Short Sturgeon
| Sturgeon | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sturgeon TT.3 prototype | |
| Role |
Torpedo bomber Reconnaissance bomber Target tug Anti-submarine aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Short Brothers |
| First flight | 7 June 1946 |
| Primary user | Fleet Air Arm |
| Number built | 28 |
The Short Sturgeon was a British carrier-borne reconnaissance bomber whose development began during Second World War with the S.6/43 requirement for a high-performance torpedo bomber, which was later refined into the S.11/43 requirement which was won by the Sturgeon. With the end of the war in the Pacific production of the aircraft carriers from which the Sturgeon was intended to operate was suspended and the original reconnaissance bomber specification was cancelled.
The Sturgeon was then redesigned as a target tug which saw service with the fleet for a number of years. Later, the basic Sturgeon design was reworked as a prototype anti-submarine aircraft. The many modifications that resulted turned the promising design into a "hapless and grotesque-looking hybrid."
The development process leading to the S.38 Sturgeon began with the 1943 S.6/43 requirement for a high-performance torpedo bomber with a bomb bay that could accommodate six 500 lb bombs or any of the current standard aerial torpedoes, operating from Audacious and Centaur-class aircraft carriers. A maximum all-up-weight of 24,000 lbs was specified. Short Brothers were not invited to respond to S.6/43, but the preliminary responses from the other participating manufacturers indicated that a twin-engined design meeting all requirements was likely to weigh in excess of 24,000 lbs, while a single-engined design was unlikely to exceed the performance of in-service aircraft.
S.6/43 was allowed to proceed, and there are indications that Shorts submitted two uninvited tenders, a single-engined Bristol Centaurus design and a twin Merlin design. However, none of the original S.6/43 submissions was adopted and no reference to the Shorts submissions has been located in the official documentation. Focus instead shifted to splitting the requirements, with the torpedo bomber requirement becoming O.5/43, eventually leading to the Fairey Spearfish, while S.11/43 was written for a reconnaissance aircraft able to operate as a bomber.
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