capt. Mustek) in Waitimata Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand, in January, 1938. The latter was lost with all hands near Pago Pago soon after this meeting.

Centaurus being towed to her moorings in Rose Bay, Sydney, 1939.

CLEANLINESS: The entire lack of avoidable excrescences is obvious in this front view of the Short Centaurus, third of the Empire flying boats, some flying impressions of which appear on the following page. Centaurus will probably be on her way to the Mediterranean by the time this issue appears.

BERMUDA RIGGED. The hull of Cavalier, the Short Empire flying boat which will operate in conjunction with a machine of Pan-American Airways on the Bermuda - New York service, being hoisted, in what is said to be the world's largest packing case, aboard the S.S. Loch Katrine. The case follows the lines of the hull remarkably closely; if the bottom corners were "gouged" out the resemblance would be even more striking.

New Year 1937, and the scene at the Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island shows 'Cavalier' out of its crate and with its special outrigger floats attached ready to be lifted into the water for the tow to Darrell's Island.

IN BERMUDA: This somewhat unusual picture shows how Cavalier's hull was towed from the naval dockyard to the Darren's Island base, where the machine is being assembled. The floats on either side are, of course, quite temporary affairs.

SUNSHINE SOMEWHERE: A heart-warming picture, in these chilly British March days, ot the Short Empire Boat Cavalier at the Bermuda Air Base for her experimental Bermuda to New York flights. Leaning from the cockpit is Capt. Armstrong, the commander, and in uniform is First Officer Richardson (second pilot); in mufti on top of the machine is Mr Bell. Short Bros., and Mr. Hayuen, of the A.I.D., is behind the flag mast.
Cavalier, G-ADUU, on the slipway at Imperial Airways' Bermuda base in 1938.

One of the four "Bristol" Pegasus Xc engines fitted in "Cavalier".

Luggage is loaded aboard Short C-Class 'Cavalier' by a small team of Imperial Airways employees on Darrell's Island, prior to departure to Baltimore

BALTIMORE INAUGURATION: Some of the crowd of 30,000 lining the banks of the Patapsco river to watch the recent inauguration of the new Baltimore Airport for landplanes and marine aircraft. It replaces New York as the terminus of the Bermuda route; the Sikorsky S.42b Bermuda Clipper is seen being brought to the landing stage, and in the background is the Short Empire boat Cavalier.

BALTIMORE SEAPLANE STATION. - The populace turns out to see the "Cavalier," an Empire Boat of Imperial Airways, from Bermuda and a Sikorski "Clipper" of Pan American Airways. Baltimore is the American terminus during the Winter of the Bermuda-U.S.A. airline. In the Summer Port Washington, Long Island, New York, is used.

Ordered straight of the drawing board, the Short 'C'-Class - G-ADUU 'Cavalier'.

The Short Empire boat, demonstrating the use of the Gouge flaps which contribute in no small measure to its excellent performance.

Short Empire boat (four 740 h.p. Bristol Pegasus XCs)

ATLANTIC TERMINUS: Cavalier flies over the new land-sea air base at Baltimore. The seaplane jetty is in the lower right-hand corner of the picture with the airport site behind it.

LONG-RANGE EXPERIMENT: Following Caledonia's non-stop flight from Southampton to Alexandria, the second long-range Short boat, Cambria, made a circuit of Britain last Sunday. This photograph shows Cambria being moored off Hythe at the end of the flight, with the liner Westernland in the background.

Seen at Rochester, Kent, where it was built, Short C-class "Empire" flying-boat G-ADUV "Cambria" made a proving flight down the African route in May 1937. Imperial Airways services with the type started the next month

Caledonia and Cambria, the two Imperial Airways Empire Flying Boats, powered by 4 Bristol Pegasus engines have now both made the double crossing of the Atlantic to scheduled time.

Заправщик A.W.23 и летающая лодка S.23 Empire над Атлантикой перед дозаправкой

REFUELLING EXPERIMENT: For some time experiments have been going on at Ford aerodrome under Sir Alan Cobham's direction. In this photograph the Short Cambria is being refuelled by the A.W.23 used for the work.
Refuelling will be the important feature of this year's Atlantic experiments as far as this country is concerned. Cambria is shown above taking on fuel (or pretending to, for the benefit of the photographer) from the A.W.XXIII, which has been used for experiments at Ford aerodrome.
The sole AW23, K3585, makes a refuelling contact with Short S.23 G-ADUV Cambria.

