Short S.80 / S.81
Страна: Великобритания
Год: 1913


Ogilvie in the cockpit of the Nile Seaplane during the Nile expedition. Starting off from Alexandria on January 3, 1914, McClean flew the S.80 via Rosetta to Cairo, where he was joined by Ogilvie, who accompanied him up the Nile to Khartoum, where the S.80 arrived on March 23. During the journey there had been 13 engine breakdowns and three “bad landings”.
Aerial explorers of the Nile - from left to right: Frank McClean, mechanic Gus Smith and Alec Ogilvie with the Short S.80 Nile Seaplane at Merowe in Sudan, about 210 miles (330km) north of Khartoum, on February 25, 1914. Ogilvie had flown in the 67ft (20.4m)-span S.80 back in the UK after its first flight on October 2, 1913.
Short S.81 “126” at Calshot in 1914, fitted with a Vickers 1 1/2-pounder gun mounted on a strengthened nacelle designed by armament specialist Arthur Camden Pratt. The calibre (shell diameter) of the heavy guns mentioned in this article was 37mm (or higher in some cases), but the weight of the shell varied - hence the use of the term 1 1/2-pounder, for example.
It is reported that when this gun was fired during trials the Short stopped dead in mid-air and dropped 500ft.