Short Brothers - Aviation Pioneers - Kent

30/10/2026

𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐲 (𝟑𝟎 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫) 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟎𝟗 𝐉.𝐓.𝐂 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐞-𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 (𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐞-𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐚) 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐫, 𝐋𝐞𝐲𝐬𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐲.

You can find out more by visiting both Muswell Manor where this feat took place (the site includes a pub with aviation artefacts and photos - see comments) and also the Eastchurch Aviation Museum which has lots of information including a wooden model of the Short No.2.

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The following includes an amazing first hand account by Lord Moore-Brabazon of the flight that made him the first person in Britain to fly a circular mile in a Short No.2 biplane (designed by Short Brothers) at Shellbeach, Leysdown, Sheppey on 30 Oct 1909! He flew this sitting on the bottom wing!

“The Short No.2, which was the machine built for me, had no under-carriage with wheels, only skids: I think the technique of launching, to be appreciated, should be understood.

First of all, imagine a pylon about eighteen feet high with a pulley at the top rather like the top of a pit shaft to look at. A rope ran over the pulley and down the hollow of the pylon and had a half-ton weight attached to it...

From the foot of the pylon projected a single rail about sixty to eighty feet long, and on this rail was placed a sort of roller skate with a sleeper on it, and on this sleeper was poised the plane. The rope attached to the weight inside the pylon was led over a pulley at the top, under another pulley at the pylon at the end of the rail, and along the end of the rail and back to the aeroplane - to which it was attached by a catch mechanism.

You got into the machine and started the engine (how simple this sounds) and, having got it up to full revs you pulled the trigger whereupon you were pulled by the weight and pushed by the propeller, so that, when you had travelled on your skate to the end of the rail you found that you were doing about forty miles an hour and you had to do something about it by pulling your elevator.

After that, if you got into the air, then it was your job to get on with it.

…….Well, when you got into the air there was nobody to tell you what to do, how to balance fore and aft or how to make a turn. In fact, on taking turns we never banked- that was a very revolutionary introduction in turning which developed later.

If after all these years, there is any recollection of that circular flight of a mile on the first English machine, it is of the turn at the end of the half-mile. To this day I remember, as I turned perfectly flat with no bank at all, how the wind changed and instead of coming straight in my face came very much from the side, which was a new experience.

However, it didn't seem to have any bad effect from the point of view of lift or balance, and I didn't slip to the ground. It all seems faintly amusing now, but at that time the control of a machine such as mine, which was extremely unstable in every possible way, was in essence an adventure into the unknown.

One knew that such-and- such ought to happen as a result of certain movements one made at the controls, but whether they actually happened was a very different matter.

And if things didn't happen as theory laid
down, then one had to try not only to keep aloft but also to discover the reasons for the unexpected.

….. Eventually the day arrived when things were all right. I was shot off the rail, balanced myself for half a mile in the most remarkable way, got round the post at the other end flew back and landed just where I had started. I don’t suppose I was at any time more than twenty feet from the ground, but I never actually touched, though I was jumping up and down whole time.

Balancing fore and aft was exceedingly critical,
this machine had no stabilising control whatever, and was tricky in pitch.

I should very much like to put one of the first-class pilots of today up in this machine and see how he would get on with it. It must be remembered that one was unable to practice on it in any way, so that to have taken it up and flown it (for this circular tour of a mile was a feat of some dexterity). For this I won the £1,000 given by the Daily Mail, and with part of the money I bought myself a cup which I have in my possession still. This flight took place in October, 1909.”

Source: The Brabazon Story (Heinemann, 1956), Photos Courtesy of the Eastchurch Aviation Museum.

24/10/2026

𝐇𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞 (𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞) 𝐅𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐨𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐝

A post courtesy of Martin Halliday on the Hythe, Southampton flying boat shed that housed the Imperial Airways and BOAC flying boats which formed part of commercial air service operations. Many of these flying boats where originally Rochester, Kent built Shorts flying boats.

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Earlier this week, I visited the building located at Shore Road, Hythe (Hampshire) which is a surviving and unique example of a flying boat production facility and flying boat base.

The 7,000 square metre (floor area) Flying Boat Shed at Shore Road, Hythe was originally built by the Admiralty in 1917 for the production of Felixstowe military flying boats - some 71 Felixstowe flying boats being built at the Shed by Airco during WW1 for operation with the Royal Naval Air Service.

The design of the Shed was such that it permitted an open floor space without the need for intervening roof support columns.

From 1925, Supermarine acquired the Shed for the production of Southampton military flying boats for use by the RAF; Supermarine would use the Shed for the subsequent production of a range of both military and civilian flying boats.

In 1936, Imperial Airways negotiated a lease of the Shed from Vickers Supermarine (which by then had significantly reduced the use of the building for flying boat production) for its use as a Base for its anticipated fleet of Short S.23 C Class Empire flying boats required for the operation of the Empire Air Mail Scheme. The Imperial Airways flying boat base at Hythe officially opened on 5 March 1937 (although Imperial Airways had been using the Shed and hard standing at Hythe from December 1936 following the arrival of Short S.23 C Class Empire flying boat G-ADHM ‘Caledonia’).