Taken by DCA Radio Inspector Ivan Hodder, this photograph shows Cambria arriving at Dili on January 21, 1941, on the inaugural scheduled eastbound service, NE51.

SPLICING THE MAINBRACE: One of the new Shell refuelling tenders ministering to the Empire boat Cambria during a demonstration at Southampton last week These tenders carry 2,500 gallons of spirit and 200 of oil, and deliver the former at 120 gall./min. Twenty-one are under construction, by Dunstans, of Doncaster, Rowhedge Ironworks, of Colchester, and Thornycrofts. Others are being built for use along the routes.

Mail being loaded aboard Cambria at Southampton in 1937. This aircraft was later used for in-flight refuelling experiments.

CAMBRIA, at Southampton, provides a frame for the Canadian Pacific liner Montcalm

Pre-war shot of Short S.23 Empire flying-boat G-ADUW Castor, which flew the first leg of the journey, with an Imperial Airways boarding launch alongside.
Short S.23 C-Class Empire Flying Boat G-ADUW Castor flies the flag for Imperial after its introduction into service in January 1937. The following month Imperial’s C-Class 'boats began regular services on the Empire routes from Hythe, the S.23s representing the pinnacle of intercontinental flight at the time

Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-ADUW Castor made a diversion on westbound Horseshoe Route service WS47 on December 29, 1940, to bring a party of Australian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) officials to Dili. As well as negotiating an air service to Portuguese Timor, the party also had a secondary intelligence role, to gather information about the colony and the Japanese presence there.

Castor moored in the Solent shortly before the war.

Castor on dry land. The surrealistic piece of mechanism is the beaching gear, with its buoys.

Castor, G-ADUW, seen on the Hythe slipway in 1938.

In the 1940s Dili was a small and rather down-at-heel town. The largest building was the cathedral, visible in the centre of the picture directly below the “step” of the flying-boat’s float. DCA airport engineer Bill Bradfield took this photo as Empire Flying Boat Castor arrived over Dili harbour on December 29, 1940.

Short S.23 Empire Boat Cassiopeia on the tarmac in front of the hangar at Hythe.

This view from the Airport Officer's office shows Cassiopeia nearest.

At most stops along Imperial’s routes customers were transferred to and from the aircraft by launch, as seen here as passengers board G-ADUX, named Cassiopeia after the mother of Andromeda in Greek mythology. It was only in April 1938 that a dedicated mooring jetty was constructed at Imperial’s base at Southampton Docks.

CYGNUS plays the lead - an attractive "still" from Paul Rotha's documentary film, The Future's in the Air, now being completed by the Strand Film Co. The picture deals with our Empire airways.

Short S.23 G-ADVB Corsair of BOAC, 1943/1944.

Imperial Airways' Short S.23 Empire Boat G-ADVB being hauled up the Hythe slipway.

The Sikorsky is seen from under the wing of an Empire flying boat, Courtier.

AFRICAN SCENE: One of Imperials’ flying boats moored on the Nile beside the passengers’rest “house” - the good ship Mayflower.
Empire Boat G-ADVD, Challenger, on the Nile in 1939 beside the passengers’ rest house, the good ship Mayflower.

WINGS ON THE WATER AT MARSEILLE. - The Imperial Airways "Empire" boat, "Coriolanus," on the Etang de Berre at Marignane. This was on the mid-day halt between Southampton and Rome, and the passengers are in the airport restaurant. Behind is the Loire Long-range Commercial Flying-boat (four 720 h.p. Hispano-Suiza motors) the "Bretagne".

BASRAH'S NEW AIRPORT (MARGIL). - The combined marine and land Airport at Basra, Iraq, the water-front on the River Tigris, with S.23 G-AETV Coriolanus moored outside the terminal building.

A rare photograph of G-AETV Coriolanus being refuelled from the demasted pearling lugger Gerardo at Broome during the fortnight of shuttle services to Tjilatjap. Trapped in Australia, Coriolanus was transferred to the Australian register as VH-ABG in August 1942, and became the only Empire flying-boat to survive the war in Australia. It was finally retired in January 1948, the last airworthy Empire Flying Boat anywhere in the world.

