A contemporary model of the S.32 bearing its allocated civil registration, G-AFMK; the second and third examples were to be G-AFML and ’FMM, but none was ever completed and the registrations were not reallocated.

Short’s proposed layout for the 12-seat configuration of the S.32 in its day layout, although the layout could be reconfigured to provide sleep accommodation for night operations. The incorporation of pressurisation would allow the S.32 to cruise at higher altitudes, above the weather, and would provide benefits in speed and economics.

A contemporary Short Bros illustration of the air brake system that may have been employed on the S.32. Interestingly, the illustration’s submission date is nearly a year before Specification 14/38 was issued, and the drawing appears to be in the style of an airliner rather than a flying-boat or bomber, suggesting the company may have been considering a civil design before the Specification was issued.

This three-view illustration of the S.32 by the author is based on contemporary sources, predominantly Claude Lipscomb’s drawings in Aeronautics in 1939. The cockpit glazing was identical to that of the G-class flying-boat.

A rear view of LJ530, the Stirling V prototype, an unarmed variant developed for use as a transport. The S.32’s wing would have been of the same broad outline, but of 27ft (8-23m) greater span. Note the inner nacelles mounted lower than the outers to accommodate the rearward-retracting mainwheels, also a feature of the S.32.

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.

Short Bros was nothing if not busy during the immediate pre-war years, with development work continuing on the company’s C-class Empire flying-boats, the Stirling four-engined bomber and the larger, transatlantic brother of the C-class, the G-class, the first of which, G-AFCI Golden Hind, is seen here at Rochester. In addition, work was gathering pace on the S.32 landplane airliner, also to be capable of transatlantic services.