The Shed was large enough to internally accommodate six Short S.23 C Class Empire Flying Boats at any one time. The Imperial Airways Base at Hythe was used for Empire flying boat arrivals and departures (with mail and passengers being transferred by launch from Southampton docks) until April 1938 when embarkation facilities were provided at the docks itself.

At the start of WW2, Imperial Airways transferred its flying boat operations from Southampton to Poole, Dorset in direct response to the risk of attack by the Luftwaffe. As the facilities at Poole were limited, Hythe was retained for the servicing, repair and maintenance of Imperial Airways’ flying boat fleet which, at that time, was the largest fleet of civilian flying boats in the world.

BOAC superseded Imperial Airways in April 1940 and inherited its fleet of flying boats. BOAC retained Hythe for the servicing and maintenance of its flying boat fleet throughout the war.

During WW2, BOAC also received a number of Short Sunderland S.25 Mk III flying boats that had been demilitarised by Short Brothers for use by BOAC as air transport aircraft. Towards the end of the War, at Hythe, BOAC commenced the upgrading of 22 Short Sunderland Mk III air transport flying boats in order that they could be used for post War civilian flying boat service. BOAC continued to use Poole after the War for its civilian flying boat services; new facilities were not available at Southampton docks until April 1948 (at which time, BOAC transferred its flying boat services back to Southampton).

BOAC’s services and fleet of flying boats post War meant an enlargement of the facilities at Hythe including the construction of a number of additional buildings at the Base.

BOAC ceased its flying boat operations in November 1950 and, for a short period, some of its flying boats were stored at Hythe whilst BOAC sort to sell its redundant flying boat fleet.

My recent visit was restricted to the building that was the original Flying Boat Shed (ie the Shed built by the Admiralty in 1917) and not to the other buildings that formed part of the base when under BOAC’s post WW2 use.

The original main structure of the Shed remains intact (although it has been reclad over the ensuing years) and is today used in a partitioned layout as a Marine Park.

I was permitted access around the whole of the building. The large Shed doors, that allowed flying boats to transit from the hard standing abutting Southampton Water to inside the Shed for repairs, maintenance and servicing, remain clearly visible. One of the Marine Park occupying companies kindly permitted me internal access such that I could take a photo of the internal structure of the sawtooth shaped roof (which is essentially the same structure as when originally built in 1917).

These are my photos taken during my visit (19 October 2026).

Following its flying boat use, from 1953 to 1963, the Base became HMS Diligence for the fitting out, maintenance and storage of RN Mine Sweepers. The Base then became RAF Hythe from 1967 to 2006 and was used by the US Field Support Battalion for the maintenance, storage and support of US Army watercraft. The Shed was also used for the production of Griffon hovercraft until 2011. As previously stated, the Shed is now part of a Marine Park used by a variety of businesses.

24/10/2026

The Short Sarafand at the Short Brothers Rochester Esplanade Barge Yard with Churchfields in the background.

Short Brothers S.14 Sarafand S1589 at a shipyard on the River Medway at Rochester in 1932.
Designed as an enlarged development of the Short Singapore II, only one Short Sarafand was built.
When it first flew on 30 June 1932 the six-engined Sarafand was the largest aircraft that had been constructed and flown in the United Kingdom and the second largest aircraft in the world after the Dornier DoX.
After initial test flying it joined the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe where it was used for test flying. By 1936 the Sarafand with it's biplane configuration had become outdated and the aircraft was scrapped at Felixstowe.
(Central News photograph)

24/10/2026

The Short Sarafand - A british biplane flying boat. The aircraft was designed to fulfill the role of a general reconnaissance aircraft in the RAF and was successfully introduced in 1932. By the time it entered service it was the largest aircraft in the United Kingdom. It was retired in 1936 and replaced by the Short Sunderland.

24/10/2026

Two photos of the Short Sarafand flying boat taken from Churchfields, Rochester, looking down towards the ‘Barge Yard’ where Hathaway Court is now, Rochester Esplanade. These show what an awe souring sight this must have been for all ages and the first also includes sheep grazing on Churchfields.

The Sarafand’s first flight was on 30 June 1932. It was an enlarged version of the Singapore II with six engines, developed to provide transatlantic range capability. It was the biggest flying boat in the UK when it was launched being 27m long with a wingspan of 36m and the people underneath the wings give you an idea of its size.

18/10/2026

Had a really enjoyable day exhibiting and delivering a talk at the Medway History Showcase at the Royal Engineers Museum today. It is always great chatting to people who have an interest in Shorts, whether they are simply local people, or relatives of former Shorts employees sharing their memories. I also enjoyed speaking to Councillor Trevor Clarke (Fort Horsted Ward) and Councillor Nina Gurung (Portfolio Holder for Heritage, Culture and Leisure) who have been highly valued supporters of ours over the years, and it was also great to meet and speak to Deputy Mayor Sharon Leigh Jackson and Councillor Marian Nestorov.

A big thank you to Jane Joyce and Peter Joyce and the Royal Engineers Museum for organising such an enjoyable event.