INCIDENTS at Hatfield last Tuesday: Mr. J. Lankester Parker is demonstrating the Short Empire boat Calpurnia.

The career of G-AETW Calpurnia was comparatively short; having made its first flight at the end of June 1937, it crashed in Lake Habbaniyah during a sandstorm at night on November 27, 1938, Capt Attwood, First Officer Spottiswoode and two passengers being killed. The all-important Christmas mail was rescued, however.

Too well known even to require naming, an example of the Short Empire boat is shown here with the Gouge flaps partly depressed. The first of the eight new high-payload versions of the same machine should be coming out of the Rochester works very shortly. A modified version of the Empire boat forms the lower component of the Short-Mayo Composite Aircraft.

Somebody wanted to know if Calpurnia had been well greased underneath - just in case.

Empire Boat Calpurnia secured to a mooring buoy. This aircraft crashed in Iraq in November 1938, the year these photographs were taken.

Short S.23 Empire Boat Ceres, taxiing out from Hythe before takeoff.

S.23 G-AETX ‘Ceres’, wrecked December 1,1942.

Named Ceres after the Roman goddess of agriculture, S.23 G-AETX made its first flight in July 1937, and was used to survey the IAL route from Alexandria in Egypt to Karachi in India (now Pakistan) via Habbaniyah in Iraq and Sharjah in the Persian Gulf two months later. It was destroyed by an explosion while moored at Durban in December 1942.

G-AETY Clio, одна из летающих лодок S.23, переданных Береговому командованию ВВС Великобритании. С установленным оборонительным вооружением и РЛС лодка состояла на вооружении 201-й эскадрильи, пока не разбилась в 1941 году.

Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-AETZ (c/n S.842), named Circe, has its port outer Bristol Pegasus engine run up at Imperial Airways’ maintenance base at Hythe before the war. The aircraft made its first flight on August 16, 1937, and operated its first commercial service the following month. By November 1941 it had been put into camouflage.

Photographs of Circe are comparatively rare; this example, taken at an unidentified location before the flying-boat’s adoption of camouflage, shows a mooring rope being thrown to the Radio Officer, who is standing in the bow mooring hatch. The aircraft’s captain would supervise the mooring process from the cockpit above.

Empire debarkation: The new pontoon gangway at Berth 10, New Dock, Southampton.
Passengers coming ashore at the Imperial Airways terminal at Southampton in April 1938.

NOT RIVALS YET: The Short Circe taxying past the new liner Capetown Castle, which will shortly make her maiden voyage. Five days against fourteen to the Cape!
Another image of Circe in happier times - G-AETZ taxies away from Southampton’s Berth 108 at the start of a pre-war Empire Air Mail Scheme voyage to Australia or South Africa. Behind, the Union-Castle Line’s RMMV Capetown Castle also readies for another, much slower, journey to South Africa.

Circe, G-AETZ, with the liner Cape Town Castle giving scale to to the picture.

A poor-quality but rare photograph of Circe at the Qantas flying-boat base at Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, taken in 1940 during the Horseshoe Route period. Control launch C.A.1 is moored alongside the door, with Shell refuelling vessel Renown beside the flying-boat’s starboard bow.

In camouflage with fin flashes and red, white and blue identification stripes beneath the registration, Circe awaits its next voyage at the Qantas terminal at Rose Bay, Sydney, in November 1941. Unarmed and carrying civilians, the Empires were still targets for Japanese fighters, as the loss of Corio on January 30, 1942, proved.

Short S.23 G-AEUA Calypso (later the RAAF’s A18-10), and Corio at 108 Berth at Southampton Docks in 1938. Both aircraft have been docked in Braby Pontoons, which allowed the passengers to walk to their aircraft and made freight-loading a much easier process than back in Australia, where the facilities were somewhat cruder.

Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, seemingly quiet, but a centre of the present troubles.

Short S.23 C-class Empire flying-boats VH-ABA "Carpentaria" (ex G-AFBJ, transferred to Qantas in November 1937) and G-AEUA "Calypso” off Hythe, 21st June 1938

Short S.23 Empire boat, G-AEUA, Calypso, before she was transferred to QEA.

