Short S.34

Short S.27
Short S.27
Role	Training and experimental
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Short Brothers
First flight	1910
Primary user	Royal Naval Air Service

The Short S.27 and its derivative, the Short Improved S.27 (sometimes called the Short-Sommer biplane), were a series of early British aircraft built by Short Brothers. They were used by the Admiralty and Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps for training the Royal Navy’s first pilots as well as for early naval aviation experiments. An Improved S.27 was used by C.R. Samson to make the first successful take-off from a moving ship on 9 May 1912.

In May 1910 Shorts started construction of four examples of an aircraft designed by Horace Short based on the successful Farman III pusher configuration biplane. Four examples were built, being given the airframe numbers S.26, S.27, S.28 and S.30. S.26 was built for Francis McClean and had a 40 hp (30 kW) Green engine, this engine also being used for S.28, built for J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon. S.27 was built for Cecil Grace and had a 60 hp (45 kW) E.N.V. type F engine. S.29 was built as a reserve airframe. Since Grace flew his machine at a large number of aviation events, the design became generally known as the Short S.27.

The aircraft was an equal span pusher biplane with a monoplane tailplane and an elevator mounted on booms forward of the wings, the elevator being extended outboard of the supporting booms. Single-acting ailerons were fitted to both upper and lower wings. The Green engined aircraft had a single rudder mounted underneath the tailplane, while Grace's E.N.V. engined example had an additional rudder mounted above it. The undercarriage was simpler than Farman's design, and consisted of a pair of wheels mounted on an axle attached to the skids: supplementary tailskids were attached to the ends of the tail booms.

The S.27 served as the basis of various Shorts aircraft which followed. These differed from the S.27 in having strut-braced extensions to their upper wings, increasing the upper wingspan by 12 feet 3 inches (3.73 metres), a strengthened wing structure, and a reduced span front elevator without the sections outboard of the booms. They were powered by a 50 or 70 hp (37 or 52 kW) Gnome rotary engine. One (S.35) was built with a nacelle for the pilot and passenger, seated in tandem: a similar nacelle was later fitted to S.34. Some were built with dual controls for instructional purposes. Many of the aircraft built were later extensively rebuilt, in effect becoming different types.

...
Wikipedia