Short C-Class flying-boat A18-11 (c/n. S.843, ex-G-AEUA "Calypso"). Impressed by the R.A.A.F. on 21 st September 1939, it served with No. 11 Squadron until 18th November 1941 when it was transferred to No. 20 Squadron. Later, on 12th February 1942, it was taken over by No. 33 Squadron, and on 8th August 1942 crashed into the Torres Strait off the Fly River, Papua

FAR EASTERN SURVEY: The Short Cordelia, which has recently returned from a survey of the new boat route as far as Singapore, swings at her moorings in Kallang Basin. Singapore airport is in the background and the personnel to be seen are, from the left, First Officer Stone, Capt. Egglesfield and Radio Operator Coster.
The pilots of Cordelia, G-AEUD, during an en route stop. This boat was impressed into RAF service during the war and later passed to BOAC.

FAR EASTERN SURVEY: Another attractive picture of Cordelia in preparation for refuelling at Singapore. The tropical uniforms seen in this picture make a European winter appear to be particularly hard.
Cordelia taking on 400gal of fuel somewhere on the Far Eastern route, December 1936.

Attempting to catch up with the Americans, Britain developed the Short C-Class flying boats (shown), but had to resort to air-to-air refuelling to achieve non-stop flights from Eire to Newfoundland.

Qantas made another diversion to Dili, on the Sydney-bound service NE45 on New Year’s Day 1941, to retrieve the DCA party, this time using S.23 G-AEUE Cameronian, seen here picking up the buoy after alighting at Groote Eylandt in late 1938. This Empire Flying Boat survived the war and was scrapped at Hythe in the UK in 1947.

A surprisingly small crowd watches the first Short Empire Flying Boat to be beached at Rose Bay as G-AEUE Cameronian is towed up the newly-completed slipway in the eastern suburb of Sydney on January 25, 1939. With its opening, Rose Bay became the only slipway suitable for beaching Empire ’boats east of Singapore.

Short S.23 G-AEUF (c/n S.848), named Corinthian, left Tjilatjap a few minutes ahead of Circe on February 28, 1942. Although it survived that day, it was destroyed in an accident while alighting at Darwin three weeks later.

The first two Empire 'boat deliveries for QEA - VH-ABA Carpentaria and VH-ABB Coolangatta - had their Australian registrations applied at the factory and were probably never repainted with their British registrations. However, the third delivery, G-AEUG Coogee, seen here at moorings on the Shaft al-Arab at Basra during this period, is clearly marked with its British registration.

THE COMPOSITE INFLUENCE - or just a photographic coincidence. Two Short boats, Qantas Empire Airways’ Coogee and Imperial Airways’ Corsair, riding at anchor in choppy water in Rose Bay, Sydney.

One of the Short Empire flying boats which operate the route to Australia. This particular one belong Qantas Empire Airways.

Short S.23 Empire VH-ABD, named Corio, in service with Qantas Empire Airways at Karumba, Queensland, circa 1938. The brainchild of Arthur Gouge, the Empire represented a quantum leap in flying-boat design, offering previously unheard-of levels of comfort for passengers and crew alike.
When Qantas-operated Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat G-AEUH Corio, formerly VH-ABD (as seen here at Karumba, Queensland), was shot down by Japanese fighters off the southern coast of Dutch Timor on January 30, 1942, DCA ordered Qantas to cease operating through Timor and move operations westward.

Corio on the step while in service with QEA before the war. In January 1942 the aircraft would be attacked by Japanese Navy Mitsubishi Zeroes during a flight from Darwin to Koepang on Timor.

Corio on final approach along the Norman River to alight at Karumba in Queensland, before the war. August 1938 saw the inauguration of Stage 3 of the Empire Air Mail Scheme with the departure of service SW1 (‘‘Sydney Westbound”), which brought Australia into the Scheme.

More surrealism: The curious objects depending from the bow hatch of Cooront; (a Qantas boat) are drogues, or sea-anchors, hung out to dry.

A derrick, for which fittings are provided on the engine nacelles, assists in the servicing of the Pegasus Xc engines and D.H. airscrews. Note the oil-draining funnels on the staging.

The first of the Qantas Empire flying-boats to be used over the Singapore-Brisbane section of the Empire Air Mail Scheme, VH-ABA Carpentaria, arrives at Southampton from the Short factory at Rochester on December 5, 1937. Within days the aircraft had departed Southampton for Karachi, and on to Australia to enter service.

ACHIEVEMENT. - The Qantas Empire Airways Flying-boat, "Coolangatta," in front of Singapore Airport on its way out to Australia. On the left is the Royal Singapore Flying Club Building. Qantas Empire Airways, Ltd. is the product of a wedding of Queensland and Northern Territories Air Service Ltd. and Imperial Airways - a fine piece of diplomacy. Without Imperial Airways there would have been no need for the Singapore Airport for years to come. And Imperial Airways was, beyond dispute, created by Mr. George Woods Humphery.

One of the Short Empire boats - actually Coolangatta, for Qantas Empire Airways’ section of the Australia route - a large fleet of which were ordered off the drawing board to carry the all-up mail to Durban and Sydney.

The Qantas S.23 Empire Boat, VH-ABB, Coolangatta, was later impressed into RAAF service and crashed at Rose Bay, Sydney, in October 1944.

The Qantas Empire Airways base at Rose Bay, Sydney, with one of the Qantas Empire boats - actually Coolangatta - being warmed up in the customary manner.

The Short Bros factory at Rochester, Kent, photographed in November 1937 by Australian Civil Aviation Branch (CAB) aeronautical engineer R.S. "Russell" Robinson. Having its final touches applied in the centre of the photo is Qantas Empire Flying Boat VH-ABB Coolangatta, with an early production Sunderland Mk I to the left.

Qantas Empire Airways’ VH-ABF Cooee is hauled ashore at the Singapore land and marine airport at Kallang in the early days of the war. Although the slipway at Rose Bay was completed in January 1939, there was still no other location to beach an Empire ’boat along the 4,692 miles (7,550km) between Singapore and Sydney.

After four years' service with Qantas this S.23, G-AFBL, Cooee, served with BOAC from 1942 until scrapped at Hythe in 1947.

OVERLAND FLYING-BOAT BASE: The Qantas Empire Airways boat Cooee at her moorings on Raj Sainard reservoir, Udaipur, India, with a launch taking out the passengers.
Short S.23 Empire Flying Boat VH-ABF, Cooee, of Qantas, basking in the sun at her moorings on Raj Sainard Reservoir, Udaipur, India, in May 1939.

OFFICIALLY READY. The terminal building and hotel of the Basra land-water airport at Margil, with a K.L.M. Douglas D.C.3 on the tarmac and an Imperial Airways Short Empire boat at her moorings in the Shatt-al-Arab River

THE YANKEE CLIPPER moored near two Empire boats at Southampton after her second Atlantic crossing.

On tow: A Power Boat taking one of the Short "C" class boats to its moorings in Rose Bay, Sydney.

Dabai, a refuelling halt on the Persian Gulf. The rest-house is in the form of a fort ten miles away, at Sharjah.

Singapore, with its £210,000 base for landplanes and flying boats. It has a fine slipway and extensive servicing facilities.

The view from an Imperial Airways C-class flying-boat, showing one of the four Bristol Pegasus radial engines.

SURVEY FLIGHT: A striking study from the Empire boat, Centaurus, passing Mount Egmont, New Zealand, during her recent survey trip to the Dominion.

ON THE AFRICAN ROUTE: From an Empire boat moored off the coast at Dar-es-Salaam.

Off into the sunrise: The early rising day after day is not really so bad. After take-off, passengers usually have a sleep before breakfast.

"Bristol" engines in the "Empire" flying boats.

When the hangar at Rose Bay was completed in late 1939, maintenance could at last be performed indoors out of the weather. Here the starboard inner Pegasus of one of the six original Qantas-owned ’boats is changed at Rose Bay. Note the work platform slung from fold-out sections of the wing leading edge; “health and safety” was rather different in those days!

Although most of the heavy maintenance on the Empire ’boats, including the Australian examples, was initially completed in England, it was sometimes necessary to undertake work in Australia. Here the port outer Pegasus of an Empire 'boat is changed at Rose Bay in late 1938. The new engine has been floated out to the flying-boat on a raft and the aircraft’s own derrick has been rigged to lift it into the nacelle.

Servicing the Bristol Pegasus engines of an Empire Boat with Short Calcutta, G-AATZ, in the background.

Another piece of ingenious engineering applied to the S.23 by Short Bros was the provision of work platforms that folded out from the leading edge of the wing. Engineers were able to service the Pegasus engines from the platforms without the need to beach the flying-boat. Hoists could be mounted on the engine nacelles to remove or install the engines.

Tail wheels - and a nice line in nether garments.

S.30 Empire Boat G-AFCT at Rod El Faraq, Cairo, Egypt.

G-AFCU Cabot сфотографирована в начале отрыва от водной поверхности. Это одна из улучшенных S.30, выполнившая первый полет в декабре 1938 года. В декабре 1939 года лодку передали британским ВВС, а в мае 1940 года она была уничтожена в норвежском Бодё.
First of the strengthened Empire class, fitted with Perseus sleeve-valve engines and designed to carry a greater pay load, is Cabot, seen taking off from the Medway.

TWENTY-TON TAKE OFF: Last Friday Cabot, the first of the improved “C ” class Short boats left the Medway on a full-load take-off - carrying a thousand pounds more than Caledonia on any of the Atlantic crossings. In due course Cabot will be refuelled in the air from 46,000 lb. to an all-up weight of 53,000 lb.

Sebastian Cabot - Grand Pilot, discoverer of Labrador and famous surveyor of American coast. Four hundred years ago Cabot voyaged for weeks - to cover distances which take the modern “Cabot” only hours. “Hearts of oak” were all right in those leisurely days. The modern voyager chooses “Hiduminium” - because no metal that is lighter is as strong, and none that is stronger is as light. For this reason “Hiduminium” is extensively used in the Short “Cabot” and the other modified C-class flying boats. Our congratulations to Short Brothers on these speedy machines - which combine safety and long range with excellent pay-load capacity.

Along with G-AFCV Caribou, Short S.30 G-AFCU Cabot was used on the 16 transatlantic airmail crossings using inflight refuelling undertaken between August 5 and September 30, 1939. On the outbound flight to New York on September 24, Cabot established a new record for the run between Foynes and Botwood, taking 13hr 2min.

The first of the strengthened C-class Short boats on an early test outing. Cabot, which will be used for refuelled Atlantic experimental flights.

Cabot, the first of the modified "C" class Short boats <...>at after this photograph was taken she left the water at an all-up weight of 46,000 lb; at Foynes this and the three <...> boats will be refuelled up to a gross weight of 53,000 lb.
"Cabot" and "Caribou," built by Short Bros, for Imperial Airways, are scheduled to open the British Transatlantic air service.

Handley Page Harrow G-AFRL and Short S.30 G-AFCU Cabot demonstrate flight refuelling over Southampton.

Attempting to catch up with the Americans, Britain developed the Short C-Class flying boats, but had to resort to air-to-air refuelling to achieve non-stop flights from Eire to Newfoundland.

Steady as she goes - Harrow G-AFRL remained in the UK and undertook further development trials with Short S.30 G-AFCU Cabot during June-July 1939. Flight Refuelling issued a guarantee of "service in any part of the world to deliver 1,000gal of fuel in 10min, at speeds with existing equipment ranging from 110 to 125 m.p.h."

In-flight refuelling with Handley Page Harrow G-AFRL and Short S.30 G-AFCU Cabot, 1939.

В июле 1939 года, еще до начала полетов между Саутгемптоном и Монреалем, в районе Саутгемптона отрабатывались дозаправки от самолета Handley Page Harrow.
PREPARING FOR THE FIRST: A photograph taken last week at Southampton showing Cabot receiving fuel from a Harrow tanker. Last week-end saw Caribou, commanded by Capt. J. C. Kelly Rogers, with Capt. S. G. Long as chief officer and Mr. B. C. Frost as first officer, make her first regular Atlantic crossing after being refuelled at Foynes. The machine, carrying 1,055 lb. of mail, reached Newfoundland at 10.10 p.m. (G.M.T.) on Saturday and was due to leave New York, on the return flight, yesterday. Cabot will make the next eastward crossing on Saturday.

Flight Refuelling Ltd's appropriately registered HP.54 Harrow I tanker G-AFRL refuels Imperial Airways Short S.30 Empire 'C' Class flying-boat G-AFCU/Cabot over Southampton Water circa 1939 using the looped hose method.

Handley Page Harrow tanker G-AFRL feeds Short S.30 G-AFCU Cabot with fuel over the South Coast during trials in the summer of 1939. The “Ejector” method of contact developed by Flight Refuelling was sometimes referred to as “cow and calf”, whereby the tanker was the cow and the receiver the calf

A close-up of <...>ng hatch in the tail of the machine.

Three Short ’boats at Rochester: G-AFCI Golden Hind, G-AFCU Cabot, and G-AFCV Caribou.

BACK FROM AMERICA: Caribou, one of the two strengthened "C" class boats being used for the Atlantic mail services, taxies up to its berth at Southampton after the first two-way crossing. On the left is the monitor Erebus, in for a refit before going to South Africa.

S.30 имели большую взлетную массу и оснащались двигателями Bristol Perseus XIIC мощностью по 890 л. с. Имея вдвое большую дальность, чем S.23, они с успехом применялись на регулярных трансатлантических почтовых перевозках. "Connemara" (G-AFCW) был четвертым самолетом в серии.

In April 1940 Garden and copilot Christopher Griffiths delivered the 37th Short Empire flying-boat from Southampton to Auckland. Registered as ZK-AMC and named Awarua (“two rivers”), the aircraft went on to fly more than a million miles in TEAL service before being broken up in Auckland in August 1948.

24 ноября 1939г.: неэффективность авиакомпании "Imperial Airways" привела к ее слиянию с "British Airways" и созданию объединенной компании "British Overseas Airways Corporation" (BOAC). BOAC начала свои полеты 24 ноября на летающих лодках Empire.

Capt. Bennett brings the Imperial Airways’ Short boat Australia past the enclosures. On later runs the machine was unphotograpically low.

The Short Empire Modified "C" Class Flying-boat (four Bristol Pegasus engines).

В полете S.30 авиакомпании Tasman Empire Airways

THROUGH THE PORTHOLE: An unusual view of Pan American’s California Clipper berthed in Mechanics Bay, Auckland, New Zealand. The picture was taken from the Short Empire boat Aotearoa.

Short S.30 Cathay, which flew the second leg, at Hythe before being camouflaged.

View of Short S.30 C-class Cathay in flight.

Following Britain’s isolation in 1940, Qantas began to develop its own overhaul capability, although most were performed by BOAC in Durban until that, too, was cut off in 1942. Seen here is G-AFPZ Clifton, operated by BOAC (formed in November 1939 with the merger of IAL and British Airways), in the hangar at Rose Bay circa 1941.

S.33 G-AFRA ‘Cleopatra’ in BOAC markings with ‘underlined’ registrations. She was scrapped in November 1946.

The frame in way of rear spar is shown on the left. Note the straight sides and small beam-depth ratio. On the right, a view inside the hull of boat No. I, looking aft.

A view of the cantilever tail

On the stocks. A view in the Rochester works, showing hulls 1 to 5.

The engine nacelles for boat No. 1 nearly completed, with others in jigs. The details of the wing construction are somewhat similar to those tried out in the Short Scion.

Interior of the hull of a Short Bros. "Empire" flying boat under construction.

The "box " section wing spar of one of the first boats in course of construction.

Even this excellent view of activity in the Short works does not do justice to the impressive scene, for it does not include the row of nine towering hulls packed side by side for plating. Incidentally, when a completed boat is moved out on to the slipway there is a clearance of about six inches between the tail and the lintel.

Cylindrical petrol and oil tanks. Note the baffle plates, and the numerous tie rods which brace the tank ends.

The great flaps of the Empire boat are operated by this little Rotax electric motor. Note also in this view the wing construction and tanks.

More than thirty-six hundred horse-power is delivered for take-off to the finely pitched blades of the D.H. variable-pitch airscrews. It is provided by four of these Bristol Pegasus Xc radials.

Empire / S.23

Flight, October 1938

Flight, November 1939